LABOR CRISIS TESTS TRUMAN The fast-growing labor crisis presents Harry S. Truman with the first big problem he has faced on a hitherto well-charted Roose velt sea. Up until now, most policies, especially those dealing with war and peace, had been pretty well established by Tru man’s predecessor. In settling the current labor turmoil, however, Harry is completely on his own. For some time, labor advice from White House insiders has differed. Truman’s labor department has argued that labor troubles after wars were inevitable, that both W’ilson and Harding had to call out U. S. troops after the last war, that labor has been in a strait jacket since Pearl Harbor, is bound to feel its wild oats now; finally that big business was equal ly in a straight jacket and equal ly williijg to row with labor espe cially if it could get labor in wrong with the public ... ad vice to Truman: Don’t stick your neck out; let both sides battle it out for a while. Opposite advice came from another wing of the White House . . . while admitting that all the above ia true, other ad visers urged that both labor and industry needed guidance. For four years both labor and industry have had the Little Steel Formula as their guide. They were supposed not to go above this . . . Now labor finds itself losing Its overtime wages, with take-home pay dropping way below lush war days, yet with the cost of living still high. Therefore, Truman was urged to step forward and set a na tional policy, suggest a wage increase which would partly off set the drop in take-home pay ... It is this group of advisers which Truman finally has de cided to follow. • • • FARMERS VS. LABOR UNION9 Last week Florida citrus grow ers came to Washington, worried sick over the future market for grapefruit and oranges. They feared a return of the old days when their fruit was dumped into Florida rivers . . . The army has Just cancelled orders for several million cases of orange juice. Si multaneously it has turned back on the civilian market several million more surplus cases. This backlog is. bound to have a depressing effect on citrus fruit . . . Citrus fruit growers know that with wages dropping, the civilian demand for oranges and grapefruit will also nose-dive. When workmen get paid less, first thing they quit buying is fruit . . . Cattlemen also figure on a drop in prices. Not only will the army buy less, but workmen eat less meat, when wages are cut . . . Same is true of many other farm commodities, including dairy products . . . Never before has the average American eaten so well— despite rationing—as during the war years, largely because wages were high . . . Seldom before also have farmers been so prosperous . . . Seldom before, however, have farmers been so sore at labor unions. They were looking for ward to buying new autos, new farm machinery. Now all this is delayed by strikes. Also they were looking forward to the return of cheap labor from cities to farms. So far this hasn’t materialized. • • • UNIONS LOSE MONEY Big industrial unions naturally don’t want any trek back to the farm. It means loss of dues. The United Auto Workers’ 1,000,000 dues-paying membership has now dropped to about half of that. The drop was so severe that the cost of running the union went in the red . . . UAW chiefs are going about their wage protests in an orderly, fair-minded manner, have done their best to stop the Kelsey Hayes wildcat strike . . . But some union leaders prefer strikes. It helps increase their power in the union ... In Schenectady, Gen eral Electric’s Charles E. Wilson long has advocated higher wages. He says it helps him sell electric refrigerators, electric irons, etc. He has been ready to make up ward wage adjustments voluntar ily, just as wise Standard Oil of N. J. increased its pay immedi ately and automatically at the end of the war. However, certain CIO Elec trical Workers seem more in terested in a strike than a vol untary or negotiated wage boost . . . some labor leaders, unfortu nately, seem deliberately looking for strikes—among them John L. Lewis. They bring disfavor on the heads of other labor leaders, have given the entire labor move ment a bad setback with public opinion . . . Public opinion in some areas is now so anti-labor that Truman would get thunderous applause if he called out U. 8. troops as strike-breakers. Veterans’Administration Mas Capable Leader General Bradley Has Fatherly Interest in Veterans; Aetions Show His Ability to Administer This Big Job By BAUKHAGE Commentator and News Analyst WNU Service, 1616 Eye St., N. W, Washington, D. C. I have just come back from a visit with the father of 16 million. That isn’t such a far-fetched figure to use in describing the tall, rangy Missourian, who is ir* charge of “the biggest business in the world," which is how they describe the Veterans’ Administration in Washington. To call Omar Nelson Bradley "father” of the service men and women isn’t stretching it. Ernie Pyle once said: “If I could pick any two men in the world for my father except my own Dad, I would pick General Omar Bradley or General Ike Eisenhower. If I had a son, I would like him to go