Evening star., 1944-01-30
StrikeSNot Cured
By Service Law
By John H. cline.

Inc TACT tnat Britain has a compulsory
national service law is often cited by
those who believe that we ought to have
such statute in this country. Because
compulsory service has worked well In
Britain, they say, 1t follows logically
that 1t would be good thing In the
United States. But this may or may not
be true; much depends upon what we
would be trying to accomplish In the
adoption OF such law.
In his message to Congress the Presi-
dent emphasized that national service
law would enable the Government to
deal with strikes, and this same thought
has been expressed by other proponents
OF service legislation. 1t Is not possible,
however, to find support for this as
sumption in the British record.
The basic British national service act
was adopted In May Of 1940-when the
black shadow of total disaster had set
tied over the United Kingdom. And it
probably is safe to say that this statute,
with the enormous special wartime pow
ers 1t conferred upon the government,
has been one of the most potent single
factors in Britain's remarkable come
back from that grim summer when she
stood, alone and unarmed, with only the
Channel between her shores and the
triumphant Nazi armies. Without any
question, compulsory service has been
the backbone of an almost miraculous
military and production effort. But it
has not stopped strikes in the British
Isles. The fact is that so far as the
relative number of strikes is concerned,
the record in the United States, without
compulsory service, has been better
than in Britain, with compulsory service.
This Is clearly shown in a report to the
New York Times by James B. Reston. a
member Of that newspapers London
staff. In the bleak year OF 1910, the year
in which the service act was passed,
Britain's strikes dropped to low Of 922,
the total loss of man days being $40 900.
Since then the number has mounted
steadily. In 1941 there we're 1881 strikes,
with loss Of 100000 man days; in 1942
the strikes totaled 1921, with loss of
100000 man days, and in I943 the rec
ord shows Its strikes for loss Of 1,S00,-
600 man days From the standpoint Of
strikes and time lost, 1s43 was the worst
year IN Britain since 1897.
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In comparing this record with the
strike figures for the United States, it
must be remembered that there are
about three times as many workers in
this r01lpfru q IL, D,-i{
when allowance is made for this our
record seems better in all respects save
one
There were 2,508 strikes in this coun-
try In 1940 the loss in man days being
6,7OO872. In 1941 the shameful record
was 4,28S strikes and loss Of 23,o47, $50
man days. In 1912, however, after this
country entered the war. strikes dropped
to 3,l20 and the number Of man days
lost declined to 4,565,oO Last year
brought moderate rise in the number
OF strikes-the figure being 3,737-and
very pronounced increase in man days
lost-l3,947 This disproportionate
rise in time lost is attributable to the
coal strikes which, while few in number.
involved hundreds of thousands of men.
II these figures may be taken at their
lace value, 1t is clear that compulsory
national service is not the answer to
the strike problem. In Britain. as in
this country, there have been relatively
lew strikes sanctioned by responsible
labor leaders. The great majority have
been OF the unauthorized "quickie" va
rlety, In which the workers leave their
Jobs for few days with little or no prov
ocatlon. Neither compulsory national
service nor compulsory arbitration is a
suitable instrument for preventing this
type OF strike. If they continue, assum-
ing the existence of adequate machinery
for the orderly adjustment of grievances.
the only real hope of preventing wildcat
strikes lies in the setting up of penalties
sunclently severe to cause irresponsible
workers to think twice before leaving
their jobs. But there is no national serv-
ice legislation, either pending or in con-
temptation, which has as its real obiec.
tive the setting up of such penalties.
= \
II Britains compulsory service law has
not prevented strikes, however, it has
been enormously helpful in other re-
spects. 1t is generally believed that
Britain has modified her manpower and
her womanpower more fully and more
efnciently than any other nation in the
war Of 100000 people between the
ages OF IA and IS, total of %, ,75O 900 are
In the armed services or are engaged in
essential war work. Some 1900 900 of
the 33,000,000 are women. and 7750 600
are In essential work while an additional
million are in part-time war work.
Within the narrower age brackets of Is
10 40, about 81 per cent of unmarried
women and 80 per cent of the married
women are directly engaged in war work.
needless to say, this has not been &C.
compltshed without extensive and serious
olSlocatlons. Hundreds of thousands Of
men and women have been moved from
their homes, to find squalid housing in
war communities or to be billeted by
governmental edict with the townspeople
OF those areas. But the British people
nave accepted these conditions, and few
regard them as productive of slave
labor or evidence of totalitarianism in
government. AS Mr.. Reston puts it: THE
essence of the British system is faith
the faith of the people in their govern
ment, the faith of the government In the
British people, the faith Of the employees
IN their employers and of employers in
the responsibility of the workers"
Thus, If we are to argue for nationa,