The midland journal., 1946-11-08
News ~,
Behind, Go -, 60
THENE''|MIl!$iE|IEI!1 ''|IliE|II
Released by Western Newspaper Union.
TRUMAN'S FUMBLING RESULTS
FROM OBEYING CIO ORDERS
ByRUL MALLON

Released by Western Newspaper Union.
TRUMAN'S FUMBLING RESULTS
FROM OBEYING CIO ORDERS
WASHINGTON.--A political inno-
cence and deficiency are being as
sumed for President Truman in
popular report. These care natural
public reactions to the series of fail
ures of policy which the President
has suffered, and no doubt these will
prevail in the imagination of the
man in the street.
But the truth of the matter is far
different from that and more
subtle.
Mr.. Truman has simply failed
every time he undertook to
champion CIO policy, and he
has won on the single notable
occasion in which he opposed
CLIO.
This is the inner history of his
administration. He went against
CLOS demand for appeasement Of
Russia, and won national bipartisan
unity for his foreign policy. When
he lapsed on this and let his Com
merce Secretary Wallace make
speech to CIO in New York advo-
eating a middle foreign ground
against his own Byrnes policy, he
had to fire his own secretary in or
der to retreat to firm ground.
At the outset of his administration
he enjoyed full congressional sup
port until he undertook to cham
poin the key CIO bills on unemploy-
ment insurance and spending. With
that step he alienated congress, and
lost his fight, getting only some
meaningless little bills passed. On
the strike legislation matter he lost,
and wound up with no power what
ever in this crisis, in full accord
with precisely the same scheme Of
affairs. When he clung to their OPA
controls too long, he had to sur
render again.
UNREALISTIC PROGRAM
The CIO policies have thus proved
to be wrong, because they were not
founded upon what is, but upon
what the leftwing union leaders
thought ought to be. They were
popularity unrealistic. They were
not conceived to give the people
what they want, or in recognition
of their current troubles, but what
the union men thought the people
should have.
This is clearly discernible.
The unemployment insurance
motif was promoted by the CIO
at time when the nation was
critically short of enough work.
ers to do its business, and when
prospects were it would be short
indefinitely. The spending bill
was advocated when the budget
and national income were al
ready at highest levels and go
ing higher, and thus when
spending should have been cur
tailed.
The Russian appeasement policy
could not stand in the face of Rus
sia's bulldozing efforts to build
postwar empire.
Likewise, of what good were OPA
controls on meat prices at time
when there was not any meat?
The CIO chieftains and economists
have just planned unwisely. This
was unavoidably true because their
primary interest was not in the peo-
pie but in their own unions-which
want greater government spending
and unemployment insurance at all
times, a strict OPA to hold prices
down while their wages go up. Thus
their schemes could not win.
CLEAR WITH SIDNEY
The charge has been made that
Mr.. Truman got his job because he
was cleared with Sidney" meaning
the late Mr.. Hillman of CIO-PAC at
the Chicago convention, although
this has been officially denied. At
any rate, the late Mr.. Roosevelt
played the same game, and it is nat
ural his handpicked successor would
try it, even after the game had run
out into an inf1ationary era, calling
for different tactics.
This is the nub of the matter.
Does it not point to an obvious
solution? Fortunately the CIO
policies, at least the old Hill
man policies, are now just about
washed away. The issues ahead
center around the necessity Of
making a profit system work.
Domestically we must get produc-
tion and a stable ecor omy We must
get a settled period of prices and
wages-not continued strivings to
get one above another. This may
be less difficult than you would
imagine. Recent experiences have
worked toward unity on this prob
lem also. The AFL led the demand,
for instance, for abandonment OF
OPA, and shows greater realiza-
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