Evening star., 1942-05-31
Work or Fioht'

There Is no use blinking the fact
that the decision of the War Man
Power Commission to freeze" the
jobs of workers in critical industries
is long step toward total regimen
tation in America. If this announce
ment is to be taken at it's face value
it will not be long before the great
majority of American workers will
be told by the Government what
they must do and where they must
do 1t. This is not pleasant prospect.
1t is the antithesis of everything that
Americans have known and believed
in. but it is probably the only formula
for victory in total war, and for that
reason it will have to be accepted by
the people.
To say this, however, is not to i'm
ply that such drastic policy can or
should be implemented in a fashion
which puts the principal emphasis
on the end to be attained at the ex-
pense Of the means to be employed.
The policy must be sold" to the
country, and that calls for an effec-
tive job Of salesmanship. 1t is in
this respect that the start which has
been made gives rise to misgivings.
The announcement of the general
freezing" policy was followed by
what has been called work or
fight" explanatory statement, and
that was a bad beginning. This work
or fight phrase did not appear in the
commissions statement, but, after
considerable beating around the
bush, the statement did say that if a
worker should refuse to accept suit
able employment in war industry
without reasonable cause, "it would,
Of course, be the duty of the United
States Employment Service to report
the circumstances to the Selective
Service System for consideration in
connection with any request for de-
ferment on occupational grounds"
The threat implicit in that language
is only thinly veiled by the round
about phraseology. In other words,
the suggestion is that recalcitrant
workers may be punished by being
inducted into the Army-an ap-
proach to the problem which is
wholly wrong from the psychological
standpoint. Service in the armed
forces should not be treated as a
penalty, even by implication, and
neither the Army nor the industrial
front can benefit If labor is to be
kept in line by the implied threat
that "the Army will get you If you
don't watch out"
The commission s explanatory state
ment is also sadly deficient in clarity.
At one point it is stated that the con-
templated restrictions will apply
only to employers, with whom the
commission evidently intends to be
quite firm. They are to be told what
employment polices they must fol-
low, and are threatened somewhat
vaguely with appropriate action" for
failure to comply.
But the approach to the employees
is quite different. The hard facts of
their case are generously coated
with ambiguous wordage. Thus, the
employees are told that there will be
no restrictions placed upon the fire.
dom of a worker to work where he
chooses (although presumably an
employer would be forbidden to hire
him) except that he will be expected
to secure any new job through the
United States Employment Service"
However, the statement adds, every
effort will be made to induce" work.
ers possessing critical skills to "ac-
cept" employment in war industries
according to need. The non-con-
forming worker has to read into the
next paragraph before he learns that
one of these inducements is the i'm
piled threat to induct him into the
Army.
Surely this disingenuous approach
to such vital problem is neither
necessary nor desirable. In the long
run 1t can only be expected to pro-
duce endless confusion, disillusion-
ment and resentment. If the main
purpose of the statements now being
issued is to secure the willing CO.
operation of the mass Of the people in
this necessary program, and that is
the case, the best hope of success lies
in disclosing all of the facts-fully,
clearly and promptly. Instead of en-
deavoring to mask some of the grim
mer aspects of the picture, why not
lay all of the cards on the table?
q