Capital Comment

...foreign occupation ran only create favorable conditions, the opportunity— it cannot impose democracy...

...In the meantime their industry, their politics, their education, their means of communication and transport must be supervised...

...w bile labor has eteadfaatly supported wafe reg-¦Utioe aa an aid i* (he Ight against inf ation, labor sppeasd the wage-freeze policy of the Government...

...They must be policed for an indefinite period—until it is safe to let them go on under their own steam to seek their own ends...

...Phil Murray, in appearing before the WLB, appeared •hvieusly worried over the political capital the Repub-ueanj might make of his critical remarks: particularly »• revealed the existence of a secret OPA study **»ing that the ateel workers' demand for an addi-"••W 17 canto an hour can be granted without neces-"Miag the increase in steel prices that is being de-•bamm1 by tho steel corporations...

...The point of Meany's argument was not against wage regeestion as an aid in the flght against inflation...

...It wei aimed solely at the fact that the President's Exec-atra Order took out of the handa of the War I .ahoi Bosrd any power to move the Little Steel formula either ap or down...

...All sorts of expert commissions must be set up with elaborate staffs...

...The Germans must be thoroughly beaten, disarmed and kept disarmed...

...For many years at least 500,000 troops must be maintained on German soil...

...For years we shall have to sacrifice to this foreign service thousands of valuable specialists...

...It is openly hinted that this preposterous plan to the result of Ruaaian insistence...

...This would mean that the "sphere of influence" being built up by the i'.s.s.k...

...the suppression of the OPA studies, Bowlee frankly admitted thst he was doing it in order to appease the "Lories" on Capitol Hill...

...Thereafter, the decision will rent solely with President Roosevelt...

...Assistant Preaident Jimmy Byrnes is pulling all the wires he can to postpone any decision on the Little Steel formula until after Election Day...

...W« have laid and we say again here today," Meany smarted J* hia argument before the War 1-abor Board, *th»t the present wage-freeae policy constitutes a fraud •a the nation's workers who are producing for victory and oa the nation's soldier a and sailors who expect to return to standards of living at least as good as they left behind them when they went off to fight...

...K II revealing the existence of the j Hertt OPA study, Murray bared *» fact thgt it was kept a secret avan the War Labor Board **»pite the fact that the Board wak *veply immersed in precisely thai emblem knd was in vital-need of all 'hctoal information it could get...

...If we do not preserve a stable economy, a Postwar deflation will ruin all plans for postwar profperUy...

...The WLB will submit its recommendation* to the White House on or before Oct...

...Does it—or does it not—promise to be effective toward this endT Judged on thia basis, the plan now being bruited about muat be decisively condemned...

...Military occupation cannot go on forever...

...The CIO position, as presented on Wednesday by President Philip Murray,-does not question the Administration's wage-frees* policy as laid down by President Roosevelt In his "hold-the-line" Executive Order of April, ltifc...

...It is significant that up to recently Wt commonly spoke of maintaining armies over there for a generation...

...Any plan proposed muat be judged in relation to this objective...

...Aa against this the wage demand oemee to 17 cento.' " Constant readers of The New Leader will recall that similar OPA studies were brought to light ia this column for a period of more than a year until ('heater Bowles became OPA Adminiatrator, at which time Bowles issued a drastic order denying newspapermen access to .these public documents and in effect threatening instant dismissal to any member of OPA revealing the existaace of the OPA studies...

...It is necessary, then, to consider from the outaet the ultimate object of this elaborate and expensive arrangement...

...It would be a denial of the Atlantic Charter and of all the democratic profeasions of the anti-Hitler forces...

...ia to extend well in^o the center of Europe...

...Far eve* if the wage demand were greated la full, Be effects upea average hourly earnings weald be largely offset by the disappearance of overtime aad •he reversal ef the labor upgrading process...

...But thia ia not the worst...

...Behind-the-scenes all kinds of pressures srs baing brought to bear on the White House with respect to -the Little Steel formula...

...But the language used gives cause to fear that what Is in store is a division into three realms controlled independently from Moscow, London and Washington...

...That object must be the regeneration of the German people...

...What does thia study disclose: The steel industry had' made a request for a general price increase ef approximately 10 per cent...

...TrlE problems which face us in connection with the occupation of Germany have nothing to do with a "hard" peace or a "soft" peace...

