Evening star., 1942-03-25
A Condid Statement

hesitate to do its own pruning.
A Candid Statement
Regardless of whether one agrees
or disagrees with his point Of view.
Donald M. Nelson's statement to the
House Naval Affairs Committee on
the forty-hour week question de-
serves recognition as being a thor
oughly candid discussion of an issue
which many other officials have
refused to face squarely.
In the first place, the War Produc-
tion Board chairman said he did not
believe that demands for suspension
Of the forty-hour week were Hitler
inspired" This is in marked contrast
to the attitude Of certain other ad-
ministration spokesmen who have
implied that critics Of the maximum
work week were agents or dupes Of
Hitler, although conceding there was
no evidence to support the belief At
his press conference yesterday the
President apparently gave a limited
Endorsement to this loose and reck-
less accusation, but he did not cite
any evidence in support Of it. Mr..
Nelson said that he thought the de-
mand for suspension of the forty
hour limitation arose from public
misunderstanding Of the problem,
but he did not disagree with an
assertion by Representative Mas
that the demand for modification
was the most genuine campaign in
my years in Congress"
Mr.. Nelson, conceding that the
original intent of the law was to
discourage overtime employment,
took the position that the effect of
the statute now is to govern wages
rather than the hours which a man
may work. And he made it per-
fectly clear, although he did not say
1t inso many words, that he opposes
abolition Of overtime pay after forty
hours because he fears it will be re-
earded by labor as pay cut, with
consequent impairment of produc-
tion. He did object to double-time
pay for Sunday and holiday work,
but the simultaneous action yester-
day Of the Congress of Industrial
Organizations and the American
Federation of Labor in waving
double pay on holidays seemingly
has settled that issue, a step for
which they are to be highly COM
mended
Mr.. Nelson told the committee
that men in tho vital machine tool
industry are working an average
of fifty-five hours a week, that those
in the shipbuilding industry are
averaging forty-eight hours, and that
the average work week In the aircraft
industry is forty-nine hours. If we
abolish the forty-hour week by law"
he said, I'VE do not gain one hour
of additional work in our war indus
tries, but we throw the entire
wage structure out Of adjustment
and remove an important incentive
for labor to shift from non-essential
industries into war production Jobs.
What we need is production now.
The victories Of the next year are
going to be won with the tools we
produce now, this year. A change in
labor legislation would be disturbing
and we must not disturb production" +"
Thus, Mr.. Nelson frankly sum-
marizes his position. With the ex-
ception OF double time for Sunday
and holiday work-which he opposed
and which really was minor issue
he looks with disfavor on pending
proposals for changes in labor legisla-
ton because he believes any change
would be resented by labor and thus
would have an adverse effect on pro-
duction. Or, to put 1t another way,
he believes it Is better to pay the
added cost OF the forty-hour week
than to run the risk of trouble which
would retard our output at this criti-
cal time.
He may be wrong in this opinion, Of
course, but as boss of the production
effort he is to be congratulated for
putting the issue as he sees 1t so
squarely before Congress. In the
last analysis, this highly important
question will be decided by the force
Of public opinion. And, that being
the case, the one certainty is that
nothing can be gained when respon-
sible officials try to evade the real
issue or seek to dispose Of the dispute
by raising some synthetic issue which
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