The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1945-08-31
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RECONvERsION PROBLEMS
FACE OFFICIAL WASHINGTON
By PAUL NfALLoN1
Released By western Newspaper Union.

WASHINGTON.-A lively fuss IL
being raised against the government
failure to provide for reconversion.
The Mead committee said only half
what II thought about the Job being
bungled, the senators privately con-
ceding they were just trying to prod
Mr.. Truman gently into more force
ful action. They really exposed
nothing which has not been apparent
for many months, as Mr.. Roose-
welt had no announced program, and
Mr.. Truman has been busy with San
Francisco and Potsdam.
Behind the failure to make a
plan land this Is apparent, II
1t has not been fully reported)
Is the scrapping between the va.
rious government departments.
The army has never forgotten
Its scare at prematurely an
ticipating the end Of the Euro
pean war.
The army is keeping Its produc-
ton going at terrific pace, and told
the Mead committee (although this
was not published in the report)
that 1t is drafting 5000 men month
while discharging 1900 month for
net discharge Of only 1000 q
month.
To add fury to this plain muddle,
the CLIO, New Dealers and some 9TH
ers have been increasingly agitating
for vaster government spending
program, like the old PWA, to take
up a slack in employment, which
has not yet developed, and is not
Immediately forecast in view Of the
national starvation for consumers
goods and services, unless per-
chance chaotic management Of the
problem disrupts production.
INTERNAL PICKERING
To the problem, Mr.. Truman put
his best new man, John w. Snyder,
who found 1t to be a nest of eco
nomic and political boa constructors,
and his graphing so far has not in
Dictated whether he will throw them
or they him.
So we have had such q condition
as this following incident discloses:
A business man came to Wash
ington seeking authority to build a
plant to supply parts for the auto
mobile industry, admittedly the key
In reconversion. He was told he
could 60 ahead as his effort was
Immediately desirable. He then
went to the steel manufacturers who
informed him he could have no
steel unless he had priority. WASH
ington thereupon refused to give
him priority.
This, as I say, Is known con-
diti0n, but behind Il is a truly
major threat to reconversion, in
the relationship Of the unions
and management, fact not OBJ
served by the Mead committee,
or fully reported. The admins
tratiOn has detected the impOr-
lance Of this all controlling
phase, as is evident In Labor
Secretary Schwellenbach's pro.
motion Of q labor-managemen
conference to plan q workable
substitute for the no strike
pledge and perhaps q new labor
board setup or at least to pro-
vide sensible agreement, un-
der which men may work and
the nation produce in the brave
new world.
A showdown between labor and
management is coming, / am sure,
before much reconversion can take
place, I think it is planned. With
the threat, publicly brandished by
CLIO leaders for wave of strikes,
the key automobile and other indus
tries which CLIO controls can hardly
60 far with much reconversion, even
if the government requires the army
to be reasonable and loosen up on
men and materials.
Involved legitimately are the prob
lens of prices and wages. These re-
lated problems are in a far worse
muddle than the Washington recon-
version machinery.
UNIONS SHOW GAINS
The union war worker is the man
who made the biggest wage in
crease during the war. The Little
Steel formula was shot so full Of
holes by the unions (upgrading pay
devices, vacations, pay for portals
to portals and back again to por-
tails, etc., that it stands only as a
sieve against the largest group Of
the people, the middle class nom
factory workers.
There are only is millions Of peo-
pie in the unions and As millions
outside the unions. Their wages
were rather effectively frozen by the
government formula, while the
unions went on up. But prices went
on up also, through the sieve Of the
OPA (black markets, and especially
deteriorated goods and services).
In my non-factory town, for in
stance, the last bond drive could not
meet its baby bond quota because
the average man just did not have
anything left after buying his FAM
lily the necessities Of life and paying
his taxes. Those prices will not
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