The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1941-07-29

cash we have to pay for MES ne
cessities.
Bill Knudsen had some help in
his resistance to Secretary Ickes'
attempt. Harold had grabbed so
much already and has been trying
to grab so much more that he'd
antagonized a number of depart
ments and agencies besides Bills
OPM, and they backed Bill up in
his defense.
Harold's pretty potent just as
interior secretary. He has, in fact,
a lot to say about power genera
ton. through his departments con-
troll Of coal and oil production.
However, this wasn't enough for
him. He wanted to include hydro
electric energetic develop 1t and
to ration 1t out. 1t was a scheme
resented, not only by Bill Knudsen,
but by the Federal Power commits
sion and the Tennessee Valley Au-
thority also. He proposed likewise
to take charge Of national trans
portation, a notion which set the
Federal Commerce commission by
the ears, as we'll as the railroads,
bus and truck companies and
steamboat lines. And he sought
domination Of tele raph, tele-
phone and the radio, which made
the Federal Communications COM
mission hot under the collar.
What's more, in times Of emer-
gency, the war and navy depart
ments consider communications
supervision among their preroga-
tiyes. so Harold made THEM sore.
For quite awhile he's been trying
to take the forestry bureau away
from the agriculture department,
which consequently is angry with
him.
Circumventing Ickes
Well, what Bill Knudsen did was
to create a power unit. under ]. A.
Krug, Of the Once Of Production
Management, to stir up more and
more hydro-electric energy and
dish it out, split up between de-
fensive and civilian industries, as
it thinks best-precisely the job
that Harold had desired to become
car Of. And Bills making his sys-
TEN stick, perhaps not so much be-
cause he's so popular as because
Harold's so much the other way.
There's gossip in Washington to
the effect that Harold's aim has
been to make such a mogul out of
himself that he'll have to be presi-
dentially nominated next time. II
so, Bills thrown wrench into his
campaign.
Not even Bill disputes that Leon
Henderson's the country's official
price fixer. True, the questions
quite generally asked whether or
not he can make his price fxations
stick. He has had to rely largely
upon exhortations and appeals,
which have worked fairly well but
not 100 per cent, and it's surmised
that his success percentage will
shrink as the pinch gets worse.
What Leon would like Is more
legal authority, so that he can hold
imitation down by force.
That's a detail, though, that
doesn't concern Bill.
It's when Leon announces that
production Of autos, for civilian
use, must be cut down so per cent,
practically instanter, that Bill OBJ
tects. Icons idea is that auto cur
tailment will permit auto factories
to switch over to larger outputs of
defensive stuff. Bill says that's
alright, but the transformation
can't be effected so fast-that an
army Of workers will be out of
Jobs while it's going on. He adds
that production arrangements HIS
stunt, not Leon's-Leon's Is lin
tied to price fixing. Well, It's a
fact that Bills a practical produc-
ton expert, while Icons only an
economist.
Here's Another
Another schemes suggested In
Washington.
1t is that the government should
buy all Of every kind Of raw mate
rial that's required for both defen-
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