Evening star., 1946-10-15
Truman Seen Blaming
Every One but Himself
Refused to Take Leaders Advice
in Vetoins June OPA Bill
By David Laurence

in Vetoins June OPA Bill
By Dspid Lawrence
President Truman blanss everybody
put himself for the mess which he de-
scribed In his radio address to the
Nation.
y The President forgot TO tell the
American people that his advisers-ths
leaders of the House and the Senate,
the Democratic leaders, the men VINO
stood by the late President Roosevelt
and gave him the best advice they could
about the legislative situation-ursed
Mr.. Truman to sign the OPA law be-
fore it expired last June. But he re-
fused to accept the advice Of the legis-
lative body. In any country where the
parliamentary system is in vogue, the
issue would have been carried to the
people. In sense, it has been carried
to the people in recent weeks and the
Democratic majority In Congress is in
danger Of overwhelming defeat ut the
election on November 5.
So Mr.. Truman, in . desperate effort
to avert political defeat for his party.
finally recognizes the facts Of the meat
situation and lifts the controls that were
improperly placed there against the
wishes OF q majority Of both Houses OF
Congress.
The Democratic leaders Of the House
and Senate told Mr.. Truman originally
he couldn't get better. bill II he We
toed the first one, but he thought he
knew better. Now he confesses that he
signed the second bill because he felt
he couldn't do any better and he admits
it was even worse than the FIRST bill.
Group Blamed Is Unnamed.
The Presidents effort to blame the
, so-called profiteers will not be persus-
sive because the real profiteers were
the black marketeers. Nowhere in the
message does Mr. Truman mention the
black market and how 1t interfered
with the flow of the products through
legitimate channels. Nowhere does he
mention the fact that meat when 1t
did rise in price after the FIRST veto,
never got beyond the black market
prices. ...
It is not clear from the message
whether the President is attacking all
cattlemen as profiteers. He says:
The real blame, however, lies at the
door of the reckless group Of selfish men
who, in the hope Of gaining political
advantage, have encouraged sellers to
gamble on the destruction Of price con-
troll. This group, today as in the past
is thinking in terms of millions Of dollars
instead of millions of people. This same
group has opposed every effort of this
administration to raise the standard OF
living and increase the opportunity for
the common man. This same group
hated Franklin D. Roosevelt and fought
everything he stood for. This same
group did its best to discredit his efforts
to achieve a better life for our people"
What group is Mr.. Truman talking
about? The Republicans? Surely, they
do not own the cattle on the ranges
which were withheld from market. II
Mr.. Truman's speech doesn't lose for
the Democrats q majority Of seats In
be because the innuendo contained in
this TRADE against the cattlemen Is
couched In phrases of anonymity, though
the cattlemen probably will not fail to
note the attack.
Responsible fer Imitation
Maybe the President was not talking
about meat at all in that paragraph
but price control generally. II %, he
is in fact insisting that producers have
no right to withhold their products from
market in order to get better price.
Yet he comedies that labor unions have
q right to strike and to withhold the
services of their members from the fac
tories in order to do the same thing
get a higher price for individuals
These wage increases are not figured In
millions either, but In billions.
Mr.. Truman is the man who has en-
eouraged wage increases ever since
year ago when he made q speech In
sisting on holding prices but allowing
no such controls to be imposed sny
longer on wages. The present imitation
is wage imitation.
The responsibility for the economic
chaos which faces America today ID
plainly Mr. Truman's. He has failed
as a leader of the Nation and rs the
leader of the Democratic Party. He has.
however, removed meat controls in time
to save some Democratic seats in the
city districts in the coming congressional
election. The address is a mixture Of
hope and fear and demaSoguery and
will not increase Mr.. Trrlman's political
strength. The address admits mis-
take, blames the opposite political party
for the mistake and overlooks entirely
that the Democratic leaders themselves
begged Mr.. Truman not to veto the
first OPA bill The retreat is reluctant
and grudging and will not inspire con-
fidence in the future of the present
administration.
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