The voice of labor. (Cumberland, Md.) 1938-1942, 1942-01-29
UNEScAPABLE EVIDENCE

Inc truman senate committee lnVes-
tigating the war production program
was compelled, by the great mass of
unacceptable. factual evidence to draw
scorching conclusions Big business
was condemned for dominating and
holding back the production effort,
profiteering. bungling and blind lack of
planning
The report bore out the charges pub
licized by the Go and all of labor.
The committee report on the influ-
ence of the dollar-a-year men was dew
astating. 1t pointed out they are in
effect Lobbyists" for their companies :
that large companies obtain very sub
stantial benefits from having their ex-
ecutlves IN such jobs; and that in gen.
eral the dollar-a-year men tend to re-
fleet big business attitudes in the plac-
ing of contracts and with respect to
government competition. taxation. am
ortlzatlon. financing of new plants and
the margin of profit that should be al
lowed
The Truman committee called atten-
ton again and again to the enormous
war profits that are being made, not
ably in Shipbuilding. aircraft and the
auto industry. II noted that General
Motors, Chrysler and Ford made COM
bined profits of sos, O0O, 900 in 1910.
and of $3.50, 10000 in the first nine
months of l9ll.
From such profit figures it concluded
that however heavy the tax program
is. companies which obtain large de-
tense contracts obtain int lses in their
profits to such An extent that they are
more than able to pay the increased tax
and IN effect. are in position where
the tax involves no sacrifice whatsoever
TO them
Referring to past defense strikes the
committee expressed its belief that
many OF the strikes for wage increases
were inspired by noting the tremendous
profits being reported by companies
having defense contracts"
xxx
One OF the worst features of the Tru
man committees report was the boost
II gave to the anti-labOr bills introduced
ny two OF its members. Senators Con.
naliy and Ball. The report created a
false impression as to the extent of de-
tense stoppages by declaring that 26
million man-days were lost in defense
industries through strikes between
June, 1910. and October. 1871.
The fact of the matter is that this
was rough estimate by committee wit.
nesses OF the total number of man-days
lost IN all strikes. non-defense as we'll
as defense; and that government fig
ures show only "a million man-days
were lost in the 17-month period
through strikes that substantially af
fected defense production.
AS to the monopoly tendencies evil
dent IN the misallocation of contracts
resulting in bottlenecks and idle plants
as the CIO has so frequently complain.
ed recent OPM figures speak more clio.
quently than words.
One hundred large companies, for in
stance. received 82.6 per cent of the
government armament commitments i'm
the ID months ending September |,
amounting to more than 12'. billion dol
lars distributed among 1922 COM
panies in contracts of $4,000 or more.
xxx
II should certainly become evident
that the war production effort has been
hampered by the business s-usual at
tltude of big business. And it should
become increasingly evident, from the
number of production plans submitted
by labor, that labor is able and willing
to do the job necessary for victory over
he fnrnnr ,fA H. l.