The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-03-16

Ef4Anm lO Wdo OAA1y dAi
 insignificant part of the big pattern of civilian curbs which Byrnes has issued since last December. Look at the list:
 1. Requests Selective Service to draft older men to replace Skilled workers furloughed from Army for essential war production.
 2. Named Civilian tsory Board to OWMR, as required by law. It was headed by ex-Governor o. Max Gardner of North Carolina, but it's members were the usual list of business, labor and farm group leaders named to all Washington advisory boards. Theoretically the board meets every two weeks. It has been considered somewhat of a dead letter, but it did approve the orders closing the race tracks and other civilian curbs.
 3. Directed the War Production Board to issue sanctions (such as shutting off raw materials) to em- ployerS who did not comply with War Manpower Commission em- ployment ceilings.
 4. Cut back the Maritime Com mission shipbuilding program.
 g. In his report to Congress, recommended legislation giving ManpoWer Commission and War Labor Board authority to enforce decisions.
 6. Asked Selective Service to re- view the cases of 364,000 deferred farm workers and to draft as many as possible in the 1925 age group.
 '. Order curtailment of travel and banned conventions. Of 1881 applications to hold conventions in last two months, only 53 have been granted. Three were for labor con- ferences, five were scientific, the others religious.
 8. Stopped resort trains order ed curtailment of consumption ot electricity on outdoor advertising and lighting in the interests of sav- ing coal.
 TO RESIGN AFTER WAR
 Taken together these orders con- stitute a pretty tough hack at an already drastically cut-back civilian economy. That Byrnes could dc these things without fear of conse- quences, say his associates, is due to the fact that he is no longer po- litically ambitious. He has already organized the small staff, now working on mobilization, to plan for reconversion and carry it out after the defeat of Germany, at which time Byrnes insists he will resign and leave Washington.
 Having initiated this program. Byrnes on January l5 left Washing ton for Yalta with the President. When the full story of the Yalta conference can be told, the part played by Justice Byrnes will be re- vealed as far from insignificant. Some critics wondered why the President chose Byrnes. He and Secretary of State Stettinius were the two U. S. civilians who sat with Roosevelt at the big round confer ence table. Byrnes admittedly is no expert on foreign relations. He was there for three other reasons. First because he was the one official most familiar with U. S. economy and its capacity in shipping, production, food and raw materials. Second be- cause he has the political savvy to know what will be acceptable to the American people. Third because he has the skill acquired in Congress to bring opposing points of view in- to agreement at conference table.
 Byrnes was the first official to re- turn from the Yalta conference and it was he who gave Washington its first interpretation of the Yalta agreement. rationalizing the neces- sity for the compromises reached on the Polish question, reparationS, Dumbarton Oaks voting procedure. Byrnes emphasized how Stalin had given in on some points to effect compromises.
 BYRNES NO DICTATOR
 A POLITICIAN
 Because of the drastic nature ot some of the recent Byrnes orders on the home front, there has been a tendency to label him a dictator He is anything but dictator. Prim arily he is a politician and as such he recognizes the necessity for sac riflcing here to gain something there. He has sacrificed his own ambitions, plenty, in the interests of party harmony.
 Right now his primary objective is to get the war over with, to get the boys back home, to quit Wash ington and go home himself.
 To accomplish these things, he thinks 1t necessary to compromise with civilian life-as-usual, to make certain sacrifices. That is the reason given for his closing race tracks and telling night clubs when to shut up shop.