Evening star., 1942-08-30
War to Force
Privution Soon
By OtDen L. Scott.


much different for many Americans
after the November elections. Once the
votes are counted, the war will begin
to close in from many directions.
The draft of men then will be inten-
sified. Taxes will be raised in earnest.
Rationing, including Nation wide ra-
tioning Of gasoline, almost certainly will
be extended and made more strict. There
will be a real effort to bring farm prices
and wages under control. 1t Is prob
able that there will be registration of
women as preliminary to possible pres
sure to force more women into war work.
Trade and industry will face inventory
control.
Those are just some of the things that
are to come shortly before or soon after
the November voting. They are things
now delayed owing to a desire not to
create possible reactions that might
cause voters to decide on sweeping
changes in the makeup OF the next
Congress.
Draft OF men will create the greatest
disturbance to life as usual The Ameri-
can people are not yet fully aware Of
the fact that decision is made to create
a mass army OF 100000 or 1000 900 men
for use in Europe. Until now the process
of building this army principally has
affected single men, the bulk OF them
young, but not so young as to cause
many qualms.
Now 1t is to become necessary to take
two steps that will jar millions OF Amer
ican homes. The first step will be to
draft large numbers of married men
from homes without children. The
second step will be to draft youths OF IS
and 10. Congress almost certainly will
approve that step soon after the votes
have been counted. From this time
forward, the building of vast army
will involve hardship and much mental
distress.
To create and to supply an army Of
the size now planned civilians are to
be forced to give up very many things
The process OF depriving Americans Of
goods involves rationing. Rationing
will start to get under way in earnest
soon after November. 1t is conceivable
that it may begin to be talked about,
but not actually put into effect extern
sively before people have voted In
Europe and in England, rationing OF
goods Is popular because 1t assures the
masses Of people that they get share
of scarce goods. The American people,
who are accustomed to abundance, do
not take so kindly to a formal division
OF goods.
Gasoline rationing on a Nationwide
basis is almost certain as a means of
conserving the rubber that remains in
tires. During the past eight months
much Of that rubber already has been
burned up and If this process OF unre-
stricted driving goes on much longer
there will not be many tires to save.
However, the politicians caution against
rationing Of gasoline until balloting is
over. BY that time. the average Amer
lean tire will have only about 5000
miles OF use remaining In it.
After gas rationing probably will come
rationing Of meat, canned foods and
some kinds of clothing. In England
about go per cent of all goods used by
consumers now are sold on a rationed
basis. The trend here will be in that di-
rection, although 1t is unlikely to be
that sharp.
Two other changes that await the
election outcome are wage sterilization
and flrmer control over food prices.
officials now are convinced that the
preliminary to wage control is effective
control over prices of foodstuf1s When
worker families see food prices rising,
they step forward with new demands for
wage increases. The result is that wage
increases become translated into in
creases in the price of goods and this
increase in turn raises the level of par
ity' for farm prices. Out of that situ-
alton can grow a cycle OF steadily rising
prices. The cry Of imitation has been
made so often that, like the cry of
Wolf, wolf," when there was no wolf,
it is cry that no longer excites when
the danger is real. The imitation danger
soon is to become real
President Roosevelt is so impressed
with this danger that he is preparing to
act before election, and without specific
cooperation by Congress, to try to stabil-
lie both farm prices and wages He may
succeed.
The problem of imitation control like
wise is going to force taxes on a scale
much greater than that now proposed
in Congress.
Despite the widespread objections to
the size and weight of taxes now under
consideration, those taxes will appear
to be mild before the war is much older.
The reason Is the revenue from taxes
now proposed will pay barely one-third
Of the cost of running this war.
In Canada, England and Germany,
taxes are geared to pay at least so per
cent of the cost of wartime operations
and in those nations other imitation con-
trolls are far more sweeping than in the
United States This means that the
American people will have to take their
choice of a very sizable imitation, which
is tax that bears heavily on workers
and on persons with fixed incomes, or of
heavier taxes than any yet proposed.
The post-election choice Is almost cer-
tain to be for drastic tax increases, with
any 1912 revenue act to be followed by
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