to Bradley or Ike for advice." Ernie was a pretty keen judge of human nature on the hoof. I thought of that when one of Brad ley’s co-workers in the Veterans’ Administration, who is almost a decade older than the general, said “fatherly” was the way to de scribe the manner in which he was treated the first time they had a problem to straighten out with the boss. And then I met the General. I found a weather-beaten, wiry, long-legged soldier, whose eyes twinkled brighter than the four stars on his collar. Fatherly, yes —and I’ll have a word about that a little later. But I found out something else. I found out why he ought to be able to run one of the hardest jobs in the govern ment. And I’ll admit, right off, it sounds almost too good to be true. We had been talking about the details of the reorganization of the agency which is now going on and with which General Bradley is minutely familiar. Then I asked him what it was, if anything, in his military training and experi ence that he could use in his pres ent position. He said that he thought it was the same with all jobs such as this. And here is the theory on which he works: “First, build your organization on functional lines. Second, get the right man to head up each function. Third, give him full re sponsibility to act on his own au thority.” How, I inquired, does this fit in with your military experience, having had some of that branch of adventure myself—although running a platoon isn’t running an army. "It's a good deal like the army,” he answered. “You have your staff. You have say 20 sections, each with a special function, work ing under your chief of staff. Sometimes, of course, you group some of the functions, but the or ganization is along functional lines ” And how, I asked, do you choose the men to head up these various activities? His answer came back without the slightest hesitation. “I choose a man, first for his ability, second for his loyalty—and I count heavily on the loyalty. Get loyal men of ability and you’ve gone a long way toward solving your problems in any organiza tion.” That sounded pretty good to me, but what about the present situation where, after all, there is always a Congress on Capitol Hill, a Congress with constituents who have votes and some of whom want jobs. 1 asked the General, what about politics? He didn’t seem worried. He said that he hadn't had any trouble. “I’m not a politician,” he said. “I never intend to run for office.” That was all he would say, but here is a story I picked up later at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue. A certain Congressman got a hot letter from a constituent who had been fired from the Veterans’ Administration. No doubt with due cause. He hot-footed it up to the General and spoke, as legis lators often do to officials, with considerable vigor. “I want the man re-hired at once," the Congressman demanded. The General was polite but sorry. i.. - ■ He stood by his decision. “If you don’t, I’ll attack you on the floor." “Go ahead,” said Bradley, faintly recalling, I imagine, some of the attacks in Normandy. “I’ll block your bills," said the irate Congressman. That was a horse of a different color. “You will?” said the General. “AH right, and if you do that, I'll go to the President with my resignation. He’ll get that or find a means to stop you.” (Period.) We all knew about the Gen eral’s war record—in Tunisia, on the Normandy beachhead, among the hedgerows, where he smashed a gateway at St. Lo which made Patton’s lightning drive possible. But we didn’t know much about the man. Most of us didn’t know he was from Missouri and later some of us might have suspected that that was the reason why he was picked, although the Presi dent said it was because he wanted a World War II soldier to take care of the wants of World War II veterans. Now we have some other reasons for believing that the choice was predicated on wise advice and is going to prove itself a fortunate one. On the horse-sense side, It is because Bradley has established a record as an administrator. He proved that in the army and had the acumen to see the chief fault in the veterans’ organization and has set out to remedy it. On the emotional side—well, Er nie Pyle was right. The trouble with the Veterans Administration was that it grew so rapidly that it didn’t have time to delegate authority. And there was another reason for this. It was built on what seemed a very sound theory. Let’s take its services to the veteran. For instance, small hospitals were scattered all over the country, many in little commu nities where the veteran could get to them easily. But that didn’t work out. It was hard to get ex pert medical men, good service and the latest equipment in the smaller communities and because the re gional organization was spread so thin, it was necessary to have a strong hand in Washington. The result was that the grip of that hand was so tight that the whole system was cramped. Bradley put his finger on the situation (with the help of well chosen counsel) and reversed the former policy. Now it’s “bring the veteran to the hospital." Bring him by rail or plane in