The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1942-11-07
. Clapper
Election Puts COP
On the Spot
Can Use Monkey Wrench or
Be Constructive Force
Field at Cspiial
Is Wide Open
War Effort Needs
Closer Cooperation
Nv RAYMOND cLAPPER

wAsHINGToN-This victory Of
unexpected size for the Republ-
cans can be put TO q most useful
purpose. II can be used to drive
the administration to more eff
Gent conduct of the war.
There are indications that ii win
be so used. Comment Of Republi-
cans on the day after election
pointed that way.
Thomas z. Dewey said Ameri-
cans must redouble their efforts
for a total, incorporating and
crushing victory. Herbert Hoover
said there was a strong element
Of protest in the elections, but
protest of insistence on more eff
fective organization Of the war.
A few days earlier Wendell WILL
kie said that the election of
large number of liberal and en-
lghtened Republicans was the best
way to drive the government to
correct confusion and inefficiency.
Republican membership in the
house and senate is going up to
the point where. with the aid Of a
few Democrats, 1t can swing a
vote. That power, in the hands
of obstructionists whose only aim
is to put Roosevelt in a hole, would
be dangerous.
One Republican leader, just be-
fore election, warned labor organi-
cations against accepting the re-
cent government decision to shift
gold miners to copper mines. He
said unless such arbitrary power
were curbed, the administration
would conscript and impress work.
ers regardless of their constitu-
tional rights, just as Hitler does.
That kind of inflammatory talk,
IL carried on as a party policy by
the Republicans in congress. could
cause no end of interference with
the war effort, as the shortage of
labor grows.
II the Republicans set out to
make political capital of the hard
ships that have to be imposed
for the war, we are in for a lot of
trouble.
Public discomfort with the adj
ministration has been voiced by
electing Republicans. If that is
accepted by the Republicans as a
license to throw monkey wrenches
around, the election results will
prove to have been a national mis-
fortune.
The statements Of Republican
leaders like Dewey, Hoover and
Willkie clarity the purposes to
which the Republican party must
dedicate its new opportunity. II
their advice is followed, the effects
can only be helpful toward i'm
proving conditions in this arsenal
of bureaucracy.
The kind of work that Republi-
cans in congress can do has been
begun by the Truman and Tolan
committees. They have been non
political in their purpose. Through
the work of members of both par
ties they have directed attention
to weaknesses in the war organi-
cation and have made countless
constructive suggestions, some Of
them public, some confidential.
Unquestionably most Of the work
Of running the war and most of
the policies in connection with it
have to be originated and devel-
oped by the executive branch.
Congress is not equipped to deal
with such a problem, for instance,
as organizing the flow Of short
materials, as in the new controlled
materials plan.
But these executive agencies are
likely to do better work II they
have the scrutinizing eye of con-
gress on them. There is much
discussion within the administra-
ton over the size of the army
expanding lend-lease supplies TO
fighting allies, and providing ade-
quate flow of gasoline and other
materials needed for heavy air
campaign over Germany. Civilian
officials as well as the military
have something to say about these
questions.
There is no reason why special
lied committees of congress should
not have some part in following
the discussions and indicating adj
vice for what it might be worth.
The war effort will be stronger
II congress is close to it than II
1t is kept as the private property
Of the executive branch. High
grade committees, working with a
sense Of responsibility and coop
Grafton. often in confidential dis
cussions, could bring a democratic
quality into what otherwise tends