The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-01-31

ULllS 1dDOT lOTC6 for jobs right at home. without mov- ing workers to other localities.
 He points to Dayton, O., as an eX- ample of a community that has ef- fectively organized it's working force to get its war job done, and he points to towns in the Connecticut valley as places where this job has not been done.
 WHY LAW IS NEEDED
 AS an example of the kind of work stoppage which a national service law might prevent, Judge Patterson mentions a recent strike in New England town which tied up the manufacture of mosquito netting vital need for all troops in tropical countries. There are only & few looms in the country which can pro- duce this netting. Yet a 3O-day strike just ended in this one mill threw the Arny's procurement pro- gram of this material, which was already behind schedule, more than two months in arrears.
 For the leaders of organized labor Judge Paterson professes to have the highest regard. He believes they were sincere in their no-Str:ke pledge, and he believes that labor leaders are sincere when they order their unions to return to work after unauthorized strikes have been call ed, But the inability of these labor leaders to prevent strikes is, to the underSecretary'S way of thinking, proof of the fact that they need the backing of national service law to enforce their pledges.
 r In the case of a coal strike or a rail strike or similar work Stoppage in a major national industry, Judge Patterson believes it would be nec- eSSary to follow the course outlined by the President in recent emergeni- ies-namely, the drafting of men in those industries and ordering them to work as soldiers at their old jobs.
 1nequities which national service legislation might entail, the under secretary of war is inclined to regard as trifling ill war time. Differences in wage scales in the major indus tries are not great, he asserts, and certainly not great enough to throw any one group outside its accustom- ed standard of living if forced to do similar work in another industry. Wage ceilings are fixed by govern ment regulation and cannot advance. War contractors are, in effect, all working for the government them selves. In cost-plus-fixed-fee con- tracts that is absolutely the case and in fixed price contracts it is the same in effect as long as the gov ernment has it's power to renegotiate contracts, recovering excess profits. COMMUNITY NEEDS FIRST
 This situation is, of course, not true, Judge Pattf rson is frank to ad. init, in the cases of contracts not let directly by the government, or in the operation of essential civilian services such as bus lines or laund- ries. But here again the need of the community in war time is the thing to which he is inclined to give the first consideration, and ther fight of the government in such cases to as- sign workers to the essential indus tries is considered of first import ance.
 If the Austin Wadsworth bill should be the national service act passed by Congress, the administra- ton of that law would not be in the hands of the War Department, but a national service administrator who would be a civilian. The entire work ings of the act would be managed by civilians, necessarily. The views expressed above are therefore not the opinions of the official who would administer such a law. But they are the views of the govern ment official who would be most in- terested in seeing national service law well administered, an official who believes that present voluntary methods of manpower control are not adequate and have not succeed ed, an official who believes that a national service law is possible of enforcement in this country without impairment of the rights of demo- cratic people.