Evening star., 1941-12-02

Wallace, I do so wholly impersonally
and with only the most sincere ad-
miration of Mr.. Wallace as a man
and an official
AS the presiding officer Of the
United States Senate. he daily OBJ
serves that body in action. He may
not participate in the deliberations
except when. by chance. there is
tie vote. in which event he is, by
the Constitution. authorized TO cast
the deciding ballot. No decision is
rendered in that body upon any
question affecting the welfare of
the people of the United States
until a proposal is made publicly
by some Senator. referred to a COM
mittee. where hearings may be held,
and then reported to the Senate,
where, in open session. it is subject
TO debate. That is the democratic
system That is the traditional
American way of handling problems
which affect the people.
When the Vice President leaves
this public forum carefully created
by the CONSTITUTION. and goes to
the sessions Of the Supply. Priori-
ties and ALLEGATIONS Board. of which
ne is also the presiding officer he
sits behind closed doors in eXecu-
tive session where decisions are
reached upon policies and programs
which have an intimate and lmme-
diate bearing upon the social and
economic lives of all Of the people
of the United States.
T. is. for example. the function
Of s. P A B. TO determine policies
and make regulations governing
ALLEGATIONS and priorities with re-
spect to the procurement. produc-
ton. transmission or spOrtation
Of materials. articles. power, fuel
anG other commodities among mill
tarv. economic defense. defense aid,
civilian and other major demands
of the total defenso program
Authoritarian Procedure.
Il would be difficult to ina CINE
authority more sweeping than en-
bodied in those words which I have
Just quoted from the executive
order setting no the board of which
the Vice President is the presiding
officer. Yet these policies are de-
termined and these regulations are
made without any public record.
BY whom they NAV be suggested
is not known TO the public. Whether
adopted BY an unanimous or a
divided vote. no one knows. II
there be dissent the basis of that
dissent does not become public as
a matter of procedure Nothing is
known about the origin or develop
ment of any such decision. Only
( the decision itself becomes public
The procedure in the Senate is
the free, open method of parlia-
mentarv decision. The procedure
in S. P. A B. is the procedure of
he authoritarian regime. The pub
tic participates in the decisions OF
( the CONGRESS- and shapes them The
public does not participate in the
slightest degree in the decisions OF
5. p. A. B The life and death OF
civilian business is governed by the
acts of this board but neither the
owners nor the workers are given
assurance Of a hearing
That there must be an agency
like S. P. A. B. to coordinate the
defense program and the lease
lend program formally adopted BY
Congress after oDen debate. I woulc
be the last to deny. AS member
of the Senate. I have personally
supported every proposal for the
improvement of our national de-
fense. l supported the lease-lenc
program and 1 supported the modi-
fication of the Neutrality Act be.
cause I believed that it is essentia
Tor America to make itself the
arsenal of democracy in order tc
protect social, political and economic
freedom
But this I know. the sacrifice
which we are making to preserv'
these sacred fundamental principle
will be utterly vain if We permit thu
I free ecopon1jc Systnn tn ho deStroVef