Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1942-07-10
Wage Freeze
Legislation
Pondered
Congress Chiefs Report
President Worried
BY PAUL MALLON

W press has reported leaning
ION good authority that the
Administration is considering
legislation To freeze the wage
price economic level hard
The authority was very"
good There is none better. The
notlCn can be traced back to
Mr.. Roosevelt himself.
Hi, congressional leaders re-
port him worried. He took the
matter up with the Big Four of
the House and Senate at their
last weekly private meeting at
the White House, but only in a
general way along the same
lines he previously had sug-
gested to them.
They did not understand that
he had anything immediate in
mind. but that he rather gen.
orally shares the opinion which
his price fiXer Leon Henderson
suggested 10 senator recently:
Something will have TO be
done"
MEANWHILE, wags around
vi Congress are popularlzing
the quip that the immediate
problem is TO bring the "all-in
economy up 10 the about war
effort"
While the conversationalists
are using "all-in' only face
tiously. the problem is growing
fast, against only such verbal
brakes as the President and
Henderson are using.
Congress is inf1ationary-
minded. The farm bloc wants
higher prices. not necessarily
what they consider inflationary
prices. but higher than presently
allowed. Labor as always, wants
wage increases.
Together they represent ma
iority opinion in the Legislature.
They were the ones who turned
down all strong freezing devices
in the present price-wage law
and limited Henderson's devices.
pUT you cannot blame it all
- on Congress. The farm
bloc justifies itself. for instance,
by rightly claiming that the adj
ministration policy on labor and
wages also has been infationary.
Furthermore, b G h n d these
congratulations. the situation is
criss-crossed with innumerable
political self-interests. Current
White House. worry, for in
stance, is deepened by Con-
greSsional failure to levy all
taxes Mr.. Morgenthau wants
and by obstreperous antics of
the farm bloc on the feed-sell-
ing program.
Congressional antagonism TO
Henderson likewise lies in his
failure to give them patronage
in his vast organization.
Above all, every one is con-
scious and super-sensitive OF the
coming Congressional elections.
1t may be some time before
anything effective is done.
DONALD NELSON'S latest
~ reorganization of his sue
cessful War Production Board
did not materially touch one
point of inner-criticism - the
preponderance of investment
bankers and financial business
men in his organization.
His personnel assistant hap
pens TO be Sidney Weinberg of
Goldman-Sachs, who naturally
happens to know practically
every one in Wall street or in
the finance end of corporations,
rather than the production end.
The result is one Official was
able to number Is such men in
front WIPE positions, the most
prominent being:
Cliff Hill, Guaranty Trust
Company; Ed Locke, Chase Ma
tional Bank; Arthur Bunker,
Lehman Brot hers; James S.
Knowlson, president, Stewart
Warner; Arthur Newhall, vice
president Talon, Inc. and Les
sing j. Rosenwald, Rosenwald
Foundation.
Wall Street business being
what il is, Mr. Weinberg seems
10 be running a 81 a year I'M
employment relief program for
investment bankers in WPB.
TlfE idea that the rubber scrap
Il campaign is somewhat po-
litical and has produced little
real rubber of use for tires is
thoroughly disproved by the de-
tailed results.
lis true that old tires and
tubes are about the only scrap
artic 5 containing sufficient
rubber for use in recapping or
making new ones. Some rain
coats. shoes and garden hose arc
helpful.
The evidence shows. however,
more than half the scrap rub
Der acquired comes within the