Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-10-30
Wage Pegs
Opponent
Blasted
johnson Says First Lady
Is Unconvincine
BY GEN. HUGH S. JOHNSON

NJ ALL the uilCuIiNHnCuiB,
" make weight arguments
against including wages in any
price ceiling. the one that takes
the cake is Mrs. Roosevelts an
nounced feeling" that it might
be what she calls involuntary
bondage" prohibited by the thir-
teenth amendment to the Consti-
tuition.
The thirteenth amendment Is
the anti-slavery provision pro-
hibiting involuntary servitude.1
If some sterilization of wages is
slavery. we have certainly fine
collection of serfs in this coun-
try.
All the government employees
whose wages are fixed by law
are included. Public Slave
Number One is the President OF
the United States. He sought
the collar and shackles of bond
age not only once but thrice.
GENERAL million government
~ wage and salary earners
are in that dark and hopeless
company. including the vastly
expanded army and navy and all
the. millions on relief OF one
kind or another.
More millions on fixed salaries
and wages in private industry
raise the toll TO such mountain
Gus heights that we might as
we'll call ourselves a nation of
slaves. The Civil War should
have been omitted.
1t. is all right even IN Mrs!
Roosevelt's book 10 fix prices
of food and rent. That conjures
up some more millions of slaves
all the farmers, landlords and
hotel keepers. 1t is more than
a little ridiculous.
There are other provisions in
the Constitution TO guarantee
individual rights. There is one
that says that Congress shall
pass no law impairing the obi
cation OF contracts and another
that private property shall not
be taken for public use without
just compensation.
WE ARE in a wholesale pro-
w cess of dumping these on
the garbage heap with hardly a
Squawk from the injured. What
do you suppose the priority sys-
tenn does 10 the obligation of
I contracts?
A has an agreement with B
10 complete for him a building
by a certain date and in COM
mon prudence has contracted
with c. ID and + for materials
10 be delivered before that date
10 perform his obligation.
Then a priorities order comes
along. A can't complete the
building and If he could. c. u
and f can't deliver the ma
terials promised to- do the job
Has that administrative order
it is not in itself a law
impaired the obligations OF a
contract
1t has impaired the obliga.
tions of many. But except for
frantic attempts 10 find some
way TO accommodate the sacri.
flee, do you hear anybody wall.
ing about the Constitution?
TWENTY THOUSAND "a
10000 small enterprisers are
going TO lose their business
huilt up through years Of effort
They arc. going 10 lose them be.
cause the government will take
their sources of supply and ever
their inventories for public use
Arc they going to get just
compensation? Not so far a,
anybody has heard Yet ever
here l have heard of no one al
the wailing wall of the Consti.
tuition.
This is a national emergency
and II is only the generous
bleeding heart of the First Lady
who finds a constitutional reason
for applying a much milder rule
TO wages.
Involuntary servitude is some
kind of forced labor-making g
man do what he doesn't want
10 do Mith-eE-piitirort wages
: TT couldn't be forced in this
country in this crisis and
doubt if ever. We would all rise
up and strike it down.
But il appears that we are
entering a sort Of hysterica
twilight when anybody can say
ANYTHING and get away with il
like saying that Hitler plans
10 substitute Mein Kampf fol
tho Bible. the Torah and pre-
sun1ably the Book of Mormon.
We might as well plan Il
substitute NJ cGufey $ FRS