Evening star., 1940-08-01

OF selection by
ordering into David Lawrence.
immediate service both the National
Guard and the Reserve Ofcers'
Corps.
In these two groups are many
men who occupy key posts in in
dustry and in the management of
enterprises vital to the national
welfare. But as yet nobody has
arisen in the Government to say
that only those who can be spared
shall go into military training
There has been talk of letting men
resign from the National Guard
who have dependents and who
could not manage financially by
the change, but as yet no move
ment has arisen to Withhold from
service the patriotic men in the
National Guard who will not wish to
resign or claim exemption at this
time. but who cannot really be
spared from their work.
In the Officers Reserve Corps are
many men whose departure from
accustomed pursuits will leave seri-
GUS vacancies in the business world
The employer is to be asked to
hold open these positions, in fact,
he is going to be required by law
to take the men back even though
he may have filled their places in
the interim.
Temporary Substitutes.
With respect to common labor.
this is a rather simple thing to
do. but in businesses and enter
prises where professional men and
those of technical training are en-
ployed, it will be next to impossible
to engage substitutes where they
have to be told that they cannot
have steady job. What person
with ability and talent wants to
accept employment for one year
where he may have an opportunity
elsewhere for a permanent position?
Likewise, employers who might
possibly manage to take care of
vacancies by stretching the hours
OF those who do not enter military
service must pay time and half for
such overtime and, in some in
stances, are completely prevented
from staggering the hours of service
to take care of emergencies because
of the heavy penalties of expense
imposed by the wage and hour law.
The Roosevelt administration.
however, insists there must be no
changes in the wage and hour law
or the Wagner Act because no
matter how vital to national de-
fense, these so-called social gains"
must not be impaired. The truth
is they must not be impaired be-
tween now and election, for it is
inevitable they will be impaired
after election no matter which of
the two presidential candidates is
elected. 1t is impossible for the
industrial system to operate on
40-hour week and speedily get the
skilled labor and the productive
output essential to the manufacture
of the mechanized equipment for
war purposes.
May Demoralize Industry.
There seems to be a great hurry
to demoralize the industrial machine
by insisting on putting the National
Guard and the Officers Reserve
Corps into action irrespective of
the essentially of the personnel to
defense industries and irrespective,
too, of the fact that men between
81 and 81 may now occupy jobs in
the skilled labor field where there is
already shortage.
The Senate Military Affairs Com
mittee has made some changes in
its proposal with respect to the age
limits to be summoned to service
but there will have to be many
more changes in the measure before
1t can accomplish its objective of
selecting an army without disrupting
industry.
1t is significant that the Burke
Wadsworth bill itself was never in
dorsed except as to principle by
President Roosevelt Perhaps it was
considered good politics by the ad-
ministration to have a Democratic
Senator, who was recently defeated
for denomination and has announced
his intention of supporting the Re-
publican nominee, and a Republican
Representative in the House, sponsor
the conscription bill Theoretically,
the administration is not accepting
responsibility for a measure which
is the subject of widespread criticism.
Maybe the plan was to let the first bill
run through the gantlet of criticism
and then the administration would
lend its support to an amended pro-