The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1943-12-02


can be any end to this regulation
seems utterly futile. To think that
! if we can just get by the present
crises, all will be well, Is utterly
vain.
Consider the succession of econo-
mic plans that have been brought
forward in the effort to stem infla-
| ton.
The Price Control act as original
ly conceived had in itself to be
amended. The Sterilization act like
wise failed to do the trick. Supple
menting them by Seven Point pro-
grams, by Little Steel Formulas and
Hold the Line orders gave only
temporary relief Rollbacks and
subsidies were brought forward as
bulwarks. Victory taxes, withhold
ing taxes and war bond drives con-
tributed their mite, but the end is
not yet in sight.
NO INITIATION
SOLUTION YET
Nor will reputation of the sub
sidy principle, nor the writing of a
new wage sterilization formula, nor
the refusal on the part of Congress
to levy new and vastly increased
taxes mean that any end has been
reached in economic planning to
check imitation.
Nobody wants imitation. Every
lobbyist that comes to Washington
to protest the imposition of war
time controls on his particular line
of business prefaces his remarks
with that pious declaration of mo-
tive.
We are opposed to imitation"
they all say in effect, land we con-
cede the need for rationing, price
fixing, limitation of profits, regula-
ton of wages. But :"
Then come the reaSons-the ex-
cuses, rather - for exempting this
particular group from wartime con-
trolls. 1t Is these "buts" that keep
the war agencies busy. It Is an end
less job.
Does the mere fact that it is end
less mean that 1t is hopeless that
all this economic planning nonsense
should be stopped? Do people
really want imitation? Do people
people want another Coolidge
boom? 1t begins to look as though
they do. Do they want another
Coolidge boom even If it be followed
by an inevitable Hoover bust?
They'll take the chance. There is
that about human nature which
makes man think he'll be smarter
this time-that he won't get caught
and won't get burnt.
CONGRESS
PRO-INFLATIONARY
This is the dilemma in which the
Roosevelt administration finds itself
today, with a national election less
than a year away. What can it do?
The sentiment in Congress, whose
members are supposed to have their
ears to the ground in the home pre-
cincts, seems heavily in favor of
putting an end to the controls, let
ting the cost of living go up, let
ting farm prices go up, even letting
wage levels go up as evidenced by
the resolution favoring a flat in
crease for the incorporating rail-
road workers.
Must the executive end of the ad-
ministration yield to this congress
sional pressure group, now openly
the most potent pro-inflationary
lobby in the capital? No one in the
administration would ever admit 1t,
but maybe, in the background. there
has been a realization that all-out
opposition to initiation was futile,
that yielding here and there lit
tie at time was inevitable, that in
this strategic withdrawal, any anti
inflationary ground held until the
end Of the war was that much of
net gain for the country's post
war economic welfare.
On the other hand If, regardless
Of immediate political consequences,
the executive end of the admins
tration sticks to it's announced re-
solve for a last-ditch fight against
initiation, then the work of the eco
nomic planners must go on. If they
must yield on subsidies, coal and
rail rates, they may be counted on
to come forward with fresh rein
forcementS of new controls to plug
the unending succession of leaks in
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