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i 22 Follow the Leader by Dale Kramer Big John Lewis’ mine workers have followed him unquestioning ly through ups and downs, HEN John L. Lewis climbs out of / his limousine these. days he comes down hind first, ‘gripping the door jambs .and distributing his sagging weight carefully between the heels and balls of his fect. If there are no photog- raphers at whom gayly or threateningly to flourish his heavy cane, he uses it . for what it.was made..The auburn mane has turned .a-lank ‘gray and the full cheeks hang in ashen, seamy pouches. This slow and creeping change is reflected in the conversation of political and labor insiders when they sit around - discussing the future. They used to speak of Big John Lewis. Now it’s Old John. . He is a patriarch, and the 500,000: miners over whom he rules are his family. Again on April 1 they showed how closely they hang together when they quit work for six days in mourning for the 111 members of their clan who. died in the Centralia mine. And once more they also demonstrated their un- questioning obedience to the aging lord who tells them when and when not to work. If anything, age has increased the regal quality of Old John’s passage through the hushed and lofty halls of the Mine Workers’ Building in Wash- ington. For anyone to halt his stately As @ correspondent for Yank, Dale Kramer covered the Pacific and the sur- render of Japan. He ts now a free-lance writer and has contributed to Harper’s, Esquire and the Nation. “but their patriarch is aging fast promenade would be a disastrous breach of etiquette. Men who called him “John” or “Jack”. are mostly either in the ranks of the hated CIO or too old for duty. Those remaining address him as “Mr. Lewis,” and they maintain the respect- ful title when talking about him, per- haps even in their secret thoughts. An official in the same building may spend two or three days obtaining an’ appoint- ment. When one showed “up on ‘a hot day dressed in slacks, word came down through channels that Lewis considered such gatb undignified. Insiders refer to Lewis’ vast office on the fifth floor as the Throne Room. He is not opposed to the analogy. “Why, gentlemen,” he once told a convention, 4 NEW REPUBLIC “there: isn't any mincing, lackadaisical, lace-pantied gigolo going to dethrone John L. Lewis in his own organization and in his own convention.” , To labor leaders the term “king” is not exact. Neither is “boss.” Nor the - “sacred leader” of miners’ convention resolutions. After three decades, Old John 7s the United Mine Workers of America, The dutiful dispatches of newspaper reporters during every strike telling of cracking miners’ support are therefore looked upon as old jokes. Labor men are not impressed by the view of the Supreme Court's decision as a stunning blow necessarily breaking Lewis’ grip. What-they know==and the reasons for’ their conclusions are set down herein- after—is that the miners will do his bidding. And so, the terrible pride of Old John being well known, Jabor men see the miners’ union in peril. The danger will not pass with the resolution of this crisis or one or two more. Lewis is 67. No medical report is necessary to reveal his failing health—the camera does it. The death of Lewis and the attendant confusion among palace sycophants, cou- pled with widespread unemployment and enemy attacks, could, even without a‘ disastrous strike, destroy the union which for almost half a century was the vanguard of American labor. Maybe it still is. The plumed figure of Old John largely obscures. the fact that the HOME LIFE: THERE ARE THOUSANDS OF SUCH MINERS’ SHACKS