Evening star., 1948-11-06

great bulk of the voters are allergic
to facts and incapable of reason
or to the weight and power OF
organized labor. Let's admit and
attribute all these things and any
others that may be thought of
later. Then. let's write it all of
quit analyzing the election returns
and look at the immediate future,
which Is none too good.
Where Are We At?
At once these questions arise:
l. Where are we at?
z. Where are we going?
3. And how?
To answer the first-we have
elected. for four years. the three
year President whose alleged bung-
ling, inadequacy and incapacity was
most loudly proclaimed before the
nomination by the very men who
after the nomination had no choice
save to support him-but who were
for Messrs. Eisenhower, Douglas,
practically any one other than Mr.
Truman, on the theory that he was
beaten before he began.
To this argument many leading
Democrats and many Democratic
newspapers subscribed, throwing
their support to Mr.. Dewey. Not
only did Mr.. Truman overcome this
opposition but, despite the two-way
split of his party, he succeeded in
carrying in with him a majority in
both House and Senate. In each he
has nominal but not solid control
For, in each, there is a formidable
Democratic group so violently op-
posed to his major domestic policies
that it is difficult to see how he can
vitalize them without compromise
and concessions-especially on his
so-called civil rights program.
Nor Is it likely he can redeem
his pledge to repeal the Taft Hart
ley Act, for which many Democrats
in the new Congress voted in the
last. Thus, it seems that though an
elected Truman returns to Wash
ington with a Democratic Congress,
we may have arrived at stalemate
on domestic affairs just as definite
as If Mr.. Dewey had been elected
with Democratic Senate. In for
eign affairs, while there was no
actual cleavage between Mr.. Tru-
man and Mr.. Dewey, our biparti-
san foreign policy has been weak
ened by the inevitable retirement
as chairman of the Foreign Rela-
tions Committee of Senator Arthur
Vandenberg, the mainstay and prop
of that policy. He will be succeed
ed by Senator Connally of Texas,
genial. likable, but not nearly
as potent. There is the further
fact that the generally accepted
retirement of Gen. Marshall as
Secretary of State, plus the un-
availability Of Mr.. John Foster
Dulles, who would have been the
Dewey choice, makes it difficult to
see how Mr.. Truman can find a
man for this vital job who will
measure up to the Marshall stand
ards at home or abroad,
That is about where we are at"
Now, as to where we are going-if
there was anything real in Mr.. Tru-
mans denunciation of Wall Street
and the "gluttonS of privilege" his
fervid appeals to the racial and re-
ligious groups and his complete
eSpousal of the or-leader point
of view-if there was anything real
about those utterances, then we are
going just as far to the left as MIR.
: Truman can take us. He has no
alternative. Definitely, he has cut
loose from those who said he was
not a New Dealer at heart. Def
nltely, he has shied away from the
multiplication table, eschewing the
idea that economy and reduction
are desirable. Definitely, he is the
choice of those who believe deficits
are not to be feared and the size of
the national debt is immaterial as
we owe it to ourselves" When
faced with the fiscal realities, MIR.
truman may not adhere to this
position; but that he campaigned
along these lines is not TO be dis
puted.
A@ASC VII LdUOT bUSSeS.
AS to the question "How"-it must
be clear that from now out the
union labor bosses will be Mr.. Tru-
mans chief reliance and that the
Democratic Party will be a labor
party to an even greater degree
than 1t was under Mr.. Roosevelt
r This has been made plain-first, by
the postelection statement of Chair
man McGrath of the Democratic
National Committee, who enthusi-
astically gives the labor bosses (al
of whom violently opposed the Tru-
man nomination. major credit TO,
his election; second, by the ardent
unanimity with which these labol
bosses claimed the credit and the
speed with which they are moving
to take over the Democratic Party
q There is one other question
"What effect will his astonishing
victory have on Mr.. Truman per.
sonally?" Here is a man who start!
out on his presidential candidacy
under almost incredibly advers.
conditions. Before he was nomi.
mated, many leaders of his party
were bowling for his blood, insisting
that he abdicate, asserting that hi,
nomination meant ruinous defeat
After his nomination, his party, al.
ready split by the Wallace candi.
dacy, was further split by thu
Southern revolt, thus, as all authori.
ties agreed, making his election
impossible. He hardly had frienc
who thought he had a chance. Ir
the whole campaign no one die
anything for him except himself
Yet, he is elected.
Mr.. Truman would not be human
d hs wers unaffected by such q