Milford chronicle., 1948-01-23

gress looked over the charts the reaction
seemed to be that the program was very ex-
travagant.
While fresh proposals were being con-
sidered to cut down the size of the apprO-
priatiOns for European aid President TrU-
man handed Congress a $39.7-billiOn dollar
war budget, an increase of neary S2-billiOn
dollars over current estimates. He told Con-
gress that conditions are "basically different
than we have ever faced before" and that 46
per cent of his budget called for S11-billiOn
dollars for National defense and S7-biliOn
for international programs. Apparently there
is no limit to imaginatiOnS of Marshall and
Truman about the amount of money needed
to make the World safe for democracy"
Chairman Styles Bridges of the Senate
Appropriations Committee objects to the
Truman budget and he calls it an "extrava-
CANT program beyond the, needs of the Nation
to meet this year"
Marshall has repeated his demands for
"full aid or none at ALL" Senator Vanden-
berg of Michigan and Senator Byrd have at
tackled Truman and Marshall as prOhigate
spenders.
The Chamber of Commerce of the United
States expresses the opinion that generous
aid" should be given to Western Europe pro-
viding that it is tempered with common
sense" The Chamber says that the Mar
"On a sound business basis"
So we're turning back to where we start
ed when Herbert Hoover recommended to
President Truman sensible, business-like
inVeStment-Whichw will help Europeans to
help themselves"
This matter should not be political ques-
tiOn at all-but it is just that. The Demo
Gratis are backing President Truman-and
President Truman has gone all the way out
in asking nearly $40-billiOn dollars. 1t re-
minds us Of the extravaganza of the fabulous
character known as the drunken sailor"
NSON&
A SHORT TIME AGO John T. Flynn
wrote an article for Readers Digest in which
he said that IVA is a twO-fOOt yardstick, be-
cause 1t fails to include in it's reports GER
tain basic operating costs. He backed this up
with impressive statistics. Then a IVA off
cial answered with a complete denial, and
the battle of words and figures has been 90
ing merrily back and forth in various quar-
ters.
There is danger in a statistical debate
such as this-the danger that it may obscure
the real menace that is implicit in the IVA
idea. In principle, IVA is simply cOrpor-
ate state. 1t is an economic overload in the
region it occupies. Local citizens and local
government have nothing to say concerning
its policies and activities. 1t is inevitably the
very antithesis of self-gOVernment and self
reliance.
1t is proposed that the nation be blanket
ed with authorities modelled on the IVA plan,
and that is to propose that we completely
centralize the government of this country
that we abandon state and local rights-that
we go, hat in hand, to Washington for what
ever we may need or may want-that we say,
IN effect, that we are no longer capable of
buiIdiOCP IN PnOiOOc M 4bo y,oOr+
of our resources.
Finally, if the IVA idea is extended far
enough, we can say goodbye to our liber-
ties. Freedom and the corporate state are
fundamentally incompatible as is being so
dramatically proved the world over. That is
the big truth to remember-and finespun in
terpretatiOns of a mass ON complete statistics
must never be allowed to hide it.
CONGRESS- "INFLATION CONTROL
bill will not pull the props from beneath high
prices. That is an obvious impOsSibility so
long as such factors as government spending,
wages, and consumer purchasing power re
main at present levels. What the bill does is
to give government sanction and encourage
ment to voluntary agreements for more eff
GENTLY allOcating and using scarce goods, and
for breaking up bOttlenecks.
The advocates of irOn-clad, police state
price control and ratiOning claim that this is
totally inadequate. But what they don't
point out is that involuntary controls would
mean the eventual death of the competitive
ply-and-demand system. High prices
seem to have blinded many people to the
fact that the system is working extraordi-
narily well now. We are getting great pro-
ductiOn-and we seem to be the only nation
in the world that is. We have the most eff.
cient lOw-cOst distribution machine on earth
The chain stores, the Independents, the de.
partment stores and the rest are giving us
goods in abUndance-and their unit profits
are as low and in some cases are lower thar
in the days of OPA, or in the pre-war era
The price charged under the competitive
system is the honest price, based on produc
tiOn costs. And competition sees to it thai
it is the lowest possible price.
5000
WHEN YOU GET DOWN to cases on the
HIGH cost of LIVING there is No tyO,1bIo II, die