The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-04-17
Legion DRAFT
BILL ENSLAvES
WORKERS OF US.
Makes President Also
lutte Dictator of u. S.
BY LAURENCE TODD,
Federated Press star Correspondent

WASHINGTON, April is --(FP)-
Showing up the American Leolon's
general" CONSUMPTION bill as a meas
ure designed to enslave the manpower
Of the nation in time Of war while
putting no real check on profits Of
private capital, witnesses before the
senate committee on military affairs
put squareIy up to the committee the
issue Of equal treatment for wealth
and humanity.
1.-THE provisions and implications of
this bill are probably the most
astounding and revolutionary ever
proposed to congress-" said Dr. John
A. Ryan of the National Catholic Uni
versity, in opening his attack. He
went on to interpret the several sec
tons Of the scheme, disclosing that
it makes the president, when war has
been declared or is imminent in his
judgment, absolute dictator over the
lives of all male citizens between the
ages Of Is and AZ, with power to draft
them Immediately into the federal
service, making them subject to mill
tary law, regardless of whether they
are employed as soldiers, factory
hands, clerks, or any other calling.
Worse Than MussoIini.
DR.. Ryan declared that neither car
nor kaiser dared ask for any such
power during the late war, and that
Lenin and Mussolini have scarcely ap-
preached it. The key Of the scheme
lies in the fact that whenever the
president, in time Of war or Of peace,
thinks that war may result from his
policies or those of others, he may
proceed to assume full dictatorship
over wages and salaries of all work
ers. There will be no appeal from his
decision as to an adequate wage or
salary. There will be no appeal from
his decisions as to prices of commodi-
ties, whether cotton or wheat or steel
or ships or shoes.
This, he summed up, was slavery
of the manhood of America, without
any limitation Of the profits which
capital might take during war. The
vague provision as to price-control
was not CONSUMPTION of capital in any
sense.
Irritating Corporation Lackey.
S. L. Calvert, for the federal council
of churches, irritated Sen. Reed of
Pennsylvania, by asking: Are you
willing to write bill which would pro-
vide that the Bethlehem Steel Co.
should in case of war make the same
sacrifice that is demanded here of one
of its foremen?" He said the man
sacrifices job at $4,000 year, for
instance, to draw $50 month as a
soldier, under the CONSUMPTION scheme
Would the proponents of this scheme
provide in the same bill that stock
holders of Bethlehem Steel, such as.
Chas. M. Schwab, should sacrifice all.
or virtually all of their holdings, or,
even their profits? To Reeds argu-
ment that war profiteers had to give.
up IS per cent of their profits in tax.
ation-the excess-profits and indivi-
dual income taxes-Calvert replied
that somehow there were 10000 new
millionaires created by the wartime
prosperity of stockholders. He said he
wanted to tear away the hypocritical
mask from this bill and show 1t as it
ia measure to draft men but not
capital, and a measure to encourage
war, not to prevent war.
Social Patriot Ready
Edgar Wallace, for the American
Federation of Labor, argued that the
enactment of any such measure would
excite suspicion and war making
spirit abroad, and would do infinite
damage to the cause of world peace.
Labor would never fail to meet
national emergency il voluntary action
were permitted, he said, but efficiency
cannot be maintained by compulsion.
AS for the argument of the legion that
wages had been excessive during the
late war, and hence there should be
rigid autocratic control OF wages and
prices, he showed from federal sta
tistics that the cost of living went up
much faster than wages in each of the
war years, beginning in 1914. Even in
1919, at the peak of wages, the cost
Of living had not been overtaken in
its fight.
Paciflsts Present Protest.
Mrs. A. Morris Carey Of Baltimore,
for the friends service committee, and
Bishop Paul Jones, speaking for the
Fellowship of Reconciliation, empha.
sized the moral obligation OF civilized
humanity to work for peace and UNI
derstanding, and to protect the con-
science Of the individual against the
coercion and degradation which they
found in the military draft idea. Mrs.
Carey replied to a sneer by Capt. Tay-
lor, spokesman for the legion, to the
effect that "All the pacifists were
slackers," by reminding him that 1t
took more courage to face the resent
ment of the great mass OF ones fell
lows than to go with the crowd, on
an issue OF conscience such as is In
volvedIin killing men in war.
Rights Of MInoritles.
Miss Isabelle Kendig. for the Amer