Evening star., 1944-10-21
Army BIunder Seen 4
In Morale Bulletins
Writer Hits Phrasins on Subject
of Labor and Strike Problems
BY Dapid laurence


of Labor and Strike Problems
BY Dauid Laurence
The War Department has been send.
ing weekly for the last year current in
formation bulletins to It's orientation
officers in an effort to help the morale
of the troops in the field Nearly all
OF these deal with noncontroyersiaI
subjects, but once in awhile a contro-
versial subject is tackled because of a
belief that 1t Is not healthful for the
soldiers to nurture grudges or foster
bitter feelings.
So the War Department tackled the
subject Of strikes and the labor prob
lem. This correspondent last week
called attention to an Army bulletin
discussing that subject because. even
though marked restricted" and dis
tributed last August to the Army, 1t was
quoted in the CIO and other labor pub
locations with exultation 10 days ago
as sort Of defense of labor's record
and as proof that the persons who dur
Ing the war period have criticised the
strikes were talking through their hats.
President Roosevelt used the same argu-
ment in his first political address of
this campaign to the Teamsters' Union.
On its face the Army bulletin con-
talned SO much of the same line of
argument that the New Deal apologists
have been using and actually quoted the
tricky defense made repeatedly that
only one-tenth of / per cent of the
man hours lost were due to strikes. that
1t seemed as If during the midst of a
presidential campaign an effort was
somehow being made to influence the
soldier vote.
Law Is Specific.
The recently passed amendments to
the law governing soldier voting spe-
ciflcally say, of course, that 1T shall be
unlawful for any officer of the Federal
Government or any agency or depart
ment thereof, including the Army and
Navy, to deliver or cause to be delivered
TO persons in the armed services OF the
United States any general communica-
ton, Government magazine, Govern
ment newspaper, or other literature or
material which when considered in
its entirety contains political propa-
ganda obviously designed to affect the
result of any election for President, Vice
President, etc"
But the law also says that nothing
herein shall prevent the Army or Navy
or personnel thereof, from making
available to members of the armed
services impartial and non-partisan
coverage or presentation of news or in
formation of public events and affairs
through educational and orienta-
ton courses originated by the Army
or Navy"
Were Army bulletins No 20 and No.
80 impartial and nonpartisan"? This
writer feels they were not but inyestiea-
tion Of the whole matter brings the
assurance from reliable quarters in the
War Department that nobody outside
OF the Information and Education Di-
vision of the War Department really had
anything to do with the preparation
OF the circulars and that these were
not in any way designed to influence
votes.
Significantly enough the War De-
partment itself has since received plenty
OF protests about the circulars from Off
GERS IN the field who disputed the way
the matter was presented, and the truth
is the War Department, If it had it
TO DO over again, probably would not
phrase its circulars the same way.
The inference given in these dis
patches. therefore, that a deliberate
attempt was being made by the Army to
influence the voting in violation of the
law Is erroneous and is regretted. The
real explanation is that a blunder in
judgment was made in the War De-
partment.
The incident illustrates, of course. the
dlfnculties of trying to disseminate
orlentatlon courses on controversial suh-
lects that are related to political issues.
Ihus greater familiarity with the topic
might we'll have led the authors of the
circulars to include all the various argyll
ments on the subject of responsibility
for strikes and likewise some rebuttsls
that have been made concerning Sec
retary Perkins statistics about the one-
tenth of l per cent of total man hours
lost.
Indirect Affect.
Inc TACT is that these statistics never
Gid include the man hours lost in plants
and factories affected indirectly bv
work stoppages in other plants supplying
them with parts or materials. Also one
mas to go to the record of the texts of
teiegrams sent out by the War Labor
Board again and again pleading with
strikers to come back to work and point
Ing out the serious impact on the war
eHort of those stoppages.
some strong words have been used
IN recent months by high Army off.
Gals about these strikes which indicate
Ihat the one-tenth of one per cent arpu-
ment may be quantitative but not a
quantatlve picture of what happened.
Also to be impartial the circular,
might well have included quotation
from the address in March of this wear
oy william M. Leiserson, former MEM
Der OF the National Labor Relations
hoard and former chairman of the
National Railway Mediation Board
man known as friend of labor and
a man who knows more than anyone
IN Washington about the circumstances
surrounding the threatened railway
serlke last Christmas which provoked
tne wrath of high Army spokesmen. Mr..
Lelserson, in reviewing wartime strikes
and din u-.~.