Evening star., 1944-06-06

ing a line be- Lowell Mellett.
tween Federal encroachment and
Federal assistance or cooperation
The Governors, before adjourning
adopted a resolution surprisingly
mild in tone. 1t said; I'VE believe
that there should be better cooper
alton between the Federal Govern
ment and the States and that the
Governors should be kept more fully
advised of the activities being car
ried on by Federal agencies within
the respective States, particularly
when new activities are inaugu-
rated"
Long argument among the Gov
ernors preceded the adoption of this
resolution. There may be some sig
nificance in the fact that they
finally accepted language proposed
by Gov. Dewey. All Governors dis
trust the power of the Federal Gov
ernment until, if it happens, they
become President. 1t may be that
Gov. Dewey already is trying to see
the problem from the viewpoint he
would have, should he become PreSi-
dent. This could explain how he
was able to translate all the hot
things said during the week against
excessive Federal powers, into Ian
guage with which no President
could quarrel.
Some Agree With Wiflkie.
A better explanation is that most
of the Governors recognize that no
State by itself, in these days, can
provide prosperity for its people,
Some even go so far as to agree with
Wendell Willkie that we now have
only One World and that no single
nation can prosper for long in a
world that is not prospering; or, at
least. no nation can do so without
exploiting weaker countries, a habit
that Mr.. Willkie and some others are
undertaking to discourage.
State governments can contribute
to prosperity by their taxation
policies and public works programs
and can contribute to the well being
of their people through social legis-
lation But no State can become
or remain prosperous for long If the
country as a whole Is in distress
Not even great region, such as the
Tennessee Valley, can stand alone;
indeed, part of the achievement OF
IVA has been to make its several
States more completely a part OF
the United States.
The immediate problem before
every Governor is what to do about
the reconversion of wartime indus
try to peacetime industry; what to
do to insure the people of his State
against seriously dislocated lives.
The Governors talked about this
a good deal in their private CONVEX
sations at Hershey Two or three of
them emphasized it in their pub
lie speeches. OF the latter, Gov.
Dewey was able to point to an ac-
cumulation of State surplus of
$165 900 900 with which to meet hard
times in New York State If hard
times should come. But how far
Sl65 100000 would go in New York
was indicated by the planning they
have done in Indiana, as reported
by Gov. Schricker.
Sets Up Council.
Indiana has set up a State Eco
nomic Council and, from 200 OF
Indiana's 538 cities and towns the
council has obtained a list of Tie
proposed work projects-air ports
bridges, sewers, water plants, etc
Altogether these would provide
5000, 100000 worth of work. In ad-
dition, State highways costing ap-
proximately $50, ,000, 900 are planned
or total in Indiana, as now out
lined, of $3.50, 100000.
Gov. Schricker said he recognized
that this represents only a small
percentage of the public works ac-
tually required to meet future needs
Of his people. But he seemed con-
fident that Indiana could escape