Imperial Valley press., 1944-09-18
SWAPPING LITTLE STEEL WAGE
FOR NOVEMBER VOTES

Announcement by the war LABOR
Board that the Little Steel formula for
the control Of wages of organized labor
would be scrapped two weeks before the
coming presidential election indcts the
New Deal administration of:
A most flagrant and reprehenslble bid
for votes.
Ignorance and inconsistency.
Gyp of the wage earnerS themselves.
Alipning class against class and m
creasing class hatred.
Attempting the debauchery Of the elec-
torate.
Misuse of executive power granted IN
wartime.
In light of the extent to which the New
Dealers have gone in previous elections
to create and use power political groups
and to use governmental powers TO accom-
nlish these purposes, the WLB announce
ment. which of course has the sanction
of the Commander-in-Ch if not IN fact
at his orders, comes as no surprise.
The administration stands self-lndlcted
on the first count-bid for votes-When
Chairman William II. Davis Of WLB bold
" and blandly declared last week that
the wage raise barrier would be nlled
two weeks before the election. Nothing
could be clearer than that. This being
the case the OllSl lIlulSllllSI4Io 4N''i''
can be supported on the same basis.
The administration has been incon-
sistent in application of the formula. 1t
is enough to establish this indictment
in noting the partial scrapping OF the sys-
tenn in the case of local miners and rall
EMPLOYEES. But in the miners case the
let-doWn came only after John l.. Lewis
had been branded as everything from
traitor to demon. Furthermore, the ad-
ministraton never did intend to enforce
the Presidents unfair method OF attempt
ing to conscript labor when the formula
was adopted in July 1912. 1t was made
the weapon to discipline $4,000 steel
workers who demanded higher pay and
no one ever believed it could be made to
apply fairly or Justly to the millions OF
other workers. Basically, it called for ad-
iustment Of wages on showing OF 10
per cent rise in living costs.
And from there on comes the lndlct-
ment of ignorance which Is closely tleo
up with the gypping OF labor itself.
When the two great union labor groups,
AFL and CIO attempted to show that
a time for readjustment had come IN
Anril l943. the President issued his
famous" call to 'hold the line" against
initiation and said mo- to any modiflca-
ton of the formula.
After that it became the chore OF the
labor group leaders to break down the
formula.
A committee headed by Chairman Dav-
is of WLB reported soon after April 40
that living costs had risen 435 per cent
over the basic period of 1912. Davis did
not hold with this report and new sur
vev was conducted by a new committee
dominated by economists drawn from
colleges. This report filed early this year
set the living cost rise at about half the
previous figure, or 23.4 per cent. And
that figure apparently established itself
as fact This report became record
last March l.
During all this time, since 1941, the
labor department with all the necessary
equipment and personnel at hand, had
been reporting frequently and perodl-
cally increases in cost of living only as
high as | per cent and as low as O0l per
cent and even at times a fraction down
instead of up. Manifestly someone was
wrong and there can be no other way to
explain it than plain ignorance. 1t should
have been easy to be right.
But now comes Chairman Davis with
the uneuuivocal statement that living
costs are AZ per cent up over the basic
1941-42 period and that fool can see
the formulas must 60" lie does not
explain how it is possible for the cost Of
living to have risen 20 per cent since last