Evening star., 1943-09-20
, Labor BUDGET PIun

The text of what Bernard Baruch
and John Hancock describe as labor
budget plan is persuasive argument,
in its implications, for a national
service law.
While the report does not pass
Judgment on the merits of national
service act, it is no secret that Mr.
Baruch is skeptical of the wisdom of
taking such step. Although Britain
has enacted legislation of this sort
and has obtained good results with
1t, there are many who contend that
resort to compulsion or threat of
compulsion would not be feasible in
this country. There are several
grounds for this opinion, but the
principal one is that Americans
should not be required by law to
work for private employer In the
language of William Green, president
of the American Federation of Labor,
there must be no resort to "involun-
tary servitude" in the United States.
There is, certainly, great deal of
force to this contention, and it will
be readily granted that we should not
resort to compulsory legislation un-
less the need for it is clear. What are
the facts as to that?
At the outset it is necessary to
keep in mind that millions of men are
being compelled by law to fight this
war. It is true that they are serving
the country and not some private
employer, but the fact remains that
they have been taken out of their
homes by the Government and sent
to the fronts. And the greatest re-
sponsibility OF those of us who remain
at home is to make certain that these
men at the battle fronts are given the
absolute maximum of support. Mr..
Baruch's report comedies that this is
not being done at this time.
Although we have been at war for
almost two years, we have not yet
succeeded in making the fullest use
of our war production facilities. We
are not producing as many weapons
for our fighting men as we could and
should produce, largely for the rea-
son that we are not making the best
use OF our labor force. The question
is how to rectify this deficiency.
The essence of Mr.. Baruch's plan
Is to bring labor supply and demand
into balance community by COM
munity throughout the country. To
accomplish this the labor budget
plan has been worked out, and under
it manufacturers will have to get
along with the number of workers
allotted them on priority basis, and
workers will be limited in their
choice of jobs. This is being done
now on the West Coast because it
has to be done, not because of any
capricious desire to restrict the free
dom OF employers and workers. The
only essential difference between
this and national service act is that
the Baruch plan, while compulsory
Ala ChCSt, IcSIS upon WQdI is CdlleQ
a voluntary basis. But to very con-
siderable extent the freedom of
workers to choose their own places
Of employment is restricted, and if
this were not the case the labor
budget plan would be certain to fail.
Whether it will be successful is
something that remains to be de-
termined. 1t is to be hoped that it
will succeed, and even if it does not
the progress made under it should be
helpful in clearing the way for a
national service law. But we should
not overlook the fact that this long
search for an alternative to frank
compulsion has been costly in war
production. In fairness to the men
who have been sent into battle, we
must recognize the fact that the
successful conduct of the war comes
first, and if this cannot be done on a
voluntary basis we must go to COM