Evening star., 1946-07-03

At a time when 1t is essential 10
be strong and united We have de-
iberately enfeebled ourselves and
have divided close to the brink OF
chaos. This is a horrid picture, but
few realistic and Informed persons
will contend it is not an accurate
one. With much of the world in
RUNS and one-third of the world S
population menaced by hunger, we
who have escaped all physical pun
ishment and live in a land of plen-
ty. seem bent on doing to ourselves
what the war did to less fortunate
countries.
Err in Many Ways.
With the greatest industrial plant
on earth, with wages at an all-time
high. with buying power so much
greater than any other country that
cur living standards are immensely
above, with multitudes of orders
for goods piled up and the whole
country crying for supplies, we per-
NIT an epidemic. of strikes to stall
production at the most critical
phase vi IllC hOillCcb 4o1 "ol IA
leadership and disrupt our entire
national economy.
We permit thousands who refuse
proffered jobs in private industry to
draw unemployment compensation
At the same time we reject the
urgent pleas Of our military au
thoritieS, backed by the President,
and shrink our armed forces below
the size necessary to keep our COM
mitmentS abroad. We mangle the
Selective Service Act to a point
where our whole military establish
ment is dangerously enfeebled. We
strike down the price control urged
by the President and. with several
horrible examples before our eyes,
ignore the grave peril of imitation.
The terrible part of this is that it
is all so completely unnecessary
The strikes could have been-and
could be averted. They are founded
on no grievances that could not be
adjusted with fairness. The emascu-
lation Of the draft was a matter of
cheap election-year politics, of which
We should be heartily ashamed. With
all It's faults, the OPA could easily
have been borne another year with
out such complete emasculation.
Since the war, internally, we have
done none Of the things we should
have done and nearly all the things
We should not have done Our health
has deteriorated and our strength
diminished in a way apparent to
all the world.
Lessons Prestige.
With the railroad and coal strikes
settled at really appalling cost, the
even more dreadful maritime strike
directed by the notorious Harry
Bridges and Joseph Curran. was
narrowly averted after humiliating
concessions and with a threat from
the communistic Bridges that it
would be renewed In September.
Many more strikes are scheduled
for the last half of this and the first
Of next year than occurred in the
preceding II months. The mortify-
ing disorder on the Supreme Court
and the inability of the administra-
ton or Congress to formulate anv
kind Of a labor policy in themselves
would be enough to cause general
dismay. But there is much more,
almost as unpleasant to contemplate
including the mess we have made of
our food supply.
That all this should have lessened
our international prestige and power
was inevitable. Our friends among
the nations look on and grieve;
those who are not our friends re-
joice. AS was recently pointed out,
only the Communists have an ex-
planation Of our behavior. They
believe-and hope-that it marks the
end of a tottering and discredited