NATIONAL DEFENSE: Arms Over Labor

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Much in the minds but seldom on the tongues of wise men in C. I. O. and A. F. of L. is Rearmament's impact on U. S. Labor. They are well aware that in time of Preparedness, unions may have to take a beating when their interests conflict with those of Army or Navy.

Last week Labor took a beating from the Army. At the emphatic demand of Secretary of War Harry Hines Woodring (and after a talk with Franklin Roosevelt), House & Senate conferees on the Army's pending $366,250,000 rearmament authorization bill dropped an amendment tacked on by Majority Leader Barkley. The Army opposed it and Labor wanted it because it would have kept any national defense contract from being awarded any bidder who refused to bargain with his workers collectively. Although friendly Senators offered to limit its effects to firms actually convicted of violating the Wagner Act, the War Department and House committeemen would have none of it.

Last week as completed in conference, the defense bill:

>Limits the expenditure on new Army planes, hangars, supplies, etc. to $300,000,000.

>Limits the Army Air Corps to 6,000 planes (instead of 5,500 as set by the House).

>Limits profits on Army aircraft contracts to 12% (instead of 10% as fixed by the Senate).

>Requires the Air Corps to set up a school for Negro flying cadets (TIME, March 20).