Evening star., 1943-09-17

again by other V
critics without David Lawrence.
avail for several months.
Today's manpower crisis was fore
seen, was warned against and was
outlined frequently in the press and
in Congress. 1t is the most con-
spicuous failure today on the home
front.
The controversy over drafting
fathers merely brings the whole
question of competence and eff
cheney in administering the Selec-
tive Service System to the fore
The administration has temporized
with the problem and, as has been
It's custom with other difficult ques-
tions on the home front, it has
created conflicting and overlapping
agencies.
Few people here today know where
the Selective Service System ends
and the War Manpower Commits
sion begins. The authority of each
If each indeed has authority-over
the other in any respect is not
clearly defined.
Paul McNutt is the head of the
War Manpower Commission and
Maj. Gen. Hershey is in charge of
selective service. The general says
fathers must be drafted. Mr.. Nc
Mutt says that industry doesn't dis
tribute or utilize it's manpower eff
fectively.
All Sorts of Alibis.
There are all sorts of alibis always
when a mess arises. Usually it is
declared to be industry's fault,
though the unimaginative people in
Washington seem to think en-
ployerS can order their employees
around as the Army orders its en-
listed men,
Thus, for example. there is need
for 10000 more men than Seattle
has today to fulfill existing war
contracts. How can such men be
secured? They must be brought in
from elsewhere, taken from their
homes or persuaded to leave their
homes, or else the number of war
contracts must be diminished and
allocated to cities in other sections
of the country.
A comprehensive investigation
surveying the manpower situation in
the aircraft industry and in other
industries on the West Coast has
been made by a committee headed
by Bernard M. Baruch at the re-
quest of Mobilization Director
Byrnes. The recommendations in
the report are generally known
around Washington, but the text
has been suppressed. Maybe this is
done because it reflects on the pres
ent manpower management and Sc
lective service. Maybe the report is
suppressed because it would prove
that the draft of fathers should be
postponed. But some reason of
psychological or political nature is
doubtless the basis for the sup
preston.
Public Should Get Report.
The public is entitled to the
Baruch report. The rubber situa-
ton was cleared up when the Ba-
ruch report on rubber was made
public. 1t minced no words and
spared nobody's feelings then-Mr
Baruch probably is as fortnight on
manpower as he was on the rubber
problem.
The handling Of selective service
can disrupt not only war produc-
ton but the production of those
civilian necessities to obtain which
workers leave their jobs periodically,
thus increasing absenteeism. 1t does
little good to raise big army If
the weapons to support 1t cannot
be furnished in adequate supply.
The parade of Army and Navy
oficials to Capitol Hill to testify
that fathers must be drafted would
ordinarily be impressive. But since
members Of Congress know that these
officers appear at the Capitol when
ordered or requested to do SO by
someone with particular viewpoint
to advance, less weight Is attached
to such testimony.
1t will be recalled, for instance,
that officials of the War Depart
ment early this year testified that
the Army request for 100000 Of
ficers and men by the end of 1943
was not figure pulled out of hat
but carefully made and that it was
absolutely imperative that it be
achieved. Former President Hoover
had urged that it be revised. He
was attacked for that suggestion.
Yet 1t is revealed this week in
Senate hearing that the figure has
been cut down to about 7,700 900 and
that this decision was reached long
"a a IN 8 HM ~ 2