Evening star., 1946-11-08

able to hold together long after it
apsurdity had become plain. at las
has gone down the drain. The sill,
effort to revive its potency witt
canned platters recording tht
golden voice" and hysterical eulo'
gies of the dead President servec
only to emphasize the collapse.
Putting aside the temptation tt
dilate upon this satisfactory out
come, it seems better first to con-
slider what the Republicans are
going to do now. The control OF
Congress has been achieved.
The charge that as party they
have no program and are without
effective leadership is not wholly
true. There are in the Senate a
few left-wing Republicans, such as
Senator Wayne Morse of Oregon
and George Aikens of Vermont
whose greatest qualification seems
to come from being publicized as
''liberal-minded" and "forward-look-
ing" In the new House, too, there
will be a similar group.
No Reason for Confusion.
But, in the main. the Republican
majorities will be much less split,
much better disciplined, much more
responsive to their party line than
the Democrats. Already panied
bleating comes from the journalistic
liberals" about the inevitable mess"
that must ensue when the legislative
branch is controlled by one party
and the executive branch in the
hands of the other. Confusion OF
the most horrible sort is forecast.
The stale and rather stupid sug-
gestion is advanced by Senator Full
bright of Arkansas and echoed by
the frustrated and distressed radicals,
that having been "repudiated" Mr..
Truman should now abdicate. There
are several things wrong with this
reasoning For one, the ''repudia-
ton" of Mr.. Truman was incidental
and not important.
The real reputation was of the
shoddy policies of his predecessor
which Mr.. Truman was forced to
make his own.
Two Lines OF Action open.
The real mess was the one created
by IA years of wasteful New Dealism,
planned economy and labor-leader
coddling For another, it is by no
means sure that because of Demo-
cratic President, Republican control
of Congress will result in inaction,
futility, a stalemate-in brief,
mess"
That situation will not affect the
ability of the Republicans effec-
lively to operate along the two lines
clearly indicated as desired by the
American people One of these is
the reduction in the cost and size of
the great Federal machine; the
other, adoption of a firm labor pol
icy.
If the Republicans fail to function
on these, they will have failed to
make good their public and oft
repeated promises Also failure
would greatly diminish Republican
chances in 1948, which, of course, is
the chief concern of every Repubi-
can leader, big and little. 1t certain
ly would seem in the interests of all
Republican aspirants for the presi-
dency to have their party meet the
popular desire for action on these
two issues.
Veto Can't Stop Economy.
That both can be accomplished is
plain. In the matter of cutting ex-
penses and eliminating unnecessary
boards and commissions, the Re-
publicans do not have to pass bills
over the Truman veto even if there
should be a veto. In full control
of the purse strings, all they have
to do is refuse to appropriate the
money, thus starving the boards
and commissions to death.
That that is what will happen
with Representative Taber, Repub-
lican, of New York, chairman of the
House Appropriations Committee,
few who know him will doubt.
AS to labor policy, the belief is
that the Republicans will pass a
strengthened Case bill. Should Mr..
Truman veto this, as he did last
session, the increased Republican
membership, plus conservative DEM
ocrats, plus shrinkage of the CIO
labor bloc, plus enhanced public