The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1946-01-09
The White House Department

| MT. truman QWetL on the fact
that while in foreign affairs Con-
gress has been willing to legislate,
his own proposals for domestic
Legislation are for the most part
stalled in committees of the House
of Representatives.
Where shall we look for the ex-
PLANTATION? First of all, it seems to
me, in the White House itself. For
| if, as Mr.. Truman himself said,
'the great mass of our citizens who
have no special interests :. find
lit difficult to make themselves
heard" it must be because the
President himself has failed to
make it quite clear to them what
they are to make themselves heard
about.
They certainly cannot make
themselves heard distinctly and
strongly and with one voice about
thirty or forty assorted proposals.
The great mass of the citizens
cannot support complicated pro-
gram consisting of many detailed
measures; what they can support
is policy which the program is de-
signed to put into effect. Thus the
people are supporting the policy of
international cooperation, and
that is the reason why, without
their understanding fully the de-
tailed measures as such, they have
been behind intricate proposals
like the charter of U. N. o. and
Breton Woods.
But Mr.. Humans recommended
tons are program of which no
one, not he himself, can say what
the policy is. In his radio speech
Mr.. Truman in effect admitted it
when, speaking of the dangers of
the reconversion period, he said he
was trying "to avert the dangers of
initiation and deflation." Is it as
tonist1ing that the people do not
understand program which ap-
pears to be moving in two opposite
directions at once? How, without
a much fuller and clearer explana-
ton of what he is trying to do, can
Mr.. Truman expect great popular
support for a program which, on
the one hand, would increase pur-
chasing power and the inflationary
demand for goods - and on the
other hand, would control prices
and the use Of raw materials in
order to debate the excessive de-
mand for goods?
Presumably what the PRESIDENT
has in mind is that in the present
period there is infla-
ton in certain sections of our econ
omy and deflation in others. He is
aware, then, that until civilian
is considerably greater
than it is, there will be a predomi-
mating inflationary pressure on|
prices which may, if it is not con-
trolled, be extremely inconvenient
and troublesome. Beyond that he
realizes that at some time in the
future the postwar boom will ex-
haust itself, that consumption and
investment will fall off and be
quite insufficient to sustain a high
level Of employment, and that a
dangerous depression is indicated
unless measures are prepared well
in advance to correct the de-
ficiencies.
This is probably what he is
meaning to say since it is what the
ablest economists in the govern
ment service are predicting. 1t is,
obviously, a rather complicated
prediction, and it cannot easily be
made clear and convincing to a
large audience. But if that is to be
done, the President will have to
get his speeches on the subject
written by men who really under
stand it.
What he is doing instead is to
have men, who do not themselves
very well what it is all
about, explain what little they
know in words of one syllable. But
a really difficult subject cannot be
explained simply except by some
one who has mastered it thorough
ly. Yet it is very evident that the
men who helped him compose this
speech, or at least those whom he
listened to finally, had only a re-
Gently acquired smattering knowl-
edge of what they were talking
about.
Mr.. Truman's troubles can be
traced directly to the fact that he
is just beginning to learn what the
office of the President really is. He
certainly did not realize at the be-
ginning that the White House has
now become itself a department of
government. The Presidency is not
just a man with some secretaries
and some clerks. 1t is the central
department of the government |
where all other departments meet,
and have to be guided, corrected,
superintended, and made team.
This requires a White House staff
OF men who are So able and so YER
satile that they can settle many
issues in the Presidents name, can
select the issues the President him
self must decide, and can prepare
the issues SO that he can know
enough to decide them.
Now while Mr.. Truman saw the
need to reorganize the Cabinet
and to use it, he did not see that
he needed also to make the White
House itself an efficient depart