Evening star., 1947-11-23

menu Is CO1lC Va hioAeA
which rings from the heart, con-
science and courage of its editor In
chief. former Senator Robert M. La
Toilette.
How the Work Started
There is natural curiosity as to
how a work of such merit and mag
nitude could have been executed at
headlong velocity. The purpose OF
this article is to throw some light
upon the achievement. 1t began
last June 20 with President Tru-
mans appointment of a bipartisan
committee of 10 distinguished pri-
vate citizens from the topmost
ranks of industry, finance, agricul-
ture, labor. science and scholarship
with w. Averell Hartman, Secre-
tary of Commerce, as chairman.
It's mission was to determine facts
concerning the kinds and amounts
of resources available for economic
assistance to foreign countries and
the limits within which the United
States might safely and wisely
plan to extend aid.
The committee held its first meet
ing on July % and "a. A subcom-
mittee on organization was named
under the leadership of Owen D.
Young, honorary board chairman
of the General Electric Co. This,
in turn, appointed nine other sub
committees. which were instructed
to prepare reports covering peril
nent. areas in their respective fields
A Herculean Task
The next task was the organiza-
tion of staff. AS executive secre-
tary the committee retained Richard
Mervin Bisseu jr, associate profess
sor of economics at the Massachu-
sets Institute of Technology
Among his assistants were Herman
Wardwell Liebert, an associate fel-
low of Davenport College at Yale
University: William w. Remington
youthful economist from Dart
mouth. who was loaned to the COM
mittee by the Council of Economic
Advisers. and John Davenport, an
editor Of Fortune and brother OF
Russell Davenport, chief editorial
writer for Life magazine.
Appointed also were secretaries of
the nine subcommittee. 1t became
their function in every case except
one TO do the actual drafting of
subsidiary studies ,published in the
second volume of the overall report.
In addition to these studies. the
committee was faced with the ordeal
of digesting and evaluating three
basic documents of encyclopedia
proportions. The first was a two
volume survey Of foreign needs
which was compiled by the Confer
ence on European Economic Co.
operation at a meeting of Is nations
In Paris.
The second was a voluminous &C
count of American natural and in
dustrial resources by an interde-
partmental committee under the
Craftsmanship of Julius A. Krug,
Secretary of the Interior. The third
was report of some $4,000 words on
the impact of foreign aid upon the
domestic fiscal economy, which was
submitted by the Council OF
Economic Advisers, with DR.. Edwin
G.. Nourse as chairman.
Reports Slow to Arrive
The job was made more difficult
by the hardness of the documents
The committee and its staff were In
fulf-sca1e working order by the mid
die Of September. At about the
same time sections of the Krug re-
port, which was transmitted in in
staIlments, began to arrive. The
Paris Conference report did not be-
come available until the end of
September. and the Nourse survey
until the, middle of October.
Nevertheless, the committee found
IT, possible to analyze and pass
Judgment upon the three reports.
It accepted as valid the Paris study
OF emergency needs, such as food,
fuel, fibers and fertilizer, but made
a searching attack upon its esti-
mate Of long-term capital require
naents. The factual background of
the Krug report was pronounced to
bf, on the whole, accurate.
The Nourse survey is tactfully de-
sfribed by committee spokesmen as
having proved less directly useful"
than the others. Most of the facts
presented were already known to
the committee, which took sharp
issue with the conclusion of DR..
Nourse and his associates that the
current infationary trend is due
chiefly to excess of domestic con-
sumption, rising from an economy
OF full employment and high wages.
Crossed Swords With Truman
The committee made bold to cross
swords with President Truman him.
SELF, who declared in a radio ad-
dress of October "a: "An attempt
hhs been made to place the blame
Qor higher prices) upon our for
eIgn-aid program, but this is not
bprne out" by the facts"
In direct opposition, the commit
tie not merely declared imitation to
be the most pressing danger to
American well-being, but asserted
hhtly that every shipment abroad
Of scarce goods-particularly food
aids to inf1ationary pressure at
hpme," and that these marginal
amounts may tip the scale between
stability and imitation"
THE overall report consists of
three parts. The first is summary,
ubed as preface; the second is