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The price-end-wage picture, which had definiteness and stability af outline last week, is once more anyone's Re e puzzle. The President's hold-the-line Bxecttive Order of Apr. 8 does mot, at t writing, look as if it will really bold the lin line. Labor leaders postponed their judg- ment for a week in order to get some per- ive on how it would operate. Now that see its workings, they now Manpower Administrator McNutt’s job- freezing makes them like the total picture begun to get even less. This is not a '_ Nor is it a matter of questioning the main lines of the Administration's strategy in the ' wtruggle against cost-of-living chaos. It im- . volves the raising of serious doubts about the the #p lication of that broad strategy in the of labor. tut the sacrifice. mand one must ember t sc doubts are raised by someone as itre- — pag ha sponsible as John Ly Lewisupr by @ group ff _~ beoad of farm-block Feaders who have consistently biitzation ts” that he followed the tactics of a pressure problem are raised by men like Philip Mur- ray William Green and Walter Reuther Philip Murrey a democracy has Threcfold Case What is labor's case? It is « three-fold; ‘ gpe. And the three propositions are some- ' what as follows. q There is a ' even if iabar socepts complete wage and) tinved threat in Congress that the big tax pb rigidity, the cost of living will really be. : trolled. The Offce of Price Administra-| of the Ruml plan. That is the im artance tion (OPA) under Prentiss Brown has not] of the lack of Taexibility shown Fe ot trator B ; shown a capacity to keep oar its job, nor does it; dent's any militancy in doit: we the avail 0 fey exist, Ht i to ae A and. Congress the War Production : y eh as PA wd , ae cemers aa Would be the & ~ . a n't like it. And fog matter of fabor’s selfishness. who have, as labor leaders, accepted for their membership a |fthe i en fog of ogee bu well known that w cnan's Prod Fredo Br of dispute but fact—and a» disastrous "The problem cannot be solved by acold- workers for of patriotism. What they feel is the expression of « simple and basic human impulse of ity. Workers, like otber men, want to have the sense that they are not being made to bear the brunt of economic sufferi result of the war. They are willing to sacri- Feat ote war hey are willing te eacet t In short, the diffi with Jems" F. te aye hg ew in sycholngy. The British did not make that mistake. rom the very beginning they established suality’ of sacrifice, and ez Be t. “ep, eep labor satisfed and orking h it by severe imitation of big Jacomes Pd by? drastic taxation as well as by labor control; and i fthey did it also by entrustin administration to trade-union nest Bevin. It is difficult to see how we in America will be able to resclve our problems by dealing gently with the bi ' and using a big stick on tbo. of Congress’ failure to cccept the President's $25,000 salary Limitation. | Representation serismus doubt as to whether, That is the importance also of the con- principle of ave managed to incomes will be remitted under some form tation in the a commensurate wit the Big Busines re Board (WLB; «It has boen daing a Bast Hing wages in line. And th have been showing re ere lare already nigm 4 er oe ete trade-union leaders short end of the stick, the result oil | within the Administration \abor and govern. ment are represented. Yet it has now been practically wiped out, and has become onh a port of arm of the Bymes office, doing th. job that a few statisticians could do. I do not say that the President's Apr. * “ ‘Border was a mistake. It was courageous. But what ha The WLB’s Status What needs to be done is not comple but # will be far-reachin jabor’s morale. The President must, withi the framework of his A the WLE as an ind ing within its jedgoent and discretiba, } ‘That is the question the Roosevelt A. ministration will have to answer. If the 2 swer iz not satisf: rans a rick not only of losin but slso of diminishing Tepe , the Administrati. Copyright, 1603, ‘by Beeld al This is a clipping from in the application o eezing order to the inequities bi in anks to Congress—have money for ade- wages. And, above all, that is the importance ate enforcement machinery. Since the f the failure to give labor any real repre- gap” between par purchaing sn Administration, Bipot at the Seat