...The evils which would result from such messing aboy), with regional policies baffle the imagination...

...The German nation, like Japan, is to be reduced to a atate of military impotence...

...Here and there it haa been bent...

...Daaartinf from the prepared text of his argument, ¦¦Tray gave evidence of his apprehension by noting ***t "unfortunatoly some people would like to make a HHtfcal football" of labor'o attack on the Little Steel tonemle...

...The AFL position, as presented the previous day by Secretary Treasurer George Meany, constituted a bitter and volent attack on the Administration's wage-freeze...

...It would increaae the menace of e third world war...

...It was as though in direct answer to George Meany's remarks last Tuesday that Byrnaa made an addreas the following day before the National Press Club in Wsshington in which he warned that wage and price control snd food rationing must remain in effect until Japan—as well as Germany —in defeated...

...Whether there ia to be any uniform regulation of 'transport, education, information or trade ia left to our' imaginations...

...No details, of course, can be furnished...

...George Meany's language before the War Labor Beard waa too atrong to be merely a light tap on the wrist...

...Ia an interview with your correspondent on the subject of...

...A Carthaginian Peace for Germany...

...Such a decision would be a great Uo*t far CIO prtttig...

...And the creation of a peaceful, progressive Germany must be the work of Germana themselves...

...But, on the whole, the line has been held and the Government should continue to hold it until the dangers of inflation are past...

...No matter how many war criminals we execute, no matter how intelligently and carefully we watch over the population which remains, at some point in the future the Germans must take their place among the civilized, aelf-governing peoples...

...No official announcement has been made...

...I There's an important difference in the lines being taken by the AFL and CIO...

...w»d added: "This case has to be determined « tta merits, and I believe it will...

...The immediate object of thin elaborate and expensive occupation will be aafety...

...We are told that this ia merely another instance of unilateral action...

...The CIO wants a deeition which will giant th* Steelmerkert' demand and ignore the AFL demand that juritdiction over wag* regulation* be returned to the War Labor Board...

...Any wage-freeze policy beyond the control of toe WI.B was a lag rant violation of the agreement ¦»de betweea labor, industry and government on December 2», mi...

...Wage and price control, Byrnes told his audience of newsmen, "have hurt neither the farmer nor ths Worker.* • "The Office of Economic Stabilization, the Office of Price Administration and the War Labor Board," he added, "have done a wonderful job in trying to hold that line...

...All of this will place a heavy burden upon the Allies...

...No one in authority has any idea of going easy with the Germans, in the United States and Great Britain there is general agreement about the objectives to be striven for and the means to be employed...

...Rear guard actions have been fought against the attacks of groups that are powerful, while we are fighting a war...

...Any auch development would be a crane reversion to the worat sort of imperialism...

...Murray, apeaking as president of the Steel-worksrs Union, confined hia argument solely to demands fer a general 17-cents-an hour wage increase...

...It is easy to foresee the impatience of our citizens as it will increase from year to year...

...and there may be important political repercussions as a result...

...The study concludes that, and 1 quote: "(a) There ia at the preeent time no ground for an overall increase ia the pries of steel,' snd "(b) 'Bvea to the event that the wage increase res see ted by the eaten were granted in fall, the esse for a prist toereese would not be persuasive...

...But this state of affairs cannot long continue...

...We may have, then, one aet of Germans policed and educated in one way and two other seta managed quit* differently...

...But the correspondents who usually have the best inaide tracks to information are taking for granted that Germany is to be divided into three domains...

...s»iJ Murray: "For some curious reason unknown to ths union, this study, though completed on August 24, was not made available to the Board or to the panel We therefore take the liberty of makin| its contents public...

...The I.ittl* Steel formula tj*k the center of the stage in Washington this week with kfh and CIO both active in the final phase of eigomenta before the War Labor Board...

...Ths AFL wants power over wage regulation taken out of the reactionary hands of Assistant President Jimmy Byrnes, and wants a decision on this before November 7 . ' Behind that are inferences of political reprisal...

...It has already become the custom to mention a decade as the limit...

...It is vaguely suggested, in addition,' that France will be given rule over some segment on the Rhine...

...It' ia supposed that Jtuseia will occupy and control the one to the east, Britain will have charge of that to the northwest, and the Americans will have charge of the southern area...