Evening star., 1943-12-08

n IL IL D 8
bold exposition
= ''" of the admin
David Lawrence istration's diff
cult task in trying 70 apply the
tenets Of anti-inf1ation philosophy
to all groups despite their politica
or economic power.
mo group" flashed Mr.. Byrnes
"has a right to hold politica
pistol at the head of the Congress.
or of any administrative agency
and say that they will strike. Any
group which threatens to strike il
wartime unless the executive OF
legislative branch of the Govern.
ment meets its demands Is using 6
political pistol. The Government
must say to any such group, Lay
that pistol down."
Belated PrOnOuncement.
This is said apropos of the pres
sure being eXerted on Congress tc
pass a resolution declaring that
the incorporating railroad employees
shall receive increases in wages be-
yond those recommended by the
Office of Economic Sterilization. II
these groups get congressional back
ing for their view, other groups will
try the same method
1T is one thing" argues Mr.
Byrnes. for the Congress to repeal
this law (the Anti-inflation Act) or
to revise the general policies which
it has intrusted to the administra-
ton to administer 1t Is quite an
other thing to enact special law
for a special group without laying
down a general policy applicable to
all"
Mr.. Byrnes is eternally right in
that statement. But it is belated
pronouncement to be hearing from
any high official in the admiAistra-
ton which since 1888 has been
favoring special groups so that the
special groups expect it now and
cannot understand uniformity of
treatment. ;
Mistaken Approach.
When Mr.. Byrnes speaks of the
unrest and protests of groups that
do not wish to accede to the anti
imitation rules, he does not recognize
the possibility that the Little Steel
formula" itself may be inequitable
and unfair. To hold to an unwise
policy just because to deviate is re-
garded as not holding the line is a
mistaken approach. The reason
why Mr.. Byrnes finds it so hard to
explain away the manner in which
the War Labor Board and the ad-
mlnistration yielded to John L.
Lewis and the United Mine Workers
even though they were on strike
and exacted their award of increased
wages under actual duress is that
the cot miners leader felt his union
would back him up and there would
be no coal mined. And the workers
had no other choice, for when the
administration made it possible for
Mr.. Lewis and the miners union
officers to get a monopoly hold on
the workers by means of closed
shop they lost then any opportu-
nifty to appeal persuasively to the
patriotism Of the miners or any,
thing else.
To say now. as Mr. Byrnes SAYS.
that the War Labor Board has
stated that in the future it will not
approve any agreement made un-
der the threat of a strike" is like
locking the stable door after the
horse Is stolen. Many groups will
wonder why wage concessions were
granted to one group as a conse-
quence of strike and now are not
to be granted other groups who
don't strike. Surely that is not
equitable treatment of the protests.
Full of Inconsistencies.
But the difficulty with the ad-
mlnlstration's wage policy is that
1t is full of inconsistencies: Thus it
tells the American people that high
taxes are needed to tax awav the
surplus sums in the hands of the
people. This is broadcast widely and
Is fully understood But the ad-
mlnlstration insists on it's refusal to
put drastic tax rates into effect for
the lower bracket cases.
Indeed, 1t is a plain inconsistency
for Mr. Byrnes to argue about anti
imitation policy and then to defend
the following thesis in his speech:
The stabilization director indi-
Gated that he would allow increases
to remove substandard wage con-
dltlons and taper those increases
of for the higher brackets. A sec
ond panel accordingly allowed 10
cents an hour to the lowest paid
workers, tapering those increases
down for the higher paid to cents.
the same amount given the rail-
road operating employees. In aggre-
gate the incorporating employees
will get nearly as much as was
recommended by the first panel,
but more of the increase goes to
the lower paid workers"
But if the higher paid workers
pay more in taxes, and the lower
paid workers actually pay less taxes
because their rates are lower, how
does this add to governmental tax
receipts and thus ward off infla-
ton?
Instead of taxing higher and
higher among the lower wage
groups, as we'll as among the upper
brackets, and thus siphoning off
the increased incomes to the Treas
ury, the administration is failing to
hold the tax line steady and is
actually encouraging the distribu-
ton of larger and larger amounts
to the classes who cannot possibly
be benefited by the consequent in
f1ation.
GRanraduetia, al4