Labor planning broad attack on pay ceiling
WLB will resume hearings tomorrow
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Insurance row causes strike
Bridgeport walkout one of five in district
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Perkins: Giving Congress pay reins would solve political mess
President could get off ‘Little Steel’ spot by following Monroney suggestion
By Fred W. Perkins, Pittsburgh Press staff writer
Washington –
President Roosevelt could remove a ticklish political question from the campaign by adopting a suggestion that the important decision on breaking wartime wage controls should be made by Congress and not by the Executive.
He would be relieved of possible political repercussions, which are thought likely no matter which way he moves.
Congress will not be back in Washington until a week after the Nov. 7 election, and Congressional leaders hold that the decision then could be made without the political pressure that will exist in the next five weeks.
CIO backing fourth term
CIO unions, in the front of the drive to smash the “Little Steel” formula of wage control, are pressing the War Labor Board to get its recommendations on the President’s desk not later than Oct. 16. Philip Murray, CIO president, denied any political implications, but insisted on the deadline. The CIO unions, through the Political Action Committee headed by Sidney Hillman, are prominent in the drive for the fourth term.
The suggestion that Congress make the decision was presented to Judge Fred M. Vinson, Director of Economic Stabilization, by Rep. A. S. “Mike” Monroney (D-OK), who has been active in stabilization legislation. He wrote to Judge Vinson:
Because wages and prices are so closely tied together, I would hike to insist that before any modification of the “Little Steel” formula is made, Congress be given a chance to approve or disapprove this important step…
To break through the “Little Steel” formula now would result in a general upward movement of all prices, of great enough degree to cancel out all, or almost all, of the real purchasing power of any increase.
Formula not in law
The formula is not written into law, but has been given such support by executive orders of the President that the WLB has stated it cannot make a change. It can only advise Mr. Roosevelt – the only official with power to decide – who finds himself called on to approve or disapprove a pay raise for groups including millions who are regarded as his political supporters.
The political implications figured yesterday when the WLB received Statements opposing immediate changes from Robert M. Gaylord, president of the National Association of Manufacturers, and Eric A. Johnston, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Political football
Mr. Gaylord’s statement included a regret “that a decision on this issue has been postponed until this time, when circumstances make it a political football.”
John Brophy, a CIO member of the board, asked if the issue “wouldn’t be just as political after election,” and the NAM president replied, “That depends on the kind of a deal made before election.”
Mr. Johnston was not pulled into the political discussion, but was asked by Mr. Brophy what he thought of the guaranteed annual wage being demanded by some big unions. Mr. Johnston said he had “always been in favor of leveling out the peaks and valleys of industrial production,” and recently had initiated studies looking toward “a more stable pay envelope” for all the employees of American industry.
Meanwhile, some industrialists were wondering if the President would call into consultation an industry war advisory committee which he formed a year ago, but piety has not met since Oct. 27, 1943.
The industry committee includes B. F. Fairless (president of U.S. Steel Corporation), Frederick C. Crawford (former president of NAM), Richard R. Deupree (head of Procter & Gamble Company), George H. Mead of the Mead Corporation in Dayton and an industry member of the WLB, David Sarnoff (president of RCA) and several others.
‘Gargantuan bureaucracy’ assailed by Governor Warren
Californian says corrupt political machines putting ‘everything’ behind Roosevelt
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An elections vane?
Republicans hail Connecticut vote
Hartford, Connecticut –
Republican leaders today regarded the outcome of yesterday’s elections in 71 Connecticut cities and towns as an omen of party victory in the November state and national elections.
The party retained control in virtually every community, and by heavier majorities than two years ago.
There were only two switches. Ashford went Democratic for the first time in three years, while North Stonington swung into the Republican column.
Middletown remained Republican, reelecting Mayor Salvatore T. Cubeta by 1,099 votes over Walter C. Brock. Stamford reelected Republican Mayor Charles E. Moore by 1,793 votes over Democratic State Senator Joseph J. Tooher.
Voting everywhere was reported “extreme heavy.”
Few absentee soldier ballots were cast, the majority being reported Republican.