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cn I Sn |. i begun to get definiteness and stability of outline last week, is once more anyone's pic. ture puzzle. The President's hold-the-line Executive Order of Apr. 8 does not, at present writing, look as if it will really hold the line. Labor leaders postponed their judg- ment for a week in order to get some per- pete on how it would operate. Now that ey see its workings, they don't like it. And now Manpower Administrator McNutt’s job- freezing makes them like the total picture even less. This is not a matter of labor's selfishness. E-3 ' Nor is it a matter of questioning the main lines of the Administration's strategy in the struggle against cost-of-living chaos. It in- . volves the raising of serious doubts about the application of that broad strategy im the ease of labor. And one must ember that thesc doubts are raised Qo} by someone as mre- sponsible as John CL. Lewisupr by a group of farm-block leaders who have consistently followed the tactics of a pressure aah are raised by men like Philip Mur- ray end ure control and a more drastic Lap ts - QPINION Labor and the.Administration y The price-and-wage picture, which had { William Green and Walter Reuther whe have, as labor leaders, accepted for their membership a far greater measure of Government wage far j- {they did it also by entrusting the pons than any Inbor movement in Lite p . * "The case oF the War Labor Board (WLB) a.case in point. It has been doing a Erst- rate job in holding wages in line. And th trade-union leaders have been showing 1- straint all along in co-operating with it. {1 is. perhaps the most examp|; in the Administration of the tripartit: board, on which busingss, labor and govern. ment are represented. Yet it bas now bees a sort of arm of the Bymes office, doing th job that a few statisticians could do. i do not say that the President's Apr. * order was « mistake. It was necessary anc courageous, But what happened was thi: no fexibility was shown in applying it An. the new jo order of McNutt ba erved to re-effinn the intent of com ae Say tent of con The WLB's Status What needs to be done ix not comple but it will be far-reaching in its effect o labor's morale. The President must, with. the framework of his Apr. 8 order, restor the WLB as an indepen agency, opera: ing within its judgment snd discretion. } has shown that it can be trusted, and + have the labor leaders. I believe in a trade-cnion moveme: which is national-minded. J believe that ti. real interests of. the workers are in li: with the interests of the nation as a whol. But one must remember that labor is sti! in its basic thought habits, wage-minde: just as business ix still profit-minded. We can demand greatness of soldiers, b Heause that is the military tradition. B. fog of wages bas ected wee Ae met nmi = wi at a man’s activity de- nds to a t degree won bs morale. workers feel that they are getting the short end of the stick, the resylt will flected in the Government's getting the! short end of production. This is not « mat. ter of dispute but # fact—and a disastrous one. q The problem cannot be solved by soold- y feel is expression of @ simple and basic human impulse ba a ity. Workers, like other men, want to have the sense that they are not being made to bear the brunt of economic suffering as a result a “hey i They are willing to sacri- , but insist on some equality of sacrifice i In short, the difficulty with JanSF. Byrnes, and, fhe way Je. has been i OFCOM Sum ey OF ¢ anther : : + imitation of big incomes and b taxation as well as by labor control; and task of administration to trade-union like Er- nest Bevin. It is difficult to see how we in America 3 ¥ 1 eee ck ete of DV anh, “ee a democr has} will be able to resolve our problems by {}2OW SO Ve ee enn wie ereatness | oy ever dove. dealing gently with the big-incgme groups || “© a not ask ad comparable greatness - a land using @ ig stick on Kébor, That is he |p CUZ DUSInEsEMeny a av Threefold Case ' f Congress’ fail Oe {| “That ia the question the Roosevelt A. : ‘importance o! gress’ failure to accept}] .'. will he If the —— = What is labor’s case? It is a three-fold| the President's $25,000 salary limitation. ministration will have to Answer. Tt the & as r . itions . swat @ tan setisfactor y, ae mee a © one ae tne the °° propos “ nome Representation . runs a risk not only of losing labor's potiti Sy even if labor accepts complete wage and tinued threat in Congress that the big tax ductiv the war.—Max Leansi-—~~ me. job rigidity, the cost of Living will really be| incomes will be remitted under some form Copyright, 1043, by Bield Pubiitetient uscal Son (OPA) under Prentiss Brown has not| of the lack of exibility shown Rdminiy|| This is_a clipping from “~~ "| | ghown a capacity to keep prices down, nor) trator B in the application of the Presi- page o th wo ' gny militancy in doing its job, nor does ft( dent's freezing order to the inequities in Px for mara 4 j o thanks to Congress—have money for ade-| wages. And, above all, that is the importance |] ‘ f+) : ate enforcement machinery. Since the|jof the falure to give labor any geal repre- Minnad at the Sea 7 Fnfation gap” between (sentation in the Administration, | eee ee ,| power the available commodities al-| commensurate with the Big Business ¥ .' geady exists, its{respit is ely to be either,.sgntatives in the War Froduction , . highes prices ead offBlack Mar-, OPA, end Congress. ~~.