Evening star., 1942-10-22
Munpower MuddIe

| WunpOWeI Mu00le
There can no longer be any doubt
that the Government has done very
poor job of organizing the country's
manpoWer for the supreme effort
that this war will require. More
than ten months after Pearl Harbor,
there is no evidence that any effective
centralized control of the ALLEGATION
OF manpower exists, and there is little
evidence that even so much as a
comprehensive plan to this end has
been drawn up. The results of this
failure are beginning to be apparent
IN the acute and dangerous shortages
OF labor in certain key industries,
such as that which has brought about
the decision to release 1000 miners
from military service, and an i'm
| proper age balance in the Army,
which the President believes might
be corrected by furloughing older
men for work in war plants.
The problem will not be solved by
such feeble correctives as these, how
ever. According to the Tolan Com
mittee of the House, which has
studied the matter at length and
prepared comprehensive and
thoughtful report, the solution lies
in complete overhauling of the
agencies having to do with man.
power and the coordination of their
functions under new manpoWer
high command. In the opinion of
this committee, national compulsory
service legislation should not be
passed until adequate machinery for
manpoWer mobilization has been set
up. Unless this preliminary step is
taken, the committee says, even
greater chaos than that now prevail
! ing will result. r.--4-.-r.-
The remedy proposed by the Tolan
| Committee may or may not be the
best one, but the correctness of their
assertion that the prevailing program
is deplorably inadequate is confirmed
by the testimony of Paul V. McNutt,
chairman of the War Manpower
Commission, before the Senate Mill
tary Affairs Committee.
Mr.. McNutt conceded that his COM
mission has no power to require
action by workers or employers" He
may issue directives, but they cannot
be enforced except by resort to Sane
tions," the chief of which is the
threat OF induction into the Army.
But this form of sanction has to be
applied through local Selective Serv-
ice Boards, which are not controlled
by Mr.. McNutt or any one else, and
any serious attempt to solve the man
power problem by this method is out
of the question. Mr.. McNutt would
deal with the problem through enact
ment OF compulsory service legisla-
tion, draft of which he proposes
to submit to the President within
two weeks.
AS this whole picture takes shape,
however, it seems increasingly clear
that the fundamental difficulty lies
in the effort that is being made to
maintain distinction between COM
pulSory service in war industry and
compulsory service in military units.
Mr.. McNutt told the Senate Com
mlttee that this is total war, and we
must have men to produce as we'll
as fight" But when men are called
for the Army they are not asked
whether they want to fight. No effort
is made to maintain their peacetime
living standards, because it obviously
cannot be done. Since there is no
feasible alternative, they are COM
PEELED to 60 into the Army and obey
| orders.
The approach to the war labor
problem is different Mr.. McNutt,
although recognizing need for some
compulsion, says that there Should be
certain minimum guarantees con-
corning wages, hours and conditions
OF employment and that seniority
rights, for example, should be pro-
tected. No one questions the desir-
ability of such safeguards if they can
be worked out But the emphasis
should be on service to the country.
1t has not been possible to apply
such guarantees in the case of men
drafted for the Army, and it GER
tainly is questionable whether they
can be incorporated in a compulsory
war service law without defeating
the purpose of the legislation
No doubt much of the concern in
this respect is based on the necessity
of securing public support for such a
law. Many believe it will not be
supported if it works hardships. But
it is to be hoped that such a law, If
honestly written with a view to
serving the national interest, will be
supported even though hardships and
perhaps inequities are inevitable. It
may be recalled that year ago, when