The Wilmington morning star., 1946-10-23
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LIPPMANN
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FROM PAGE ONE
without much conviction that thew
ought to hold them.
Thus Mr.. Truman's speech was
that of a man who not only had
to give up, but was almost glad
that the time had come to give UP,
a struggle which he disliked and
had never greatly believed in. Mr..
Recess speech was that of a man
who has every reason to believe
that his party, which has enjoyed
an ever growing power, is now in
sight OF the day when it may have
to assume the responsibility OF
government as well.
Mr.. Reece was not quite sure in
his own mind whether he thinks
Mr.. Truman has bungled the bust
ness OF controlling the transition
from war TO peace, OF whether, on
the contrary, he should take the
position that it was a mistake, In
fact a Communist infiltration into
American life, to attempt to con-
troll the transition. So, being a
practical politician, he took both
lines.
He gave a reasonably accurate
and searching account of how, be-
ginning in 1914, when -ationing
was Undermined, the Administra-
ton messed up the CONTROL OF re-
conversion. He was as indignant
all that as if he had wanted
the control to succeed, and was
row as sorry as Mr.. Wallace or
P. A. c. that it had not.
But he also argued most force
that the very idea of con-
trolling the reconversion was alb
horrent and repulsive, radical and
red, and without saying it, he
certainly implied that the right
course would have been to remove
all controls Immediately at the
end of the war, and perhaps never
have imposed them even during
the war. Mr.. Reece did not try to
make himself perfectly clear on
these points, preferring, it would
seem to have each person think
he had said what that person
wish him to have said.
In any event the postwar price
controls had collapsed when Mr..
decided to abandon them.
They had become worse than use
less, once r%ationing had been
abandoned and the price and wage
ceilings had been punctured at a
thousand points. The tattered
remnants of the control served
only to disrupt the operation of
the market; they no longer regu-
lated the market. The effect was
as demoralizing as prohibition, in
that the authority and the good
Of government were b e &
undermined. So, since the control
could not be administered effec-
and with general public sup
port, it was better to scrap it.
But the end of control will have
far-reaching consequences.
In domestic affairs this marks
the end of the period when popu-
lar discomfort could be focused
upon government. as it has been
since the New Deal passed its peak
in 1887. Gradually, but more and
more, business primarily and labor
in some measure will be held di-
rectly responsible, as business was
in the twenties, for the course of
events. And SO the fate of the last
great free economy in the world
will almost certainly depend on
whether business and the Repub-
Iican party manage affairs so as to
prevent or to bring on another
1929.
Some day, therefore, Mr.. Taft
ought to tell us what he has
learned from the twenties, and
what he would now do differently
when the Republicans come into
power.
In the outer world the return of
the United States to a policy OF
essential laissez-faire will accen-
tuate the differences, already quite
clearly visible, among the western
powers, Britain, France, and west
ern Europe can not and will not
follow us on the social and eco
nomic course we are taking. This
is sure to be reflected in thei-
diplomacy, and in our own.
The world will not divide into
two blocs but into at least three
the Soviet, the West Europear
socialist, and our own laissez-
faire capitalist. The i~nteraction
| of these systems and regimes will
be infinitely more complicated
than any one is as yet able to un.
derstand clearly enough to foresee
the outcome.