Evening star., 1942-09-20
u. 5. Tightening
Grip on Worker;
New Steps Due
Congress Tolls Over
Difficult Problem
Of Price Control
BY JAMES MARROW and
GEORGE ZIELKE.

NEW YORK. Sept. 19-What
happened to you this week?
Plenty.
But not so much by what was done
as by what was in the making.
Briefly: The Government was
closing an iron hand-on you, your
wages, your iob-tighter than it has
ever been closed in the history of
the country.
All things that happened were
tied in together, one with the other,
even though they may have seemed
unrelated.
If words tell a story they told
only half story at weeks start un-
til President Roosevelt took the
words out of Donald Nelson's mouth
War Production Board Chief Nell
son said our production had in
creased $50 per cent since Pearl
Harbor, which is another way of
saying it bad gone up 3l2 times in
nine months.
That is good record but not
good enough" Nelson said.
The President came right behinc
him to make clear how far it was
from being good enough, for he said
war production now had little more
than passed the halfway mark" tc
maximum output.
That maximum output, he said
could be achieved "only by stripping
our civilian economy to the bone.
Luxuries Must Be Cut.
That meant fewer luxuries for
you, less vital material to make the
things you might fancy.
Later Nelson explained production
would not begin full flow until next
January and February. He then
appointed Charles E. Wilson, presi-
dent of the General Electric Co, as
WPB vice chairman to run produc-
tion
Nelson additionally named rub
Der czar, William M. Jeffers, presi-
dent of the Union Pacific Railroad
to carry out the stern rubber pro-
gram recommended by the Presi-
dents Special Rubber Committee.
You got another jolt, too, in the
Senate Finance Committee which
loosened some of the straps on cor
porations.
The committee, trying to work out
a tax program geared to increase
Treasury collection to more than s25.
0000o0000 annually from corpora
tlons and 100000 individuals, sem
The measure to the Drafting Com.
mittee for final polishing after:
Approving a per cent victory
tax on individual earnings. which
means that before you start makins
any allowable deductions at ali vo,
Will have to pay out 5 per cent o
your gross income above 1924 YEARLY
But this is not law vet. The
road ahead for the Senate Commit
tees tax program lies through
Congress.
Manpower Big Problem.
Inere was no more significant
Illustration of the Governments de.
termination to get the war lob done
through you, the man with a lob
than in the activity that swirlee
around the War Manpower Commits
sion headed by Paul V. McNutt.
Under the authority of a presi
oehtlal executive order McNutt as.
sumed control over the transfer O
any OF the 100000 Federal EN-.
ployes. Now they may be trans.
1erred by the Civil Service Commits
sion without their consent or ever
tne consent of the departments
employing them.
Inc commission may even All
lhorlze transfer of Government
employe to civilian private indus
try whenever it finds he is oualiflet
10 90 work in critical occupatio
McNutt said National Servic,
Act, giving the Government broat
controls over the Nations labor re
sources was inevitable" and essen
tlal to maximum production. d"
think the people are ready for it
ne said.
But Director Wendell Lund of tn,
WPBs labor production division
ADDED that McNutt's commission al
ready has the power to institute la
Dor market controls and that i
should not wait for sweeping legis
lation."
Lund proposed placing inspector
IN all important war plants Ito Sc
that labor is efficiently utilized a
maximum skills."
Work or Fight" Is Order.
But more drastic even than tn
| McNutt directive on Federal EN-
ployes was an order issued bv Ma
Gen. LeWish B. Hershey to IL West
ern State directors in what som
observers considered a virtual "worl
or tgnt" ultimatum.
Hershey ordered the State di
rectors to reclassify into a clas
immediately available for service
onu DF tIoa ON OOn 49,. - a =: A.,