Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1942-12-11
Hulf-Heurted Effort

HoIf-Heorted Effort
Undersecretary Of War Patterson
has thrown a large bucket OF cold
water on the widely held belief that
we are engaged in an "all-out" war
effort. The facts, as he sees them,
fall far short of supporting any such
assumption. After a year of war,
according to Mr.. Patterson, we are
still using less than half Of our pro-
ductiye capacity, measured on a
round-the-clock basis, and this is
not enough to meet the Allied war
requirements.
This disclosure by the Undersecre-
tary Of War should have a direct
bearing on the attempt to modify
the 4O-hour week, which is expected
to develop when the new Congress
meets in January. Mr.. Patterson did
not commit himself to any specific
remedy, and it remains to be seen
what the final attitude Of the Presi-
dent will be on this question, but it
can hardly be doubted that Mr..
Patterson's remarks support the DO
sition OF those who believe that the
statutory 40-hour week should be
abandoned for the duration.
In an article written for the Army
and Navy Journal, Mr.. Patterson
said that "this is no so per cent war
for the men on the battlefield, and
1t cannot be so per cent war for us
at home BY raising the average
work week in all war and non-war
industries from the present average
OF 42.8 hours to 48 hours, he said,
the same volume of production could
be obtained with 100000 fewer
workers than now employed. This
means, he explained, that 1880 900
workers could do the work now done
by 100000 workers, leaving the
others free to step up war pro-
duction.
At a time when the shortage Of
labor is becoming acute, 1t is I'M
thinkable that this inefficient use of
our national working force should
be permitted to continue. The solu-
ton does not lie, Of course, merely
in decreeing 48-hour week. It
will also be necessary to increase the
output OF certain raw materials and
to organize better distribution OF
these materials.
But the administrators hostility
toward all proposals to modify the
laws designed to encourage 4O-hour
week has been and will continue to
be the principal stumbling block.
The President and those who agree
with him counter all such proposals
with the assertion that nothing In
any law forbids longer work week,
provided time and a half is paid for
work in excess Of 40 hours. This is
true, but 1t is one OF those truthful
statements which ignore reality.
The fact of the matter is that the
statutes relating to the 4O-hour
week were intended to discourage
overtime and In a great many in
stances they are having precisely
that effect. AS long as there is a
refusal to face this fact, there is
little reason to expect any sub
stantial improvement through ad-
ministrative action.
There are many members OF Con-
gress, however, who realize that the
total OF production is being held
down because some employers-par-
ticularly in the so-called non-war
ndustries-cannot or will not pay
the penalty rates for overtime. And
these legislators, satisfied in their
own minds that it is wrong to penal
lie overtime work under war condi-
tions, can be expected to make a
determined effort to modify the
statutes in the new Congress. The
revelations by Mr.. Patterson OF what
actually is happening in our war
industries should be helpful to them.