Imperial Valley press., 1942-08-23

the next few months, if you're in
| tereSted in knowing whether ther
is to be a national compulsory wa
labor law to draft workers ant
force their transfer to essential in
dustrieS. For Baltimore is the pub.
lie guinea pig No. on this whole
business of solving all the problems
of war labor supply and demand b,
voluntary. cooperation of labor
management and the general pub
lie.
Baltimore gets this dubious
honor by reason of being the
first city i'm which the War
Manpower Commission has set
up regional office, with
labor management advisory
committee which will try to
work out all these complicated
problems of labor pirating, Ia
Dor boarding, increased en-
ployment of women, control of
labor m g. atiCgn, increased
training of unskilIed and semi
skilled labor, housing, trans
pOrtation and all such head
aches. If Baltimore can solve
these problems by voluntary
cooperation within the COM
munity, the voluntary cooper
alton method might stick for
the duration.
If it's no go in Baltimore, then
look out for increased agitation
for a law that will draft labor the
same way it has drafted men for
the Army-a law that will give the
government power to say in effect,
You, buddy, have the rare talent
for pouring sand in a boot, while
you, sister, are Gods gift to the
buttonhole frdustry. You will
therefore Immediately repair to st.
Louis, Mo, to pour sand and cut
out the goods that a buttonhole
goes around, for the duration. And
you will like it."
There may have to be a law
like that, anyway, no matter how
the Blltimore experiment works
out. After election, when Congress
gets back on the job, the law
makers may cut loose on the theory
that nobody else is better than a
soldier and therefore everybody
that doesn't fight will have to do
war work.
1t is doubtful If a law that dras-
tic could be forced through Con-
gresS, but in the same breath it
must be admitted that winning a
long war with only voluntary reg
ulation of labor supply is like go
ing to bat with two strikes already
called. The War Manpower Com
missions stepping into the Balti-
more and other critical war pro-
duction areas calls for big league
pinch hitting. But whether it fans
out or knocks a home run, this
effort to do the manpoWer regula-
tion job on a voluntary basis is
a necessary play in the transition
from free to more rigidly con-
trolled war labor market. 1t must
be proved that the democratic vol
untary system won't work before
something else is tried.
The effort to coordinate
BsltimOre's manpower prob
lens under government super
vision is less than a month old,
so perhaps it is unfair to make
any guesses as to whether it
is going to be successful. But
the problems i'm Baltimore are
fundamentally the same prob
lens that may have to be fac
ed i'm New Orleans, Los Angeles,
Cincinnati or wherever.
To start the ball rolling, War
Manpower Commissioner Paul v
McNutts organization picked one
Of its bright young men and told
him he was to be regional war
manpower commissioner for the
Baltimore area. The man picked
was A. A. Liveright of Chicago
who had been on the McNutt
Washington staff and knew what
the manpower problems were
though he didn't know Baltimore
The responsibility falling on tall
dark Mr.. Liveright was consider
able.
His first job-his first two jobs
really-Were u get about a dozen
federal state and local govern
ment agencies together and get
them all shooting at the same tar
get, which was mobilization of man
power for increased war produc-
ton. Included were the U. S. En-