The Wilmington morning star., 1944-02-16
By WEsTBROOK PEGLER

WASHINGTON Although President Roose-
welt has proposed CONSUMPTION OF civilian labor
and both service departments and the mer-
chant navy have Endorsed the suggestion none
Of its advocates has faced the questions which
Immediately confront them. The Presidents
proposal was half-hearted and apparently only
preparatory as often is the case when a
radical IDEA is first thrust at the people for
it came as the shirt-tail to series of other
recommendations.
Mr.. Stlmson, for the War department., saw
anarchy in civilian war labor, strong word
which to Americans suggests disorder and de-
struction, when confusion, waste and indis-
cipline were meant
Admiral Land for the Maritime Commits
sion. admitted that the plan would not for
chilly prevent strikes which, incidentally, are
only one cause of the waste of labor and
Immediately drew the teeth out of the propo-
sition by assuring us all that force would
not be used against balky civilian labor con-
scripts and that civilians would not be shifted
about the country to meet labor shortages
He presented both the strongest arguments
for CONSUMPTION and the fatal defects in his
own desire.
Laws ordinarily depend on popular COM
plance with force hel6 in reserve to deal
with the few refusals If the great majority
of the people believed in highway robbery
as a right, highway robbery would be COM
mon practice because there would not be
enough police to put it down and juries would
not convict. In civil commotion, the military
commander who assures the mob that his
soldiers guns are not loaded invites def
ance. In this case, Admiral Land wants a
national service or labor CONSUMPTION law
but says there would be little need to en-
force it by law. Our people will enforce it
Voluntarily He says this, although his own
work has been badly hampered by hop-scotch-
ing from yard to yard in the shipbuildng
industry and a great deal of waste by loafng
in yards where there is an oversupply of
men.
Admiral Land is one of a few men in
Washington who would forget everything else
abandon every refinement and luxury of
peaceful civilization and put the whole nation
to work behind the fighters to get the war
over without one hours needless delay. In
the minds of such men there is a vision of
the overwhelming power of American indus
try and labor operating only for war, as in
Russia and Germany. He certainly is no fas-
cist or communist but strict patriot who
believes that labor service is little to ask of
civilians while Millions of other Americans
do the fighting. He is service man, trained
to obey and to require obedience, but in this
case he would utter a request in the guise
of law, whereas any law that is law
at all, must be an order
The trouble with Admiral Land here is that
he is dealing with civilians under civil law
He is shy and uncertain. In his own work
he has been harassed and hampered by the
labor policy of President to whom he is
intensely loyal and personally devoted. He
has had to soft-soap sea-lawyers of the COM
munistic national maritime union and settle
|disgraceful little squabbles over fine juris-
dictional points among the shipbuilding
trades He has had labor turnover of SO
per cent a year in the yards. All this has
happened in war, among people whose own
kin are at the war and who have no excuse
for not realizing the Importance of their work
Still he thinks the body of civilians need
only awareness or rousing and would avoid
)compulsion
Ali these pleaders for labor CONSUMPTION
are guilty of political tinidity. If they want
a labor draft, as they sincerely do and for
no hidden purpose, they must advocate force
or enforcement and penalties for refusal Just
as military draftees may be sent to prison
for draftdodging. They must establish some
corps of officers to command this new service
arm under some code comparable to military
law. They must persuade the people first
THAT such service is a small sacrifice hv
comparison and prepare the way by answrr.
J. ing in advance many questions regarding the
exact relation between the conscript worker
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