Evening star., 1950-08-06

or mandatory cOnCrOlS. ana CIlOSe
controls would affect employer as
we'll as employe-something which
is frequently overlooked.
Obviously we have no need now
even for the voluntary manpower
controls of World War II, criti-
cized though they have been on
the score of inadequacy. In the
single year of 1914 we produced
almost $50 billion worth of planes,
ships, guns, tanks and other war
materials. Now we are just start
ing a production program which
the administration believes can be
handled by the present economic
structure with only the few eco
nomic controls for which Pres
ident Truman has asked.
Inadequate in Last War
Present plans are to leave man
power problems in the Labor De-
partment, looking forward to
transferring them to an emer-
gency agency if the problems begin
to expand greatly. In tight
manpower situation the first step
is expected to be legislation to
move the United States Employ
ment Service agencies run by the
States back to Federal control.
This was done in World War II.
Manpower is one of the sternly
controlling factors in war time.
It puts a ceiling not only on the
number of men we can put in the
field but also on the number OF
planes and other war implements
with which we can supply them
In two world wars we have
worked with voluntary manpoWer
controls. In each instance it is
agreed they were inadequate. But
there is no agreement that volun-
tary controls, backed by other
powers, must necessarily be in
adequate.
In both wars there were moves
to make the controls compulsory
In World War it was the Work
or Fight" drive which may have
been expanded into a formal pro-
gram had not the armistice inter-
vened.
In World War II, Congress con-
sidered National Service Act. In
January, 1914. President Roose-
velt told Congress that while he
believed we could win without
such an act, national service 1egis-
lation would shorten the war and
save lives. A year later he made
an unqualified appeal for such a
law.
No one has publicly announced
q blue print for national service
legislation for the future. What
form it might take may be gather
ed from the legislation Congress
considered in World War II and
from proposals of the Selective
Service System. How such legis-
lation has worked out in actual
operation may be learned from the
British experience in the same war
Manpower Pool =
Proposals here start off with
registration of all men 18 through
"a years of age, and women Ii
through go. This would provide
working records for the total man.
power pool. From this pool must
come the men and women for the
military services, those to produce
the arms and other war materiel
and those to maintain the produc-
ton of food and of goods and serv-
ices necessary for the civilian pop
ulation.
The armed services would have
first call on the young men anG
decreasing priority on the Older
ones. For men from the ages o1
18 to Is there would be no defer
ment. In the next bracket, 26 tc
20, man to be deferred would
have to be indispensably and ir-
replaceably engaged in war pro-
duction, agriculture or an activity
in support of the national health
safety or interest.
Those 80 to 33 would have to be
necessary to and regularly en-
gagged in those occupations to
rate deferment. Thereafter, de-
ferment becomes progressively
simpler. At As the citizen nc
longer would be subject to mill
tary call but would be under the
jurisdiction of the Labor Depart
ment or the civilian defense
agencies.
Those rejected by the military
service and those not called UP
would be frozen in or assigned to
essential occupations. If there
was a surplus of labor in the reg
istrant's home area there would
be the problem of moving him to
an area of labor scarcity. His
family responsibilities would be
taken into consideration but a
man not tied to his home and
not in work essential to either war
or civilian production would be
assigned to work where he was
needed.
Britain's Experience
Under the acts congressional
committees discussed, union and
seniority rights were to be given
some protection.
The bills never came out OF
committee but the House finally
did pass a bill requiring war work
of the ATS. With the end OF
the war approaching, however, il
did not become law.
Naturally, if the worker is to
be subjected to controls, the en-
ployer is not to be permitted to
become wealthy on the profits
from his services. The employer
who looks at compulsory man
power controls only as a means
of solving at least the labor sup
ply problem of his production
headaches, overlooks the fact that
his profits will be limited by taxes
and the wages and working con-