Evening star., 1943-07-23
An IlI-Timed UItimutum


Whatever it was the President may
have told the members of the Com
bined Labor War Board who visited
him yesterday, it seems to have had
a definitely reassuring effect. For
one does not tell the reporters at the
White House that one may have to
insist" on the removal of a Federal
official price Administrator Prentiss
Brown unless there is confidence
in ability to make the insistance
effective.
Be that as it may, the important
thing is that this delegation of the
leading officials of organized labor
left with the President yesterday an
ultimatum, the implications of which
should be we'll understood by the
American people.
The ultimatum sets forth that the
President, in vetoing the Commodity
Credit Corporation bill (Which car
ried legislative provision banning
use of subsidies to roll back food
prices, said that such rollbacks were
necessary to stabilize wages and
prices; that Congress recessed after
"acceding to your proposal by leaving
no legislative restrictions for the
carrying out of the proposed rollback
of food prices; that Price Adminis-
traitor Brown has said he has no
plans for subsidy rollbacks beyond
those already authorized, which are
inadequate; that no steps are being
taken by any of the administrators
to carry out the Presidents stated
objectives as to subsidy rollback, and
if these steps are not taken organized
labor no longer can support the wage
and price stabilization program as
now formulated.
While it is true that Congress left
no legislative restrictions on the
Presidents broader use of subsidies
to roll back food prices, it is not true
that Congress acceded to the subsidy
plan. Congress indicated its refusal
to accede on several occasions. It
wrote into the CCC bill a specific
prohibition against use of subsidies,
and the President vetoed the bill. A
majority of the House, but not the
necessary tWo-thirds, favored pass
ing the bill over the Presidents veto.
A majority of the Senate wrote an
other subsidy ban into a new bill
which the House would have sup
ported. The fight was suspended in
order to recess, leaving the President
technically undefeated on the issue,
but with the recorded majority of
Congress plainly against the use of
subsidies for rollbacks and with
sentiment against subsidies in the
ascendency.
The Labor War Boards ultimatum
now seems to amount to a demand
that the President, Price Administra-
tor Brown and the other admins
traitors undertake full program OF
rollback of food prices with subsidies
despite the manifest disapproval of
Congress. The implied threat to
back up this demand is labor's with
drawal of its support for wage and
price stabilization, which evidently
would mean repudiation of the War
Labor Board, the Little Steel
formula" and, perhaps, more serious
impediments in fighting the war.
Now, if the officials of organized
labor are as sincerely interested in
the prevention of imitation as thev
say they are, they know as we'll as
anybody else that another drive to
raise wage levels would be far more
dangerous than what is likely to
happen to food prices, with or with
out subsidized rollbacks. They also
know that the increases in organized
labor's earnings have exceeded sub
stantially the increases in cost of
living; that, in spite of food price
increases, the average wage Garner is
paying, in proportion to what he
earns, less for food than at any time
In the past twenty-five years. And it
is another sorry reflection on the
caliber of labor craftsmanship in
this country that these leaders have
carried their selfish threats to the
White House at this time.