Evening star., 1947-11-18
The Debate BEGINS


reply may be regarded as the opening
future of the world At this stage Of the
matter the outlook is not reassuring.
Whether one agrees or disagrees with
his proposals, Mr.. Truman's message was
admirably direct and to the point There
was no beating about the bush.
He asked Congress, first, for $597 900, 900
as an emergency aid program to tide Aus
tria, Italy and France over the winter It
Is expected that these funds will suffice
until next March 81, when it is hoped
that the long range Marshall plan will be
ready to go into effect. The details of the
Marshall plan will be submitted to Con-
greSs in later message.
Mr.. Truman then outlined the measures
which he thinks are necessary to deal with
imitation in this country-an imitation
which has already assumed serious pro-
portions and which will be aggravated by
the European aid program
The counterinf1ationary steps advocated
by Mr.. Truman are ten in number, with
the political dynamite being confined
mainly to the last two In these, Mr.
Truman asked Congress to authorize con-
sumer rationing on products in short sup
ply which basically affect the cost of living;
to authorize price ceilings on products in
short supply which basically affect the cost
OF living or industrial production and to
authorize such wage ceilings as are essen
tial to maintain the necessary price
ceilings.
1t is almost a foregone conclusion that
the President is not going to be given these
powers. The comments of Senator Taft
and other Republican leaders are just
about conclusive on this point. Perhaps
the President did not expect to get them
for in discussing his proposals he said
that the first five, taken together, would
laid substantially in relieving inflationary
pressures."
The worst that can be said of the other
proposals, however, especially the last two,
Is that they would be apt to prove unwork-
able. In an economy as complex as ours,
selective rationing and selective price
control at the consumer level is doubtful
business. If the experience with OPA
serves as a guide a resort to such meas
ures now would be apt to do more harm
than good, especially in view of the Pres
ident's -too-frm attitude in the mat
ter of wage controls.
Still, to repeat, the worst that can be
said of these proposals is that their work.
ability is doubtful. And in fairness to the
President, it should be recognized that
mounting inf1ationary pressures may yet
drive us to them.
Most certainly, there is nothing in the
message which justif1es Senator Taft's ex-
treme attack on the President. He was
justified in attacking the soundness of the
proposals. But when he went on to i'm
pugn the Presidents motives, to picture
him as wanting police state" In this
country, and to cast doubt on the genuine
ness of Mr.. Trumans desire for world
peace, he was going much too far.
The exact position of Senator Taft in
this matter continues to be unclear. He
blames high prices on the excess of con-
sumer dollars competing for scarce goods.
Yet he would increase the supply Of dollars
in the hands of consumers by cutting
taxes. He says that he favors reasonable"
aid to Europe as means of combating
rate of $8OOO,OoOO0O a year. He must
know that no such figure is contemplated
under the Marshall plan. He dwells upon
the generous manner in which this coun-
try has dealt with Europe, and concludes
that we cannot afford to be more generous.
The trouble with this is that it seems to
miss the point of what we are trying to
do. If it were simply a question Of
whether we should be generous or un-
generous, one might agree with the Ohio
Senator that we are doing enough But
generosity, as such has little to do with it.
The real reason for going to the aid of
Europe is to prevent Communist domina-
tion of that continent, to head off the
peril for us which would follow such domi-
nation.
Senator Taft seems to give little weight
to this cardinal point. And until he and
his colleagues accept it, with all of its grim
implications, the European aid debate will
continue to be muddled and our own future
will continue to be in jeopardy.