Evening star., 1943-08-16

or threat whereby military serv-
tce-the giving of oneself to the
Nations cause in wartime-is held
up as a penalty to be suffered un-
less the arbitrary, If not unlawful,
bidding Of some governmental bu-
reau Is obeyed.
Most everybody who is familiar
with legislative powers realizes that
It citizens are to be ordered from
one occupation to the other, there
must be q universal service law to
bring about that result. Such G.
bill has been introduced in both
Houses and is known as the Austin
Wadsworth bill. 1t was thought to
be good strategy to let two Repub-
licans introduce the measure but
it was assumed that the President
would give it his support and ask
Congress to pass it.
Civilian Function Unsolved.
But Mr.. Roosevelt has never pub
hcly proclaimed his support of the
bill. Instead, he is trying to ac-
complish by equivocal Interpretation
Of the selective service law what
Congress never intended should be
the operation of that law.
The whole manpower problem has
been mismanaged from the start.
The country was assured that the
selective service system would be
handled by local boards and would
be civilian enterprise. But it has
turned out that the selective serv-
ice is dominated by military men in
Washington bureaus and that the
civilian operation of industry has
been damaged by the incompetence
of the national selective service
headquarters, which has had ample
power to issue constructive regula-
tions.
A serious crisis is already in prog
ress in the West Coast aircraft in
dustry and in other war plants be-
cause proper rules for occupational
deferment were never drawn. While
many local boards are doing
splendid job. those which are not
qualified to pass on or handle en-
ployer problems refer them on to
higher boards and even to the ma
tional selective service headquar-
tiers, but there is no mandatory pro-
vision for giving hearing to en-
ployers. Even headquarters oper-
ates in star-chamber fashion and
there Is no opportunity for defer
ment cases to be presented on their
merits by interested employers.
1t was believed that when Paul
McNutt took hold of the War Man
power Commission there would be q
change, but he, too, became sub
servient to the military bureaucrats
IN selective service headquarters
and the mess Is worse than ever.
He issues formal-looking manpower
statements but headquarters, in ef-
feet, tells the local boards to dis
regard them II they like.
Congress Fails to Act.
Congress is mainly responsible be-
cause 1t has seen the mixups de-
velop and the conflicts in authority
between Government agencies grow
and yet has done nothing about it.
This Is the same Congress which
assured the public in the 1912 elec-
tions that 1t was going to represent
the people and exercise its inde-
pendence. Evidently the people are
failing to tell their members Of Con-
gress about 1t.
Meanwhile, the industrial front is
weakened by haphazard and incom-
petent handling Of the manpower
problem and the luckiest thing that
would happen to America would be
to have an early ending of the war,
for II the war lasts another two
years the serious consequences of
this ineniciency In Washington will
be felt some day in a breakdown
OF production when the program of
supplying many battle fronts, in
cluding our Allies, will have to be
pared down considerably just be-
cause manpower has not been prop
erly allocated or selected on the
home front.
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