The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-09-23


 since Aug. { has been dilly daily E'aaa sSa ing along with RAson hearings on the proposed legisla- tion, had previously announced that he hoped to conclude hearings by Oct. 2. But with Baruch's state ment on the record, if Steagalls committee completes hearings be- fore the snow flies, 1t will be break ing all the speed records ever set by Dan Patch, Eleanor Holm, Sir Malcolm Campbell, Howard Hughes, Jesse Owens or Peggy Hopkins Joyce getting a divorce.
 You can just feel the lobbyists coming down on Capitol Hill now to get at Baruch's statement, oiling their larynXes as they come. Ed ONeill of the American Farm Bureau Federation is already here. You bet he'll have statement to make against freezing farm price ceilings at parity, and you bet the congress- men will listen. John J. Lewis, Bill Green and or their 0. I. O. and A, F. of L. cohorts, spokesmen and lieutenants will have their say a. gainst freezing of wages. And If you listen closely, those aren't ducks fly ing south in the clear September air, but the Tapping wings of or- ganizers out forming associations of landlords, wholesalers, commission men, and just general protestors u,t,a x,,I1I t,auy u,ay,f "a Ypaiora ka IxJo eIa. ingtonwards and speak their piece against this quote communist, nazi, fascist, socialistic, un-American un- quote proposal.
 SAID IT 10
 YEARS AGO
 Barueh Is only the second witness the committee has heard and 1t isn't through with the first, Leon Henderson, present price admins trator with limited authority and most likely choice for price flxer under the proposed legislation, If Congress ever passes 1t. Henderson was called as first witness Aug. 4, The committee recessed for nearly month and most of the members went home for vacations, while prices continued to rise.
 The committee itself is a cumher- some but important body of 26. The members sit around its big seni- circular raised bench, with the witt ness and his aides and the press in the well inside the seni-circle, with several hundred representatives of the public and just plain curious rubbernecking tourists in chairs facing the committee. Doors bang, messengers scurry around, people get tired and leave, and new ores come to take their places. Witnesses make statements, and then nearly every one of the % committee mem- bers asks questions. By the hour. That's where the time goes. And when the House does finish It's hearings and acts on the bill, the whole show will be repeated by the Senate.
 The most amazing thing about Baruchs statement on freezing every single price is that 1t Is not new. Baruchs has been saying this same I 1880, war policies commission was created by Congress, Pat Hurley, then secretary Of war, was its chairman and from March to May, 1881, 1t held hearings on the general sub ject of planning for possible war, To that commission, Barney Baruch submitted a memorandum on plans for industrial mobilization. elinina- tion of proflteering and the equali- ration of the burdens of war. Out of this came the industrial mobiliza- ton plan of 1881. This plan was revised in 1883, 1886 and 1899, but the basis of all these plans was Baruch's memorandum of 1881. THE SAME
 IDEAS AGAIN
 Dig out that memorandum now, and you will find basically the same ideas Baruch now advocates. By proclamation" he advised then, decree that every price in the whole national pattern as of deter mined date shall be the maximum that may thenceforth be charged for anything-rents, wages, interest rates, commissions, fees-in short, the price for every item and service In commence.
 Then, as now, Baruch has not believed that fixing the wages of labor at a determined level as of some specific date means putting an end to labor's right to strike or bargain collectively as lorg as in- dustry is working for a profit.
 "The attempt to draft labor is as impossible and dangerous as the attemput to draft dollars he has written. Enforced and involuntary service for a private master is and has been clearly and repeatedly de- fined by Supreme Court as slavery prohibited by the 18th amendment to the Constitution"