The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1945-01-19
Observations
No Bigger Draft
For Immediate
Future Seen
By HELEN EssARY

Observation-Disclosures the aunoun-
ied expectations OF War Moblizer
James +. Byrnes that draft calls
will be increased, neither the Wai
Department nor the Selective Ser
vice system has been willing to ad-
nit that higher calls will be sent
to local draft boards in the near
future
In both agencies II is stated that
there has been no decision 10 in
crease the monthly calls beyond the
10000 additional men recently re-
uucstcd for January, February aud
probably March.
OF course, there i. no DISPOSE
tion on the part Of government
officials Of either the Army or Sc
lective Service TO openly contradict
a statement made by IA person 80
high in official ranks as Byrnes.
But, reporters are reminded.
when they seek information, that
Byrnes made his observation rs AN
Expectation which he said was
not based on information supplied
him either 10y the Army or Navy
In some quarters this is taken
10 mean that ByrncS' prediction II
more fifty than he led reporters
to believe IL was at New Years
day news conference.
At the same time, do not expect
Congress To be In hurry 10 pass
a bill to draft IFS or any other
drastic manpowcr legislation.
War rcverSes, it is true, have
caused many members Of Congress
10 favor severe measures But
when it comes To passing a bill to
draft labor for essential Industries
on the home front. a slow and cir
cumspect attitude is more likely
to be followed
Particularly will this be the case
Il the situation on the western
front improves, affording thereby
the promise Of a quicker collapse uf
Germany than had been anticipat-
ed
The manpowor question along
with many other issues, some Of
them extremely controversial, face
the 10Th Congress which convened
Jan. 3 for what may Ice a year
long session
"Our work will just have begun
If the war with Germany ends
while we are still in session com
ments House Speaker sam Ray
burn
High on the list Of controversial
legislation are proposals for post
war universal training, II perman-
ent federal employment practices
commission. treaty ratification by
House as well as Senate, consoli-
dation of the War and Navy de-
partments. the st. Lawrence Sea
way. the Breton Woods and Dunn
barton Oaks agreements, and many
others.
Also on the list Is the task of
finding the 60.000,00O postwar Jobs
President Roosevelt said were nee
essary TO avoid a depression, re-
vision of the federal tax laws and
broadening Of the social security
program.
Economic stabilizer Fred NJ.
Wilson's decision in the steel wage
case narrowly missed costing the
steel industry another 60 TO 20
million dollars.
Just so hours before 1914 passed
into history, Vinson approved the
War Labor Board award Of 100
million dollar pay increase TO some
10000 steelworkers.
The steel industry had a 100
million dollar reserve fund set
aside to pay the adjustments. II
the wage adjustments were order
de in 1914, the companies could ex-
pend this reserve fund tax free.
If Wilson's decision had come in
1913, however. the industry would
have been subjected 10 60 TO 40
million dollar tax on this reserve
and still would have been required
TO dig up the 100 million for wages.
Smokers who've grown pretty
used 10 the cigar and cigaret short
age by this time, are handed some
cheering-if belated news-by the
Cigar Institute Of America.
In November, 1914, says the In
stitute. cigar sales to domestic
smokers increased 544 per cent
over the same month in 1913, the
first time in a year that domestic
sales for a given month showed an
increase over the corresponding
month Of a previous year. In ad-
dition, the number Of cirgarmak-
ers has increased.