Evening star., 1945-03-09
kanpowerLa
Needs Teeth,
President Saws
Voluntary Methods
Held Failure; Bills
Head for Conference
BY ]. A. O'LEARY.

President Roosevelt told his
news conference today that he
preferred manpower legislation
with authority in it rather than
a program which would rely on
voluntary methods. He said VOL
untary methods had failed to
produce the manpower needed
for the war effort.
The Chief Executives comment on
the job control problem came as
the widely varying plans passed by
the Senate and House headed
toward joint conference. The
next move appears to be up to the
House, which faces a choice OF ac-
cepting the milder labor ceiling
method passed by the Senate last
night or putting up fight in con-
ference for its own work-or-jail
bill
Mr. Roosevelt asked which bill he
preferred in view of his statement
yesterday that he wanted the best
measure possible. suggested read
ing of his last annual message to
Congress. This apparently made
it plain that his preference was for
legislation in the form approved by
the House.
Asked Total Mobilization.
In his message last January, the
| President called for a national serv-
i've act to permit "the total mobiliZa-
| ton of all our human resources
| for the prosecution of the war He
also said inadequate tools were
being used, such as expedients like
manpower ceilings and the use of
priority and other powers to induce
men and women to shift from non-
! essential to essential war jobs.
If the House appoints confer
ence committee, as seems likely, to
negotiate with the Senate on the
conflicting plans, the controversy
may go on for several weeks. De-
I velopments in the fast-moving Euro
pean phase of the war probably will
determine the kind of bill that
finally emerges from conference.
Chairman May of the House Mill
tary Affairs Committee said he
: expects the House will wait until
Monday to send the bill to confer
ence. He pointed out that the Sea-
) ate version will not reach the
Speakers desk until today, and then
will have to be printed.
The bill the Senate passed. So to
Is, after nearly two weeks of debate,
is built around the labor recruiting
program the War Manpower Com
mission has tried to carry out with.
out a specific law, to channel
workers into war factories by forcing
them out OF nonessential plants.
Penalties Restored.
! In last-minute surprise move,
the Senate put back into its bill
maximum penalties of $4,000 fine
or a year in Jail on employers who
willfully violate VINO employment
ceilings or hiring regulations. This
was approved on motion of Senator
Ball, Republican, of Minnesota by
a vote of 40 to SO. These penalties
had been eliminated Tuesday by
a vote of "A to 35
Thus, while the Senate version
puts no penalties on employees who
fail to accept war jobs, the hiring
regulations could be so written as
} to leave individuals only the choice
, of accepting essential work or re-
manning idle, when they are forced
out of nonessential places by labor
ceilings. The employer penalties
: could be used to prevent them from
: finding work in some other non-
essential establishment.
Instead of this indirect approach,
the House bill empowered draft
boards to assign men 18 to As, who
; are not taken by the armed forces,
to war plants where labor shortages
exist. Failure to respond would be
punishable by the regular draft pen
,, alties of $4,000 or five years.
The long Senate battle ended in
defeat for the administration,
which, backed by the military lead