Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1943-02-02
Wait Till u. S.
Starts Shift
Of Workers
Then Will Come Test
of Labor Program
BY wESTBROOK PEGLER

BY WESTBROOK PEGLER
IF HARRY HOPKINS speaks
l. with authority, as we may
assume he does, being a resident
of the White House and the
Presidents nearest friend, then
this government Is engaged In
furious contest with itself in the
matter of manpower.
Mr.. Hopkins recently wrote
through the medium of a spook
or ghost writer. that civilians
must be modified through a Sc
lective service warwork act and
distributed fairly and efficiently.
mo A m eri Tea H." said he,
SHOULD be allowed to decide for
himself how much he will do or
how much he will give"
At the same time, however,
the political policy of the admin
istration known as its labor pro-
gram, insists that manpower
must be wasted il a union de-
cides that two men shall be
hired to do the work of one.
This policy was upheld last
winter by the Supreme Court in
an opinion delivered by Justice
James Byrnes who has since re-
signed TO assist in the admins
tration of the manpower prob
lem.
60 WE now stand at this
~ point:
Mr.. Hopkins warns all citi-
zens that a 45-year-old white
collar worker. stenographer or
a small businessman who says.
Il can't leave here and cross the
continent TO work in a ship
yard" at smaller pay. will have
TO do so. nevertheless, because
we are short of hands.
But while the 45-year-old !
white collar worker. the stenog-
rapher and the small business
man are working in the shipyard
far from home and at smaller
pay, loafers are protected by a
law, as interpreted by Mr..
Byrnes, in their right 10 draw
pay for doing no work at all or
for doing much less work than
they could do without overstrain.
Under this system. II a men,
~ Der of a train crew gets
down on the ground and opens
and closes switch under GER
tain conditions. another man is
deemed to have done a days
work.
In other occupations, men
regularly are limited TO about
two-thirds of the amount of
work they could do without un-
due exertion. Labor saving de-
vices are outlawed or licensed
by unions at rates which are in
tended to yield pay for the labor
saved.
One man must drop his tools
and wait until another man can
be found 10 come and bore a
hole in a board or a piece OF
metal. A loafer, known as a
hamburger man because all he
does is run errands 10 the dog
stand for others on the job, must
be paid $12 day for being pres
ent TO perform the strictly hypo-
thetical duties of an oiler on a
power shovel or hoist which no
more needs a full time oiler than
your car does.
Nevertheless, because all per-
sons so engaged are deemed 10
be fully and productivity en-
ployed in the war effort, the As
year-old white-collar worker,
the stenographer and the small
businessman are warned by Mr..
Hopkins. speaking from the
White House, that they mustV
cross the continent TO work in
shipyard.
MOREOVER, when they do
A'A leave home under the COM
plusion which he foreSeeS, they
will have 10 present themselves
to the agents of the unions and
either pay cash on the line or
agree TO the deduction from
their weekly pay of large
amounts of money as the price
Of membership in unions which
they may have no desire TO join.
II it is to a shipyard that the
45-year-old white-collar patriot
is assigned he may have TO buy
a group insurance policy at an
exhorbitant premium negotiated
by a close relative of the union
boss who is drawing tremen-
dous income in royalties on the
policy.
Thus far, neither Mr.. Hop
kinS nor Paul V. McNutt has
offered any alternative TO this
compulsory membership in the
union. although plainly in mil
lions of cases, ii has flouted the
stated purpose of the Wagner
Act to permit workers TO bar
gain through agents of their own
choice.
THUS far IL is the policy Of
l. the government TO compel
fba ,Na0,Nlo xphn will no thuC