Evening star., 1945-01-25
Battle Lines Drawn
For House Debate on
Compulsory Work Bill
BY ]. A. O'LEARY.

Battle lines are being drawn
for sharp House debate next weel
on the compulsory work bill TO
men 18 to IS, which won favor
able report from the Military AT
fairs Committee last night, afte
the anti-closed-shop amend
ment had been eliminated at tn,
last moment.
Chairman May of the militar,
group said he would go before tn,
Rules Committee today to obtain ;
green light for early consideration
Of the measure on the floor. In re-
vised form the bill won final com.
mittee approval 20 to S, but tn,
controversial closed-shop issue Il
understood to have been decided by
q margin of only a few votes.
The Rules Committee probably
will meet tomorrow to fix the length
of debate on the work. control bill.
Tentatively approved on Monday
by vote reported to have been Il
to 10, the amendment provided that
men ordered by their draft boards
to go into a war plant would be free
to join or stay out of labor union
The committee reversed itself by
another close vote, which was not
announced.
Reasonable Choice of Jobs.
AS a partial substitute, the COM
mittee wrote in a provision yester-
day that draft boards would have to
give a man "a reasonable choice of
employers for whom to work" This
was interpreted by a selective service
official to mean the registrant would
be told to report to any one OF sew
eral plants where a labor shortage
is found to exist.
If a man refused to report to a
plant having closed shop, and was
prosecuted by draft authorities fol
failing to comply with the law, the
courts would have to determine
whether he had a reasonable choice
Of jobs, committee official ex-
planned.
The reporting out of this bill
represents the first definite step
taken in either branch of Congress
toward national service legislation
after nearly three years of inter-
mittent discussion of the subject.
Salient Features of Bill.
Recommended by President Roose-
welt in his annual message and in
a subsequent letter to the commit
tee, the bill has two salient features
/. It enables draft boards to keep
men already in essential war plants,
or who hereafter enter such plants,
from jumping to other employment
without draft board approval. suo-
ject to civil penalties of not to ex-
ceed $4,000 or five years.
2. Enables draft boards to, first
request men between 18 and As, who
are not available for military service.
to accept jobs in war industries
found to be short of labor. If. with
in a specified time, enough volun-
teers have not reported, the draft
boards could order registrants capa-
BILE of performing such work to apply
for the jobs. The same civil penal
ties of fine or imprisonment would
apply to a man who fails to obey
such an order.
Chairman May told reporters he
would have preferred a straight
"work-or-fght" bill, but is support
ing the committees decision to
apply civil penalties instead of in
ducting violators into Army labor
battaions, as proposed in the orig
inal bill.
Relief Act Protection.
Before taking final action yes
terday the Military Committee also
approved the decisions made tenta-
lively Monday to give men ordered
into war work the protection of the
Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief
Act, for postponement of debts, and
the seniority rights for reinstate-
ment in their old jobs after the
war that are already provided in
the Selective Service Act for men,
bers of the armed forces.
The committee approved a new
amendment yesterday, authorizing
selective service to work out regu-
lations under which men who have
not been in the armed services
would be called for assignment to
war industries before any returned
veterans are ordered to move from a
non essential to a war job.
If, however, returning veteran
elects to go into war plant when
he is discharged from the Army
instead of returning to his old job
he would still have the 80 days al
ready allowed him by existing Law
to apply for his prewar job after
leaving the war plant.
The bill also would require pay
ment OF transportation If a man
is ordered to work outside his
county.
War Mobilization Director Byrnes
would determine, after consultation
with representatives of manage
ment, labor and agriculture and
Government, the extent to which
essential plants and farms are short
of labor and unable to obtain work.
ers by volunteer methods.
The local draft boards in these
critical areas would determine who
should be directed to go to work
and where. The bill provides that
If the labor needs of a given area
cannot be met within that area
draft boards in the surrounding
territory also may be called on to
help supply the workers.
Safeguard for Farmers.
The committee retained in the
final draft of the bill a provision
approved earlier to safeguard the
Tydings amendment of 1912 gov
erning deferment of essential farm
workers, to help meet the fears Of
the farm bloc that draft boards
are preparing to call able-bodieo
men for military service who cannot
be spared from food production.
Organized labor and some seq
ments of management opposed COM
pulsory manpower controls in COM
mittee, and it is not expected the
deletion of the anticlosed shop will
weaken materially labor's opposition
to the compulsory assignment OF
uorEorc