Evening star., 1944-01-19
Labor Draft
tContinued From First Page.)

tion in summoning them to arms
1t would be an act of the most crue
and despicable indifference if We
avoided any course which woule
give them their chance to come
through this war with their lives"
Appearing as the first admins
tration witness before a committee
which includes many Senators hos.
tile to the idea Of labor conscrip.
tion requested by President Roose.
welt, Mr.. Stimson said nationa
service would hasten victory and as
serted:
Every month the war is prolonged
will be measured in the lives o1
thousands of young men, in bill.
lions of dollars"
Cites Petty Quarrels.
After recalling the progress made
between the Pearl Harbor attack
and the closing months of 1943, Mr.
Stimson said American fighting mer
looked back over their shoulders
from the battlefelds and got the
impression that the home front
suddenly seemed to be on the point
OF going souri,
"A host of what seemed to our
soldiers petty controversies in in
dMstry and labor, each one of which
threatened to put a check in the
production of priceless weapons
arose throughout the land" the
Secretary continued. '"The three
vital industries of the home front
upon which basically all our pro-
duction of weapons and transporta-
tion depend, were threatened with
or actually experienced, Nation
wide strikes-coal, steel and the
railroads. If such a situation had
arisen in Germany, you know that
we should all have thought we were
on the point of winning the wal
hands down.
Aroused Resentment.
"It does not require great imagina-
ton to realize the effect of these
occurrences upon our troops fight.
ing on those battlefields. I can tel
you that today that situation has
aroused strong feeling of resent
ment and injustice among the mer
OF the armed forces. If 1t continues
1t will surely affect the morale o1
the Army. When those troops come
back to us again at the close of the
war, and we are faced with the
acute problem of demobiliza ton, II
may have an effect upon the future
unity of our Nation which is dis.
turbing to contemplate.
THE men in the Army see thi
country divided into two entirely
distinct classes. On the one hane
are the men who are in the armed
forces. Their enlistment has beer
carried out with the aid of tn,
selective service law. They art
facing duty which they canno
escape and which involves the posi-
bility of death or mutilation.
No Duty Imposed.
''On the other side they see tina
the Government imposes no cor
responding duty upon the remainin,
men of the Nation and even per
mits them to leave the most i'm
portant War jobs without regard t,
the needs of the country"
Mr.. Stimson also answered thl
argument that national servic,
would not be necessary if the Gov
ernnaent penalized strikes.
THE trouble with this diagnosi.
Is that it treats a symptom and no
the disease" he declared. "Th
cause of the present situation il
deep and fundamental, and it will
not be remedied by merely making
criminal what is consequence O.
a grave underlying lack of response
hility."
Certainly the Nation has no les
right to require man to maxi
weapons than it has to require an
other man to fight with thos
weapons" the Secretary asserted.
Mr.. Stimson said the argumen