The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1943-12-02


ascent from a peacetime economy to a
full war economy is much less difficult
than the descent from war to peace.
disqualification is a tougher problem
! than mobilization. 1t is easier to wind
up than to unwind.
1t is not necessary to point his out
to Mr. B. NJ. Baruch and his chief aide
and friend, Mr. John Hancock, who
are charged with the task of forming
a plan to avert postwar confusion,
unemployment and economic disaster.
They know it all right. But, it would
be good thing if the American people
generally grasped the facts. For, if
the job of returning to peace basis is
to be successfully achieved, it is going
to require considerably more than a
sound blueprint.
Mere PRONUNCIATION of a plan will
not do it. There has to be behind it, for
one thing, public understanding and
sentiment. There has to be, for an
other, some spirit of cooperation
among the many interests affected.
And, finally, there has to be admins
trative firmness and capacity. If there
is no popular sentiment, there will be
no force behind the plan; if there is
no cooperation, it will bog down and
if there is not effective adminstra-
! ton it will not function. Sometimes a
! good administrator can make a poor
plan work, but more often a poor ad-
ministrator can wreck a good plan.
His equipment makes it fairly GER
tain that the Baruch plan when com
pleted will be a sound and sensible
one. 1t is also likely that it will be
clear enough and simple enough to be
widely understood without too great
effort. One thing that will help insure
its acceptance by the pople as a whole
is their belief in the complete unset
fishness Of Mr.. Baruch in these mat
ters-the general conviction that he
has no personal or political AK of any
kind to grind.
But this is not enough. The recon-
mendations, however sound and how
ever we'll received, cannot become eff
fective unless their execution is in
strong hands, and there is some de-
gree Of give and take among the forces
directly affected. Mr.. Baruch cannot
/ provide either the operator or the
cooperation, but it would be absurd
! if he were not concerned about them.
Because failure to provide them means
futility and he certainly does not like
futility. Largely, of course, it will de-
pend upon the President how vibrant
the Baruch plan becomes Only he can
j induce or compel the necessary cooper
alton between industry and labor and
upon him devolves the selection of the
/ administrator.
1t is not fair to anticipate that Mr..
Roosevelt will not measure up to this
opportunity. The major difficulty at
the moment is largely the difference
in the mood by which the transfer
from peace to war is achieved from the
mood by which we go from war to
peace. In the first operation the only
real consideration is the safety of the
countrywide only objective to get it
! in position to crush its enemies. The
fire of patriotism burns up most of
! the sclfishness. National unity to win
a war compels certain degree of CO.
operation. 1t is true that we have not
been able to get from the labor bosses
much except hypocritical cooperation,
but, one way or another, public senti-
mcnt and the threat of powerful en-
envy have combined to make the objec-
tive relatively easy to achieve.
, The road back to peacetime econ
omy is another story Already, as the
start back is made, jealousies, greed,
chiseling and clashes are developing.
1t is obvious that unless some means of
restraint is found, there will be a
fierce scramble either to get back to
the places occupied before the war
or to others supposedly better. On
the road back, there will be no patri-
otto feeling to offset the surge of sell
fshness, no strong public sentiment
compelling cooperation such as eX-
listed on the way up.
| 1t is the job of the Baruch outfit to
, frame plan under which this scram-
bic can be controlled, the jealousies
and selfshness curbed and the de-
scent conducted in an orderly way.
! Such a plan of necessity must be a
compromise between extremes, and,
thus, will not please either end. But
that is not important. The important
things are CD that the plan shall be
sound; C2) that it shall be understood
and supported by public sentiment; (3)
that it shall be put into operation by
strong and intelligent men, in COM
pIetc sympathy with it. Mr. Baruch
can produce the plan and probably he
can sell ii to the country as well as