an emer gency, but bring him to a well manned, well-equipped center whose site and importance will at tract the best there is in medical skill, when he needs specialized care. Hand in hand with this regional centralization of the medical facili ties, the new organization has de centralized the authority. As soon as Bradley looked over the set-up he said: “This is like having a 160 regi ments under one man. In the army that would be unthinkable. We'd break it down into corps and divisions at least." And so that is what was done. But first he made a sharp cleav age between the medical organiza tion and the rest of the activities. He created a new office, “Acting Surgeon General of the Veterans' Administration.” And he ap pointed the best man he knew, Major General Paul Ramsey Haw ley, who had been chief surgeon for the European theater and did an outstanding job. And here I wonder if there wasn’t one of those important un conscious childhood impressions which helped. Bradley’s middle name, Nelson, is for a well-loved family physician. And Bradley’s fatherliness is attested to in his interest in the physical welfare of his men. Again and again war correspondents mentioned the fact that he planned engagements so that his troops would suffer the fewest casualties possible. He has an instinctive understanding of the afflicted. BARBS.. ,6y Haukhage Mahomet went to the mountain. The Mikado went to MacArthur. This, it seems only fair to say, merely demonstrates the excellent judgment of all parties concerned. ... As I look back over a few dec ades I have enjoyed on this mun dane sphere, the only things I regret seem to be the things I j missed. A lot of New Yorkers who had forgotten there were such things had to use stairs during the ele vator men’s strike. And this did more for the calves than if they’d taken the ceiling price off of veal. • • • Production of rubber heel* is still behind demand. But there are still more of the other kind of heels than we need. SERVICE BUREAU EDITOR’S NOTE: This newspaper, through special arrangement with the Washington Bureau of Western News paper Union at 1616 Eye Street, N. W Washington, D. C., is able to bring readers this weekly column on prob lems of the veteran and serviceman and his family. Questions may be ad dressed to the above Bureau and they will be answered in a subsequent col umn. No replies can be made direct br mail, but only in the column which will appear in this newspaper regularly. Small Business Aid The small business division of the U. S. Department of Com merce is taking particular interest in veterans who are returning from the wars with the intention of entering the small business field. The small business division has given the subject considerable time and thought and now has avail able for veterans a booklet, “Vet erans and Small Business” which answers numerous questions in the minds of the returning soldier. The booklet covers many facts of the highly competitive small busi ness field and covers subjects such as, “Postwar Plans for GIs”; “In dustry’s Job to Place Servicemen”; “The GI Bill and Small Business”; “What About These Veterans’ Loans?”; “Factors in a GI’s Busi ness Success ; ‘Getting Started in Your Business”; “How Long Can I Stay in Business?”; “Survival Chances of Retail Stores”; “Risk taking in a Postwar World”; “Training Program for Small Bus iness”; “Marketing Facts On a County Basis”; “Smr” Town a Most Important Mark( and sev en other factors or subj.cts. These chapters were written by experts and information contained will be invaluable to the veteran contemplating entering the small business field. These booklets are available’to veterans by writing to the “Small Business Division” of the United States Department of Commerce, Washington, D. C. Questions and Answers Q. Can a mother who is all alone and in poor health, have a son re leased from the Army if he has been in since Jan. 25, 1943, and in the South Pacific since June 19, 1943, and has never had a fur lough? Mrs. D. W., Greenwood, Wis. A. The War Department says that the fact the mother is all alone and in poor health would not necessarily bring about the son's release. If the case can be considered a “hardship case” re lease might be given, but each case must be decided upon its merits and be recommended by the com manding officer. If your son, how ever, has been in the army since the dates you give, he possibly has enough points for his discharge now. or at least in the very near future. Without points for battle stars or decorations, which count five each, he has approximately 63 points. He is eligible for ap plication for discharge now at 70 points and the number is fixed at 60 points November X. Q. My daughter wishes to know whether she will be entitled to services of a doctor and hospitali zation benefits when her new baby arrives, if her husband who is now in the navy is discharged under the point system before the baby ar rives?