The Wilmington morning star., 1940-09-08

cal, on the Fish amendment. 1t had
been adopted originally by a vote
Of 1s5 to 1855, and the membership
realized that the final decision by
roll call would be close.
In Dead Hush
A dead hush percaded the cham.
her as the names e called. Those
who kept tallies of the progress OF
the voting, saw the lead see-saw
hack and forth with neither side
ever holding an advantage of more
than a few votes.
When the call Of the roll had been
completed, the chamber waited
tensely while a little group Of mem
bers who had not voted when their
names were first called announced
their ballots. A few changed their
votes. In the end. with everyone
listening intently, Speaker Bank.
head announced the final result az
2os to 200. Then it developed that
an error had been made and this
was corrected to 207 to 200.
The roll.call on the industry con
scription amendment followed and
then Rep. Short R-Mo. moved that
the whole bill be sent back to the
military committee with instruc'
tons that it be revised to reduce
he life Of the bill from five to
two years and require that draft
and appeal boards be bipartisan. 1t
was beaten 241 to III. The roll'call
on final passage followed immedi-
ately.
Bitterly Disputed
The industry CONSUMPTION amend
ment produced a bitter dispute.
Supporters Of the proposal, In
Guiding it's author, Rep. Smith o.
| Comm, pleaded that 1t would keep
contractors and subcontractors from
living up the defense program and
speed up the acquisition Of the
materials we need to equip the
army" which the bill itself would
raise. And, they commended, 1t would
be unjust to draft men for national
defense and permit industry to re
fuse its cooperation.
Vehemently, its opponents argued
that it would prove an invasion OF
the principle Of private ownership
would "give the President power to
set I'D a t~otalitarian state IN the
United states right now" and would
lead to the RECOMMENDATION of labor
Before adopting the Smith amend
ment, the house turned down a rub
stitute proposal by Rep. Vinsor
D.Ga), under which the govern
ment would take plants and oper
ate them under lease, only after
several preliminary steps, including
an effort by the national defense
commission to persuade the recalci
trant manufacturer to come tt
agreeable terms.
The amendment vas similar tt
one approved by the senate, witt
the exception that the latter pro
yided condemnation Of the plants
with the government taking owner
ship.
Major Amendments
Before taking up the question Of
drafting" industry, the house ap
proved amendments:
m Declaring it to be the sense
of congress that no communist OF
member Of the German-American
Bund should be hired to replace mel
called up for military training.
C) Authorizing negotiations and
any mutually agreeable settlement
between a conscript and his credit
ors over property being bought on
| the installment plan. 1t was ex'
planned that In some states prop
| erty, such as an automobile, being
purchased on installments could not
legally be ~repossessed without going
into court. The amendment would
permit a ~conscript in such states
to make an agreement with his
| creditor and save himself court
costs.
() Authorizing the federal courts
to assess back wages against en-