Evening star., 1945-08-29

eral fiscal poll 49,:
cies and the
trends may de-
pend upon which Frank r. Kent.
side prevails.
One group, led by the labor lob
byists and the professional liberals,
insists that the unemployment, re-
sulting from the stoppage of war
plants, will be upward of 10000, 900;
that without Government aid this
Is not temporary but permanent;
that it is not possible for private
enterprise to provide the necessary
jobs; that the only recourse is a
huge Government-financed public
works program, plus other govern
mental stimulation and direction
of industry.
With this theory not only the
liberals and the labor leaders are
in accord, but also the Socialists,
the Communists, the spenders and
the radicals generally, of all shades.
The measure around which all
these elements are rallying is the
Murray Wagner so-called full en-
ployment" bill, which, avowedly dis
trustful of private enterprise, opens
wide the door for vast public exs
penditureS and assumes that the
Nation cannot survive without gov
ernmental domination and control
of business.
British Experiment.
Essentially this is the experiment
on which the British are now
launched by an extremely slender
popular vote despite the large So
cialist majority in the House of
Commons. 1t is the core of New
Dealism, the goal toward which Mr..
Roosevelt. with the enthusiastic
support of the solid radical, racially
resentful and irresponsible elements
in the country had been moving for
more than II years.
The Truman administration now
appears committed to the bill and
with certain notifications and quail
iflcations, SO are few New York
bankers like Mr.. Beardsley Ruml.
and Mr.. James P. Warburg, who
is active in the CLOS Political Ac-
ton Committee.
In the existing situation it is the
policy of the principal Murray bill
strategiSts to exaggerate the num-
Der of unemployed; to threaten, as
did CIO Leader Philip Murray
"socializa ton" of industry; to dis
parage the good faith and produc-
tive capacity of private enterprise;
to forecast long period of deep
depression involving starvation
wages and many millions of idle,
though willing, working men-all
in order to expedite passage of the
Murray-Wagner bill and promote
the enactment Of much other $50
clal legislation" such as the Pepper
65-cent-an-hour minimum wage
proposal, special unemployment
compensation for veterans, etc.
Behind this program are massed
strong political and publicity forces.
And it is easy to understand how
every congenital demagogue and
tlmid politician should be attracted
In this direction.
On the other side are the con-
servative Democrats and Republi-
cans who believe that the period of
unemployment due to reconversion
Is temporary; that, at its peak, with
in the next nine months it will not
go above six or seven million; that
before the end of 1916 private in
dustry will have made its adjust
ments and, unless blocked by gov
ernmental stupidity, such as the
Murray-Wagner bill, will be in posi-
tion to go ahead full speed.
Baruch Contention.
Their contention, as voiced by Mr.
Baruch, is that once that nine
month period is over, we will pe
embarked upon a 10-year era of
unprecedented prosperity during
which there will be full employ
ment-more jobs than men to fill
them and during which, too, we shall
be able not only to balance our Fed
eral budget but to reduce our ter
rife national debt to manageable
proportions.
All this, Mr.. Baruch says, we can
do If we use "only half the sense
God gave U.s." Actually, he says, we
can do 1t If we use only 49h per
cent. But neither he nor any other
balanced man believes we can do
1t if we proceed on the assumption
that the private-enterprise system
Is flop; that Government must
take over and direct business; that
national financial solvency is I'M
Important; that the known and
obvious economic facts mean moth
ing; that American industry which
produced so marvelously in the war
cannot produce equally we'll in
peace period-with demand for its
products greater than ever before
in our history.
The Murray Wagner bill, one of
the chief advocates of which Is
the crystal-gazing. Henry Wallace.
negatives belief in the adequacy of
private enterprise, insists that this
business of providing jobs is a task
the Government must take over.
This : is an idea repugnant to
American principles, far more in
harmony with the totalitarian doc
trines of the relationships. Ger
talnly, in view of the failures of the
Roosevelt administration to cure its
depression by action along these
lines, it is one upon which we should
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