The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-03-01


 You can get the spirit of this movement by dropping in on the labor hearings now being held be- fore the House Judiciary Commit tee. Bald old Judge Hatton w. Summers of Dallas is the chair man and he is one of only eight big-town men on the committee of 24. But even he has the con- servative, southern ideas about labor, and he expresses the view point in no uncertain terms.
 "The people," he says, in his hard, cracking voice, "are urging legislation on the subject before this committee. Here's @ national emergency. The government is calling on people to do @ job, and there are a few people who are not yielding in the face of national emergency. Labor organizations are undertaking to run business, and there are some cases in which employers take advantage of the situation"
 GO AFTER
 WITNESSES
 So @ new kind of ticket is to be written. This is no labor commit tee, made of men experienced in dealing with industrial situations These are lawyers, and their feeling is that there ought to be a law to stop all abuses.
 Of the eight big-town men on the committee, only one, Tolan of Oakland, Calf, may be said to represent a major industrial com- munity. Cellar of New York Is from residential Brooklyn, Me- Laughlin of Omaha and Guyer of Kansas City, Kan, have the agri- cultural viewpoint. Hancock of Syracuse is a Republican. Satter- field of Richmond and Kefauver of Chattanooga, like Chairman Summers. represent the south. The real spirit of the committee shows up in Sam Hobbs of Selma, Ala, and Sam Massingale of Cordell, Okla.
 This sentiment crops out in the way the members of the commit tee go after the witnesses they have heard so far. They seized on Assistant Attorney General Thur man Arnolds information that Chicago glaziers had charged $l 800 union initiation, or levied $2 a day for the right to work on defense housing. They tried to make Arnold 90 on record in favor of fixed, maximum wages for war in- dustries, but he wouldn't bite. Similarly they tried to get De- fense Commissioners Knudsen and Hillman out on limbs where they would be forced to admit 1t was the function of the Office of Pro- duction Management to move in on labor disputes to get them set- tied, or to prevent them before they happened.
 LABOR PROBLEMS
 ALL OVER THE PLACE
 And while this committee takes endless testimony, other depart ments of the government rassle with labor in defense problems.
 You will be hearing @ lot more of pr. Isadore Lubin's B. L. s. - Bureau of Labor Statistics. For instance. The Maritime Comm!s- sion is given the job to build 200 cargo boats. It's up to B. L. s. to determine how many men in what crafts will be needed. Next prob- lem is to find out where the men are, with the necessary skills. And If they're not there, where can they be trained.
 Surveys on ship and aircraft building have already been com- pleted. Surveys on ordinance, arms and armament making are next.
 Supposing there is a shortage of skilled machinists. There will be job of breaking down the opera tions of the all-round machinist so that three or four machine operators can do the trick.
 U. s. employment service steps into the picture to hire the men. The unemployment insurance branch of federal security agency gets a piece of this hiring business, too.
 U. s. Office of Education and National Youth Administration are training men for various defense jobs.