Toledo union journal. [volume] (Toledo, Ohio) 1942-current, 1945-08-31
Washington
LaborReport
BY Bradford v. Carter
LPA Columnist
INTANGIBLE ASSETS

q moratorium on the discus
sion of all major issues affect
ing home front economics.
With the military phases of
World War II over, the lines
of disagreement over domestic
policy are beginning to shape
up sharply here in Washing
ton.
In appraising their assets to
put across progressive legisla-
ton, liberal groups here are
looking to certain intangible,
but nevertheless potent assets
in advancing the cause of So
cial and economic reform.
These intangible assets are
largely outgrowths of the full
production and full employ
ment made mandatory by the
war.
The first intangible asset
being counted on is the
fact that for the last three or
four years, approximately,
every one who wanted to
work has been able to get a
job at relatively decent wages.
1t is this kind of situation
which will constitute NOR
malcy' for the large masses
of people, rather than the
"normalcy" of 1889 with ten
million unemployed, or the
shot-in-the-arm "normalcy" of
1929.
SIGNIFICANT POINT
The S j g nj f c nc of this
point is that reactionary busi-
nessmen and politicians will
no longer be able to count on
people viewing unemployment
as inevitable as an act of
God. The plain fact is that
the attainment of full employ
ment has made an indelible
impression-and it is against
the frame of reference of so
million jobs here and now
that the American people will
judge the efficiency of the eco
nomy.
A second intangible asset is
the recognition that the par
ticipation of Government in
economic affairs can be a nee
essary and whole thing. The
sanctity of private enterprise
as the end objective of eco
nomic activity has been ire
parably destroyed.
Nor could less have been
anticipated in an era which
brought government into So
cial security, wage and hour
standards and labor relations.
1t is hardly possible, too, that
the governments underwrit-
ing of profits and the detailed
central planning has escaped
general notice. In short, the
idea of government playing a
wholesale role in our eco
nomic and social life is neither
strange nor terrifying. And
nobody has been able to point
to any deterioration of our
moral fibre, or of our democ-
racy as a result of this in
creased government interven-
tion.
DEFLATED PRINCIPLES
Another intangible asset is
that conservative finance and
the economics OF the balanced
budget and private profit, has
been debated by the urgency
of producing goods and more
goods in wartime. People are
beginning to recognize that
the only limit to the we'll be-
ing of nation is its resources
In manpower and materials.
The people have seen all other
consideration in wartime dis
carded for the primary con-
sideration of getting out the
goods.
If this kind of thinking is
extended to peacetime, it will
mean that the metaphysics of
scarcity will give you to a
realistic survey of our re-
sources. Primitive rituals will
not be tolerated when they
stand in the way of utilizing
the economy at maximum
capacity in peace as in war.
Don't think that the advo-
Gates of scarcity-as-usual are
missing the implications of
these intangible assets. They
aren't, and they are fright
ended. More than anything
else they are worried lest
some catastrophe unemploy-
ment acts as a shock treat
ment to transform these in
tangible assets into very tan
gible assets.
Sick of the way hte Cham
ber of Commerce and the
National Association of Manu-
facturers have been handling
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