Evening star., 1942-03-20

seems, unfortu- David Lawrence.
nately, somewhat remote and de-
tached. For he apparently hears
only one side and only one set of
opinions.
Everybody agrees, for instance,
that the labor problem is important.
Everybody agrees that there are
two sides to it-that of the man
agement and that of the workers
Even the War Production Board
chief now comedies that the So
called management-labor commit
tees in the plants should be steered
by two representatives OF Govern
ment, one from the labor side and
one from the management side.
But at the White House there is
no such two-sided approach. The
President Is rather proud of the
fact that he has chosen labor
cabinet" He has picked six repre-
sentatives Of the G. I. O. and six
from the A. r. L. No employer sits
In these conferences. There Is no
management-labor cabinet. No sep
arate group Of management men
has been invited to sit as a cabinet
auxiliary with as frequent access
to the President as is given his
labor cabinet.
Misses Facts.
The result of this -sidedness
Is that the President doesn't really
get the facts. He Is assured by
his labor cabinet, for instance, that
all is rosy in the labor situation.
He doesn't find out from such
sources about the union controlled
slowdowns in production, the fric-
ton and the tension which constant
agitation for special advantages"
like union shops and closed shops.
inevitably creates. Nor does he
learn how the penalty for overtime
above 40 hours a week slows up
and deters maximum production.
The President keeps telling the
reporters that the people misunder-
stand the 40-hour week law. The
industrial managers know the law
and its handicaps too well. It is the
President who has not been given
the full story Of the impediments
to production imbedded in the law.
The spirit of Americas production
mechanism is, of course. delicate
thing. 1t requires sympathetic un-
derstanding of the managers as well
as of the laboring men. Each group
has to be thought Of as important
If there is to be unity. But this will
not come If management is to be
treated as hostile and if class war
fare is to be maintained on the
Washington battlefront with the
same vigor as If the political cam
paigns Of 1886 and 1910 were still
going on.
Biddle Case Cited.
The President apparently doesn't
read the newspapers very much. For
example, he upbraided the cores
pondents the other day for infer
ring that members of his cabinet
were engaged in politics. Yet when
he was asked about Attorney Cen
eral Biddle's recent speech calling
for a continuous fight in behalf OF
New Dealism even in the midst OF
war. the Chief Executive brushed
tho question aside as If he had not
even heard Of the speech. Yet that
incident did more in one day to
damage the morale Of millions OF
Americans than the music OF .
thousand bands could restore.
Had the President acknowledged
that Mr.. Biddle made mistake, had
there been any tendency here to
recognize that you can't fight two
wars at one time-a class war and
a foreign war-there might already
have been a different spirit IN Amer
1Cd Dy LIllS IlIllc.
For this Is not the kind Of war
that fag-waving will help much.
War has become grim business OF
machines and technicians. Workers
and managers must all feel that the
sacrifices on every side are the
same. It is not the kind Of war IN
which there should be business
profits beyond the survival level or
special advantages" to labor unions
with constantly increased wage
profiteering. It is the kind OF war
In which parents who give their
sons to the Nation must feel that
the sacrifice is worthwhile, that 1t
is not a fan-dancing, boondoggling
AFFAIR." sort Of international w. P.
A.-but a crusade in which death
emphasizes not the end but the
immortality Of the human spirit.
This must be a war more like the
crusades of old where the spirit OF
men was one Of self-denial, OF deep
religious fervor and Of readiness to
give all because it was glorious to