Show ECONOMIC highlights industrial news review national and an international problems inseparable from local welfare it has become obvious to almost everyone that labor is the number I 1 problem in the defense drive on oil april ath defense director knudsen said th that at 90 per cent of strikes must be eliminated or the defense pro program 9 ram will fail under the best of conditions our arms program is not coining up to original hopes and when strikes occur precious days and weeks are irretrievably lost the waste occasioned by strikes was computed in one of general johnsons late columns according to lo him during january february and the first three weeks of march the strike toll was man days and that as he further observed does docs not tell the whole story many of the strikes took place in key factories the result being that other factories could not get needed materials so hundreds of thousands of man days were last jast elsewhere labors excuse for strikes is that it is not now getting its fair share of profits that the industries which have been given war contracts are rolling up unprecedented gross revenues and that the worker should be paid substantially more and be given other non monetary benefits in addition this argument may be valid in some cases but so far as most industries are concerned gross profits are a poor gauge 0 of net profits the tax burden alone alon is taking most of the increased earnings and there can be no doubt that faxes will be still higher in the years to come furthermore the very pace of the drive is adding heavily to indu operating costs you can carry on an operation in the most economical way when you have plenty of ti must often take the most expensive way when the days are flying by and a deadline for delivery is at hand the cost of most raw materials is is on the rise long ago top government officials said that no one s going to get rich out of this war that will be pretty largely true through taxation the government can control and limit income just about as it pleases A number of thought thoughtful aul friends of labor are of the opinion that strikes are in a sense suicidal that they may alienate public good will to the extent that the immense gains made by labor during the past eight years may be lost every poll indicates that the public is fed up with what it regards as labor racketeering ete ering they indicate an overwhelming wh elming majority of citizens favor some sort of forced mediation by government that will prevent strikes As raymond clapper a columnist who certainly has never been anti labor recently wrote dont think that thousands 0 ot f fam fain flies into whose homes conscription has reached will not sup support po t the roosevelt administration administrate 0 n if it t is s driven to take the hard boiled way mr roosevelt will have public sentiment fully behind him this feeling is obviously shared in gov government emment circles according to columnists alsop and kintner Kint ncr such episodes as the allis chal mers strike have filled the congress the best of all reflectors of public opinion with violent resentment the demand for strong measures to deal with the labor situation would have produced results long ago had not the house and senate leaders struggled manfully to hold their followers back the demand will soon grow too pressing to be ignored in short unless labor listens to reason you can look forward to severe laws to control strikes the late defiance of secretary knox and commissioner knudsen by a CIO leader in the allis chalmers strike was almost universally condemned by the nations press and the threat of far more important strikes in our most vital industries has caused some meaningful fist clench ing in washington As the president has said profiteering industry will also get short shrift t government through the priority system can literally choke iny business into submission it worst comes to worst he can use the power to commandeer labor leaders are mistaken if they think they can get away indefinitely with holding up the defense program this is more than an arms drive to millions of americans it is a cru I 1 sade and they mean to see it through |