Evening star., 1942-05-29
The Great Game of Politics
Postwar Planners Neglect couton for soIveney
OF Nation to Meet Tremendous Stress of Peace

that there is no such thing as q day
of reckoning.
Some weeks ago Vice President
Wallace made a speech drawing q
picture of the postwar era in
which the common people" in all
the nations would come into their
own and q wonderful new world
be created. The left-wing press
went into raptures over the ora
ton, emitting, however, to note that
1t contained not q single concrete,
practical proposal, and not SO much
as a suggestion that realization of
these vice presidential dreams might
be interfered with by a bankrupt
Treasury.
There Is now on foot a move
ment to send a group of 10 mem
bers Of Congress to England to dis
cuss peace aims" but no one sug-
gests that a decent peace must rest
upon the solvency of the victorious
nations. Not even A. A. Berle,
jr., earliest of the postwar thinkers,
appears to consider this except in
cidentally.
Mr.. Berle recently urged that
with victory the United must in
Stitute systems of relief for the
starving peoples of Europe. This"
he wrote, means arranging to
finance this task all the way from
the farm to the consumer of relief
1t means working out methods by
which the populations which will
need relief shall not be mere ac-
ceptors of charity, but will re-enter
cooperative economic life"
These are indeed stimulating
words, but, like Mr.. Wallace, Mr..
Berle neglects to say what we are
going to use for money.
Terrific Strain TO Come.
For the noble aspirations Of these
planners there is, of course, respect,
and the steps they propose probably
should be taken. But the point is
that we will be in no position to
take such steps If, when the war
ends, our finances are out of control
and the Treasury, unable to borrow
any longer or to tax any higher, is
forced to desperate expedients to
keep our diversified Government
afloat. That such a condition is at
least possible is too clear to be
denied.
Hence, it would seem that those
who see the necessity for us to as
sumo international leadership and
responsibilities would primarily be
concerned with the elimination of
all governmental waste and the
strengthening in every possible way
Of the Federal financial fabric so
that it will be able to stand the
terrific additional strain certain To
be imposed when peace comes.
1t would help nightly If they
could be got now to give this some
attention. 1t would help, too, if the
President would sometime, some
where, find occasion to express his
belief in continuance of the Ameri-
can system of capitalism and free
enterprise and his disapproval of
those who yearn TO substitute some
thing else for it.
For nine years he has been en-
couraging labor and the farmers
and the unemployed, but few will
contend that he has done or said
anything to encourage business, big
or little. If now he could give pub
lie assurance that he is totally op-
posed to those who seek the extinc-
ton Of business freedom and indie
pendence, it would be a far greater
contribution to national unity than
was the release of Browder.
Correction.
A statement in a recent column
was constructed by Secretary Nor
genthau's friends as lining him up
with those who favored abolition of
the Farm Security Administration.
The record shows that Mr.. Morgen-
thau was not in favor of reducing
the F. S. A. funds without more
thorough investigation" F. r. K.