THE VAGABOND

Vag was stuffed full of articles he'd been reading lately about Labor. He'd read one about Labor and National Defense that had seemed rather nasty--it quoted several Congressmen as urging "concentration camps" for certain "unpatriotic" labor leaders who wouldn't "cooperate." ... He'd heard Alfred Sloan and Professor Seavey talk about the need for labor to "sacrifice" some of its gains, and he'd heard Professor Elliott speak of knowing how to "deal with dissident elements." ... Most of all, Vag had heard talk about the need for doing away with the right to strike in defense industries. ... And he wondered if he'd heard the whole story.

Was there any way to hear the other side anywhere? Vag had caught a snatch of it when Russ Nixon spoke at Kirkland, and another fragment when Paul Sweezy had his turn at Dunster. ... But Vag wanted to hear more.

Then he remembered about Arthur Eggleston, whom he'd met at a dinner for the Nieman Fellows. Art was one of them, Vag knew, and a pretty famous one. He remembered hearing about the "San Francisco Chronicle," which published a column by Eggleston about the West Coast labor movement. He'd heard that the columnist knew Bridges, and Murray, and Lewis, and that he'd been to the C.I.O. convention recently. Vag felt sure that, if anyone could tell him, this was the man who knew "the other side." So tonight Vag is going to listen to a talk by Arthur Eggleston at the Union Upper Common Room at 7:15 o'clock