—Mrs. W. A. L., Mill Iron, Mont. A. The Navy Department says that if she is now receiving navy medical care to which she is en titled, the navy will do everything it can to Jielp her provided she does not move from the area where she is under treatment and the pregnacy is in the later stages. Suggest she contact the nearest navy hospital or dispensary for specific information. Q. Is there a course of study in fire fighting listed in the educa tional program for veterans and are there any books available on this subject? —G. E. D., Philadel phia. A. Many schools approved by State Boards of Education have instructions in fire fighting. For instance, the University of Mary land, College Park, Md., and North western University, Evanston, 111., have such a course. It may be possible that the University of Pennsylvania has such a course. Suggest that you write one of these schools. Q. Will a soldier who has been In service for two years and 11 months in the States and 13 months overseas receive mustering-out pay if he is given a dependency dis charge?—Wife, Treloar, Mo. A. The War Department says i t'- t if his dependency discharge is honorable he is entitled to muster ing-out pay. Q. Please advise if an ex-service man can obtain a loan to join up in ' an open shop in one or more unions?—J. C., Coffeeville, Miss. A. Can find no regulation which provides for a loan to join a onion. Painters Speed Vets’ Recovery Artists Give Portraits Free To Soldier or Sailor Hospital Cases. NEW YORK. — On the walls of many a modest American home there hang original portraits of G.I. Joes by famous artists whose work ordinarily would command impres sive prices. However, these portraits cost their possessors nothing. They were given free to the soldier or sailor sitters, as part of the contri bution which American artists gen erally have been making to the war effort, says the Chicago Herald American. The "studios” for this particular art movement are army and navy hospitals, and the models are wound ed veterans to whom the experi ence comes as a welcome break in the tedium of convalescence. Sponsored both by the Red Cross and USO-Camp shows, the experi ment has proven to be a singularly effective morale builder. Many of the artist volunteers are nationally famous. Others are rela tively unknown. But, noted or ob scure, they get an equally cordial reception from their soldier cli entele. Typical Art Session. Typical of these hospital art ses sions was a recent one in a traction ward of the army’s Halloran gen eral hospital. Staten Island, N. Y. Wielding brush and pencil were Dean Cornwell, famous muralist; Dan Content, noted magazine artist; and Paul Frehm of King Features syndicate, whose newspaper and magazine illustrations are familiar to a host of readers. On the same day, patients at Ma son general hospital, Brentwood, N. Y., sat for portraits by Arthur William Brown, president of the So ciety of Illustrators, Roy Prohaska, equally noted as an illustrator; and Bettina Steinke, portrait painter. The resultant sketches, auto graphed by the artists, were given to the models. All said they would send theirs “home to the folks.” As an additional service, the Red Cross and USO-Camp shows make photo graphic replicas of the portraits, which the subjects can distribute among friends. Subjects at Halloran included army casualties Erwin H. Becker, 19-year-old infantry private from the Bronx, N. Y.; Cpl. Edgar G. Steinecke, 28, of Scranton, Pa., and T/Sgt. John F. Kraus, 31. of Brook lyn. Patients Interested. Becker’s leg was fractured by shrapnel after he crossed the Rhine, and he was dragged to safety by medical corps men. A blast of mortar fire hit Stein ecke in both legs as he advanced with fellow infantrymen in the Rhineland. Nazi machine gun bullets tore into both Kraus’ legs during the “Battle of the Bulge.” All these men have been hospital patients for long and painful months, their wounded limbs immo bilized in casts. Dinner was over, and ordinarily they would have faced three more hours of hospital tedium until lights out. The arrival of the artists con verted those three hours into a high spot of pleasure. No model was interested in just his own portrait; he wanted to see those of his buddies. There was a lot of ribbing back and forth—re marks like, “Say, he's got you al most as ugly as you are!” and “Look, don't make Ed that hand some—his folks won’t know him.” The faces of the patients were bright and interested, as contrasted with apathy shortly before, and they grinned their satisfaction as they received their own portraits. German Parties at Meet Vow to Redeem Nation BERLIN. — Spokesmen for Ber lin's four political parties in their first public "united front" meet ing recently said the German people would endeavor earnestly to fulfill the terms of the Potsdam declara tion. Some 500 representatives of the four parties unanimously sup ported a resolution offered by Trade Union Representative Ernst Lem mer which: Called for a continuation of the united front to achieve Germany’s regeneration; acknowledged Ger many’s collective guilt for the Hitler regime; pledged elimination of mili tarism, reactionarism and Nazi ism; admonished the nation that the going will be hard, and pledged an honest attempt to fulfill the spirit and letter of the Potsdam decisions of the Big Three. Wilhelm