Evening star., 1945-09-07
Truman Seen Urging
APIunned Economy
Message Calls for Guiding Hand.
on Business, Says Observer
By David Laurence

on business, says observer
By David Laurence
Planned economy is nowhere men,
toned in President Truman's message
proclaiming his concept of national
policy during the coming period of tram
sition from war to peace. But that Is
what the President in essence recon-
mends as inevitable.
A nation which has gone to an ex-
traordinarily high level of production
making war goods and weapons cannot
overnight 60 back to peacetime habits
or customs either in business, labor or
agriculture. Mr.. Truman, moreover,
thinks such transition cannot be ac-
complished without the teamwork OF all
forces and especially the guiding hand
Of the Government itself.
So while the President promises the
REIMBURSEMENT of all controls eventu-
ally, he asks that certain ones be re-
tanned until an equilibrium can be at
tanned. In effect he is asking for a vote!
OF confidence and the Nations trust in
him to terminate all controls occasioned
by wartime necessity when the need
really Is ended. He promises that there
will be no abuse of delegated power.
Complex Situation.
Mr.. Truman was confronted with a
complex legal situation as he wrote his
message. Many of the statutes expire
when the war Is officially declared to
have ended and yet certain powers
must be continued or else economic an
archy might result. So he is asking for
continuation of some wartime powers
and Congress has the final say about
that request
AS for governmental subsidies and
governmental pump printing" through
public works, it Is too early to forecast
that this implies a sure return to the
New Deal policies of deficit spending as
a means of curing unemployment. All
that Mr.. Truman has said in effect is
that the Government cannot sit idly bv
and wait for natural forces to produce
the desired readjustments
The principle of governmental inter-
vention into the economic life of the
Nation was accepted by both presiden-
tial candidates in the last campaign.
1t Is. however, differently interpreted
and the impact of unemployment on the
Nation Is so difficult to forecast that
What Mr.. Truman indicates as a pos
slole means of Government support of
the economic structure will be utilized
only In the event that private enter
prise cannot sustain the full burden.
Mr.. Truman has given evidence OF
his instructive desire to rid the people
OF unnecessary controls. He has re-
laxed since VI day many of the more
severe regulations. But the President,
on the other hand, cannot face the
1916 congressional elections or his own
campaign for reelection by a program
tnat merely says let nature take its
| course" He feels that he must outline
certain preventive measures and let
Congress share the responsibility of ac-
cepting or rejecting the recommends
tions made.
Cautious Venture.
The message Is not sensational or
surprising. 1t accords with what has
been predicted right along by those
whose Judgment has not been swept
away by the sudden ending of hostih-
ties. A transition period has long been
| forecast as the sequel to the signing of
surrender papers by Germany and Ja-
PAN After that transition period some
thing approximating normalcy may bs
expected II, indeed, any postwar era can
ever resemble a prewar epoch.
| Ihe Presidents program can be
summed up as cautious venture into
governmental support of the economic
system in the event that convulsions
due to war-contract cancellations, re-
duction or elimination of overtime pay-
ments, and exhaustion of unemployment
insurance benefits tend to subtract ma
terially from the purchasing power of
the American people six to nine months
hence. For it seems to be more and
more apparent that the climax in an
economic sense will not come for several
months and that the first real shock of
postwar readjustment will not come un-
til some time during 1916.
1He purpose OF the truman policy OF
course. is to cushion the shock or miti-
gate its effects. A far-reaching read
justment may not come for several
years. After the World War the first
depression was short-lived and the next
blow came nearly 10 years after the
armistice. With the added experience
which the Government has had sincs
1929 in dealing with unemployment
crises, the chances of prolonged de-
preston would seem to be less, though
sooner or later the problem of dealing
with s275,0o0, 100000 debt will require
a far more realistic tax program than is
indicated by the Truman message.
which, in the main, side-steps the use
OF tax reduction as an incentive to re-
employment and the creation of jobs.
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