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Show Manpower-Draft Situation Is Nation's No. 1 Problem Political Shadows Darken Vital Issues Confronting Con-fronting Every Family; National Service Act Subject to Debate. By BAUKHAGE News Analyst and Commentator. WN'U Service, L'nlon Trust Building, Washington, D. C. Today, a whole year stands between be-tween election day and the capital but the shadow of coming events cast their shadows before them. Like the dark patches on the ground when scudding clouds cross the sun, the Washington scene is flecked with politics. pol-itics. And there are issues this time which reach riht into every home, touch the family where there are men and women of fighting or working work-ing age, reach Into the larder and the ice box. It is hard for anyone to see these issues clearly because of the shadow of politics. There is the draft, the manpower question closely interwoven with it, there is food, its production, its distribution, dis-tribution, rationing and prices. It takes a keen eye to see where merit ends and politics begins. When Senator Wheeler, fathering the deferment of draft for pre-Pearl Harbor fathers, said the defeat of his measure would be a blow at morale and the nation's children, there was no reason to believe that he was Insincere. In-sincere. Certainly there was no In sincerity about the army and navy heads wko opposed the measure, explaining ex-plaining that there were just so many men of fighting age and physique and that a certain job had to be done. But to a reporter who has been reporting the doings of mice and men for more than a quarter of a century, I could not help suspecting some of the folk who battled over tills legislation. What a juicy morsel mor-sel It was for the vote-getter! True, the Wheeler bill aimed to exempt those who, with no foreknowledge of war, produced families without a thought that babies, to quote the ancient wheeze, like weatherstrips, could keep them out of the draft. But what about other fathers, quite as Pearl Harborish in their paternity pater-nity whose offspring sprang after the deadline simply because time or opportunity op-portunity had lingered? President's Views. There was no doubt what the President Presi-dent thought when he talked about men with children who were doing no useful thing and who might, if they wished immunity from military service, easily get into a war industry. indus-try. They, one opponent of the Wheeler bill said, were told that they had no responsibility in the war effort, ef-fort, at home or at the front. Of course, this argument would not hold if the National Service act, that nightmare of politicians, were passed. The army wants it. Senator Sena-tor Austin and Representative Wads-worth Wads-worth who introduced it, and their followers want it the White House has never spoken but of late is silent when it is "said to be willing." Now politics, long before the election elec-tion winds started blowing, has dulled men's minds on that subject. Manpower Commissioner McNutt has been willing but not emphatic. Perhaps you never read the contents con-tents of a recent statement issued through the Office of War IrJorma-tion IrJorma-tion from the Manpower commission. commis-sion. I have treasured it and want to quote its first sentences: "Better utilization of our work force is the primary means of getting get-ting the manpower needed to supply productive establishments of the nation." na-tion." (You and I can understand that, despite the fine four and five-syllable five-syllable derivatives.) "Labor reserves in shortage areas have been exhausted and the common com-mon lack of community services and facilities in such areas usually makes it impossible or undesirable to bring in more workers." (Also quite understandable, on a little thought, but would it make you rush out and hunt for a defense job?) "Where there has been rapid mobilization mo-bilization of manpower, utilization is not always at its highest level. This is not necessarily a reflection on employers. em-ployers. When a plant has expanded expand-ed its labor force several times, examples ex-amples of ineffective use of manpower man-power are certain to follow." There is a careful exposition of the situation for you! Now what could the man who wrote that be running for? Somewhere where there were a lot of toes to be stepped on, it would seem, for ha certainly was pussyfooting among the polysyllables. t. ' : . ... I t i A Y 'M Situation Is Serious And yet the manpower situation is serious. It is so serious that it has long worried War Mobilization Director Di-rector Byrnes. Indeed, that is why he called on his friend, Bernard Baruch, the unofficial elder statesman states-man of the administration, to advise him. Baruch advised him all right, not wisely perhaps, from a political standpoint, and too well for the sensitive sen-sitive olfactory nerve of Republican Senator Vandenberg (who used to be a newspaper man himself). The wily Michigander scented a rodent. Had he not, you might never have heard Baruch's words of wisdom. Among other things, Mr. Baruch commented on hoarding labor. I had heard of that subject in indignant letters from the wives 'of workers who wrote that their husbands were paid to loaf. And Senator Wheeler made similar charges and" recalled that Senator Truman and his doughty investigators had found a lot of hoarding of labor with (as Wheeler put it) "employees falling over each other" and being paid for on the cost-plus basis. .testimony before congress had insisted in-sisted that there were no cost-plus contracts under which labor hoarding hoard-ing would be profitable. That was when Vandenberg arose and waved the Baruch report which he had demanded and finally received re-ceived from Mr. .Byrnes. Mr. Vandenberg read Mr. Baruch's Ba-ruch's words on the subject of cost-plus: cost-plus: "The government pays all the costs, whatever they are. Since the government is footing the bill, there is no incentive for the manufacturers manufactur-ers to economize in the use of material, ma-terial, facilities or labor. More workers are hired than needed. Workers stand idle it costs the manufacturer nothing. Much labor is wasted." Political Breezes This is only one item in the long and forthright document which has had considerable publicity. Perhaps it might have been neglected if it had not been blown into the public's face by the political breezes stirred up by Mr. Vandenberg. Perhaps Mr. Vandenberg might not have generated gen-erated those breezes if Mr. Baruch had not been pretty critical of government gov-ernment agencies that competed for power; perhaps Mr. Baruch would not have been so frank if he had not thought that, as he requested, the report was not for publication. Mr. Byrnes, when he sent the document doc-ument to "Dear Van" at the latter's insistence, said that it was not intended in-tended for other than private use but that it was "a splendid argument argu-ment in favor of action taken by the War Mobilization committee" (in regard re-gard to the labor situation on the West coast) and he requested that it be placed in the Congressional Record, Rec-ord, which it was. And so there it was for all to see with Mr. Baruch, presumably still the best of democratic pals but also the severest of critics, lambasting jealous government agencies and calling manufacturers "manufacturers" "manufactur-ers" and not "productive establishments" establish-ments" and apologizing for nobody, business men or bureaucrats. Thus the political breezes blow, sometimes in one direction, sometimes some-times in another, though, of course, in election years the "outs" usually blow the loudest. They are the prosecuting attorney, and the "ins" are the defense. However, there is this satisfaction, blow where it will, it is an ill wind that blows nobody good. Diary of a Broadcaster The other day, at the President's usual press and radio conference, I was interrupted, for Fala, the President's Presi-dent's scotty, walked out between the forest of legs and made one of the most thorough trouser-cuff inspections in-spections I had ever seen. Unfortunately, I had on one of those liberty suits with no cuffs so he started to pass me by and I had to engage him in conversation to get his attention at all. What he said was not to be attributed at-tributed I can only say that I learned from authoritative Scotch circles that the newspaper and radio fraternity displayed a lot of scents. |
