Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1942-11-12
Senators Assoi Failure of VINO to Set Basic Policy
N(continued From First p.ses

rules, contract provisions, trad,
practices or usages, or statutor,
provisions which act a. q curb OF
production. $40.
Labor Hoarding Assailed.
5. Defense Plant Corp. and con,
tracing officials refuse to allow q
reimbursable costs wages paid Il
labor which has not been usee
effectively. This recommendation
is designed to break up labor hoard.
ing.
6. War production expansion
should be planned so as to utiliz,
or convert existing. plants to tn,
maximum possible use, and new con.
struction should be cut to the limit
7. WPA relief employment ane
similar programs be cut drasticall,
or eliminated. Any person refusinf
to work on q job he is capable o.
performing should be ineligible K
receive any kind Of relief or worl
relief.
8. Full skill and abilities Of each
worker should be absorbed. Easy
jobs should be reserved for elder
men and women. Students on va.
cation should be employed In sea-
sonal jobs.
A subcommittee, according to the
report, has spent number of weeks
investigating the manpower problem
and various proposals to solve it. The
subcommittee headed by Senator
Kilgore, Democrat, of West Virginia
carried on its inquiry behind closed
doors. Full text of the committee
report was not made public because
of the volume of confidential ma
terial submitted, it was explained.
Last month the House committee
investigating defense migration flee
a report, stating that latter five
months of existence the War Man
power Commission had hardly be-
gun to assess its responsibilities. "
The President on Tuesday released
a report by the WINGS Manage
ment-Labor Policy Committee which
stated that major weaknesses exist
in the present approach to the over
all manpower situation. weaknesses
that require immediate attention
and correction, and which, if not
corrected, will seriously impede the
war effort"
The Senate report said the public
knows there is a manpower problem
because it Is becoming increasingly
difficult to obtain any kind of help,
and because industries are slowing
down for lack of labor"
Overall Program Lacking.
There have been scores and hun
dreds of public utterances from
Washington telling about the man
power problem, criticizing the public
for failure to cooperate in a non
existent program to solve it, and
threatening a draft of labor or a
draft of women or this or that form
of compulsion. But there has been
no overall program or policy" the
committee asserted.
The committee contends that the
formulation of such a policy is
basic and until it is formulated and
tried out, cit vii! be impossible to
determine what, if any, legislation is
necessary to effecruate it"
The report said the committee
had decided "it would be a mistake
for the Congress to even consider
passage of any drastic compulsory
legislation, and added:
"Conlpulsion in this field should
be the very last resort in a democ-
racy such as ours, and then should
be used only in very specific and
well-deflned areas where voluntary
methods and controls now available
under existing law have proven
inadequate"
Commission Handbags Cited.
Chairman Paul V. McNutt' of the
Manpower Commission has said
that persuasion, argument and
patriotism" were the commissions
only weapon The Senate COM
mittee declared that the real
strength of any program will always
rest on patriotic, voluntary co-opera-
ton IN making it effective But it is
futile to appeal for that kind of
cooperation until a program is
formulated.
The committee said the commits
sion has been handicapped because
lit has no voice whatever in deter
mining the military manpower re-
Quirements or the rate at which they
shall be met 1t pointed out that
there are three variables Which must
be adjusted to the overall manpower
resources-strength of armed forces,
Of production necessary to
keep the armed forces supplied and
the volume of manpower required to
supply essential civilian needs.
The committee held that even "if
we begin by stripping our civilian
economy to the bone, it is apparent
that two other factors. military man
power and military production, must
be adjusted to fit our maximum po-
tential manpower."
Top Heavy Structure Feared.
"Otherwise." the report continued.
I'VE are in danger of recruiting a
huge fighting force and then finding
that we have cut down industry
so much that it cannot
produce equipment and supplies
needed by that fighting force"
The report continued:
This means, first. that our gen.
eral staff must check its. war
strategy plans, insofar as man
power and production are con-
cerned, against our total manpower
resources to make sure that an
efficient balance is achieved; and
second, that the of1icial or agency
for manpower mobiliza-
ton must have some voice in and
knowledge of these war require
ments in order to do an effective
job.
To do this. We must determine
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