Jay's Portfolio: W.L.B. Reject's Murray's Use of O.P.A. Report
Rules Out 'Confidential' Findings in Hearing on Steel Wage Rise Demand
New York Herald Tribune
September 28, 1944
By Jay Reid
In their battle with the government over wage increases for steel workers, the unions turned the volume up to 11.
Somehow, they acquired a copy of a government survey forecasting the effect of such a wage increase.
The government was left dumbfounded when the unions revealed their information coup.
Remember, this was not only the pre-internet age. It was also the pre-photocopy age.
The document was most likely copied by a Mimeograph duplicator, or a similar device.
Produced by the A.B. Dick Company of Chicago, the Mimeograph duplicator enabled users to literally turn out copies of documents.
In his article, Jay does not mention any accusations from the government that one of its copies was stolen, meaning that someone probably copied and official government text.
The unions did not reproduce a full copy of the report, but rather quoted liberally from it, leaving open the possibility that another means of limited reproduction was employed, such as photographing key sections.
Although the golden era of subminiature cameras was still years away, their advent a market response to the rapid onset of the Cold War, spies did employ early miniature cameras during World War II.
However the unions managed to get their physical copy of the relevant portions of the survey report text, they certainly used it to press their information advantage.
The National Work Labor Board (W.L.B.) was left stammering as it refused to admit any of the report’s contents into the proceedings.
But that did not really matter. The issue was now bigger than the W.L.B.
Less than six weeks before the election, the question of wage increases for steel workers, which during the war required government approval, would make its way to the president’s desk.
And just like that, an in-the-weeds topic, articles about which were hidden deep inside newspapers, turned into a genuine scoop for Jay.
