Toledo union journal. [volume] (Toledo, Ohio) 1942-current, 1945-09-28
Washington
|LaborReport
BY Bradford v. Carter
LPA COlumnist
COLD WAVE

The most striking charac-
teristic of Administration po-
litical strategy is its capacity
to blow hot and cold. Last
week 1t blew cold and 1t was
a frigid blast indeed. A couple
of weeks before we had a hot
and encouraging blast here in
the form of the Presidents 21
point program for Congress.
In many ways one of the
most disturbing developments
was what amounts to the
forced resignation of William
Davis himself that bothered
labor people here, although he
is a pretty decent sort of chap,
as it is the circumstances un-
der which his resignation"
was announced. Those circum-
sances were that Davis had in
dicated allegedly that it was
possible to raise wages with
out raising prices and what's
more, that was to be his Of
cial policy. Davis sacking Is
regarded here as a direct repu-
diation of that policy by the
administration in response to
the anguished cries of the
profits as usual" boys.
The IS dollar a week emer-
gency unemployment compen-
sation bill introduced at the
request of the President is be-
ing emasculated beyond rec
ognition without, it seems,
much opposition from the Ad-
ministration. Indeed, the Pres
ident has been quoted as feel
ing that this legislation is not
of first Importance.
BURTON APPOINTMENT
Disturbing too is the ap-
pointment of Senator Harold
Burton of Ohio as an Asso-
ciate Justice of the Supreme
Court. Burton is of signifi-
canoe to labor as one of the
sponsors of the so-called In
dustrial Relations Act, better
known as the Halliburton
Hatch bill. Under its terms
the gains of the last decade in
labor relations would be COM
pletely wiped out. The atti-
tude of such a man when he
Judges labor cases cannot be
regarded as very hopeful
particularly in view of a few
5-4 decisions in recent months.
A hard blow to the interests
of labor as consumer came
with the complete revocation
of controls over home build
ing. The ending of these con-
trolls in response to the pres
sure of speculative home
building interest can mean
only one thing-and that Is
that the average worker can
not look forward to buying a
we'll constructed home at a
price he can afford to pay. In
stead, the revocation of the
controls will open the gates
to a period of speculation and
jerry-built housing. People
who are informed about these
matters say that the wisest
thing a body can do is not buy
a house within the next couple
of years, unless he wants to be
saddled with white elephant
ANOTHER PUZZLE
The reorganization of the
Labor Department is a diff
cult thing to make out. The
absorption of the War Labor
Board incidentally with hard
ly any notice to the Board it
self, War Manpower Commits
sion, and the Retaining and
Unemployment Administration
adds nothing to the powers of
the Department. These outfits
were practically dead anyway
and their integration is a
meaningless gesture.
The studiously cultivated
rumor campaign before the re-
organization was announced
sought to suggest that this
step would solve all of our
labor problems and put an end
to the strikes which are break
ing out over the country. 1t
requires no secret sources of
information or special insight
to detect what a phony busi-
ness this is. One thing is clear,
however: somebody has been
getting very bad advice and
acting on it.
This drift of events cannot
be regarded with anything but
fear for the future of a pro-
gressive government policy.