Evening star., 1939-02-15

ocNL1N, reU. lO.-NdZl Ger
many's Fuehrer acted today to give
the Reich canal from the Baltic
to the North Sea wider than Pan
anna or Suez by the time her largest
battleship, the Bismarck, is COM
missioned two years hence.
Chancellor Hitler's decision tc
have the historic Kiel Canal wild
ened to make possible the parallel
traffic OF the largest types of ships
was seconded by a sweeping decree
by Field Marshal Hermann Wilhelm
Goering, director of the four-year
plan, whereby every German in
habltant can be cOmandeered for
any job deemed necessary for the
nation.
The decree empowered the fed
eral labor Office and its subdepart-
ments throughout Germany to draft
any worker who might be needed
for tasks of Importance to the ma
tion's welfare.
Project Given Preference.
The authoritative news service
Dienst Aus Deutschland said the
widening of the canal was one of
the projects which under the four
year plan were given preference
Thus it was considered evident that
Goering's decree would be invoked
to supply necessary labor power for
finishing the canal in record time.
Plans for enlargement of the canal
were announced today-one day
after the launching of the Bis
marck. 1t was interpreted in diplo-
matte quarters to mean that the
Nazi government meant to lose no
time in making certain that Ger
many's capital ships could pass
through the vital waterway.
The bed of the canal will be
widened to double its present size.
Oid-fashioned locks are to be re-
placed by modern ones. Shipping
facilities on the lower Elbe River, on
which Hamburg is located, also will
be improved.
1t took seven years, from 1907 to
1914, to reconstruct the canal in its
present form. Nazi ambition is said
to run in the direction of enlarging
1t IN time for the Bismarck to pro-
ceed through it on completion.
The issuance of the Goering
decree, however, apparently was
prompted by two other considera-
tlons besides that of ensuring labor
power for tasks deemed essential.
State May Cut Wages.
One was that of no longer paying
to person drafted for a job-as
under a previous, milder decree
the wages he drew in the Job from
which he was taken. The previous
decree was invoked June %, last
year, for obtaining the necessary
manpower to build Germany's chain
of Notifications along the French
frontier.
Another was that workers may
now be tied to necessary jobs. This
prevents their quitting one firm for
another when the inducement of
higher pay is offered. The general
scarcity of labor in Germany has
led to counter bidding by competing
firms which, in turn, resulted in a
gradual raising OF wages.
Under Goering's decree, every in
habitant of Germany. foreigners ex-
cepted, may be drafted for what
ever form of labor Goering, as die
tator of the four-year plan for eco
nomic self-sufficiency, deems neces-
sary.
Men or women holding jobs must
be given leave of absence imme-
diately by their employers when
drafted.
Job May Be Kept Open.
If a task prescribed by the labor
Office acting under Goering's in
structions is of indefinite duration,
the person drafted is regarded as
having resigned from his former
position. But if he is drafted only
for stated period, the employer
must keep his job open for him
and take him back whenever the
labor Offices special requirement is
filled.
The employer is not compelled to
pay wages for the absent period,
but the drafted persons wage scale
Tor his new job may not necessarily
be the same. After q man is drafted
he may quit his assigned place only
with the approval of the labor Office.
The decree further provides that
drafted persons may first be put
through a course of training. For
instance, If there should be q short
age of laborers to lay street car
tracks, the labor Office might decide
1t needed 10 men from a photog-
rapher's studio. These men must
leave their jobs Immediately, but
they may be put through brief
engineering course before being as
signed to track-laying.
Another important provision is
that the drafted person who owns
tools may be ordered to place them
at the disposal of the state for the
task to which he is assigned. The
labor office also is empowered to
require employers to obtain its per-
mission before engaging additional
or substitute help.