Kuelz, minister of the in terior in the Weimar republic, pre sided and termed the four political parties "the educators of the na tion for democracy.” Rail Trip From Milan To Rome in 33 Hours CHIASSO. SWITZERLAND. — Daily train service from Milan. Italy, to Rome will be renewed August 25. The trip is expected to I take 33 hours as compared with 6 hours before the war. Impair ment of equipment and rights of way will require the trains to make a lengthy round - about trip. Many U. S. Vessels Salvaged by Navy Clearing Manila Bay One Of Largest Undertakings. WASHINGTON. — Military and naval craft valued at millions of dol lars, in addition to an estimated $600,000,000 in sunken merchant ships and cargo, were salvaged during the war, the navy has an nounced. One of the last and largest jobs of naval salvage units prior to the Japanese surrender was the clear ing of 600 vessels from Manila bay. Many of them had been sunk by American army and navy fliers prior to the Philippine invasion, and others were scuttled by the Japa nese. The Manila bay job began imme diately after the Lingayen gulf landings last January and was in full swing within two weeks with 600 men and 60 officers engaged in the task while simultaneously fighting off Japanese snipers who would swim to the wrecks at night to pick off the salvage crews when they re turned to work the next day. The entire navy salvage force numbered less than 2,000 officers and men, but its record was writ ten in North Africa, Italy, France and in the Pacific. Some of the re floated vessels were used again by the army or navy, while others were either blown up or towed out of the harbors to “graveyards.” Operations along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the United States were done by a commer cial salvage firm, operating under navy direction. Psychiatric Cases Are Returned to Active Duty FORT CUSTER, MICH.—An army spokesman disclosed recently that approximately 90 per cent of the army’s overseas neuro - psychiatric cases were sent back to duty, 65 per cent of them being returned to combat outfits. Dr. Eli Ginsberg, chief of the re sources analysis division of the sur geon general’s department, told offi cers at a three-day army service forces convalescent hospital con ference here that only 10 per cent of the men were brought back to this country for treatment. Never theless, Ginsberg said, more neuro - psychiatric than medical cases were returned from the Pacific theater from January 1 to June 30 of this year. Ginsberg said that for every four medical cases and every nine battle wound cases there were two psychi atric cases. Cupboard’s Mighty Bare Here, Britons Advised LONDON, ENGLAND —Three vis iting congressmen told British re porters recently that the United States “cupboard is getting mighty bare.’’ The three are Representatives Mundt (Rep., S. D.), Bolton (Rep., Ohio) and Ryter (Dem., Fla.), and are members of the house foreign affairs committee. A British reporter asked: “Don’t you think it was a little rough to end lend-lease shipments so abrupt ly?” Mundt, the spokesman, said no, “the war is over.” Mrs. Bolton said she had not seen butter in her home for five months, that sugar was hard to get, meat was scarce and fowl almost impos sible to obtain in the United States. German Ordnance Had 94 Mile Shell, Yanks Find CHICAGO. — In examining Ger man secret weapons, army ord nance experts have discovered a new type of ammunition designed for ranges of 94 miles, according to Col. John Siezak, chief of the Chi cago Ordnance district. Investigators have uncovered a German - developed gun about 32 inches in diameter and capable of firing a 5-ton shell. Ordnance officers, conducting in vestigations at Hillersleben and Bad Blankenburg, large German re search centers, also found a pro jectile which, though fired from a gun, becomes rocket-propelled after leaving the gun. Scientists Are Planning To Check on Atomic Bomb WASHINGTON. - U. S. scientists who developed the atomic bomb plan to investigate the wrecks of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as soon as possible after American occupation of Japan, it was understood re cently. They are eager, it was believed, to determine the truth or untruth of Jap reports that fatal radio-activity lingered at Hiroshima for weeks after the first atomic bomb exploded over the city August 6. Rhine River Has Been Made Navigable Again WIESBADEN, GERMANY. — The Rhine river is again navigable. United States army headquarters announced. Col. John B. Hughes, deputy di rector of the transportation division of the United States group control council for Germany, said the im mediate effect would be to relieve the coal situation and allow wheat to be moved to the flour mills on the Rhine. Squeezing Grapefruit You can squeeze large grapefruit on an ordinary orange Juice reamer if you cut the fruit in half lengthwise (rather than crosswise), halve •gain, squeeze each quarter on the reamer, pressing cut side against point of Juicer. Smaller grapefruit can be cut in halves like oranges. Juiced on regular reamer. 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