Evening star., 1948-09-26

adjustments which have caused In
fation and do it without bringing
on depression and unemployment as
has so often happened in the past
| Finds 3 Imitation Causes.
/ Now, in order to know where we
are going, we need to look at where
we have been-to find out what
brought about these conditions.
Let's strip this subject to the fraud
and demagoguery with which it has
been surrounded Let IS take good,
hard, honest look at it. The simple
fact is that there are three prinei-
pal causes for today's high prices.
The first cause is the terrific cost
of the war in money and goods
We shot away $500 600, ,000, 900 worth
of labor and materials and now we
have the long tough job of paying
the bill. But our freedom is price
less and every good American Is
proud of his share in the task. And
no good American will try to make
political profit out of the sacri-
fees of our people In the cause OF
human freedom.
The second cause of imitation i
our peace-waging program which
we have adopted to help free ma
tions get back on their feet and to
strengthen our own National de-
fense. In the two and a half years
following the end of the war, we
provided some 20 billion dollars OF
foreign aid. Much Of that money
was wasted behind the iron curtain
much of it squandered by clear
incompetence. But it's done and
now for the first time we have a
real program. This new program OF
European aid was passed under the
leadership of both parties and 1t
is a sound investment in peace. l
firmly believe that every good
American is proud that he has this
share in waging the peace and re-
inforcing the worlds freedom. Ana
no good American will try to make
political profit out of the sacrlflces
bv our people in the cause OF human
freedom.
PRODUCTION DfSCVul d8cu'
The third cause of high prices
and imitation Is the fact that both
before and since the war, our Ma
tional administration has for years
been openly, avowedly, deliberately
discouraging production ana trying
to raise prices. Those pollcles nave
reflected the administrations paslc
lack of understanding of the simple
fundamentals of our economic sys-
lem and it's tragic lack OF 1altn III
the future of America. The un-
happy results Of those policies are
continuing even to this very Gay
and thev are the sole reSponslollity
of the present National admlnlstra-
tion and it cannot pass the blame
THIS nroblem of imitation follow
ing a war is not new one. III mas
happened throughout history
Whether a Nation survived 1t de-
pended upon whether 1t mao a eooo
Government, a courageous Govern
ment and one that understood the
economic 1aCCS Va AlAe'
have followed all wars.
In wartime, Government spehos
a lot of money to pay for munitions
and supplies. The normal proouc,
tion of all kinds of goods Is stopped
in order to produce for war. Ihere
are fewer things to buy ana tnere
is more money in circulation 70 ouy
with because the Government uses
it's credit to create vastly Increased
sunnlies of money. AS a result,
what we buy takes more OF our
dollars. Or, to put it the other way
around, the value OF a dollar Is
less.
Big Money Supply On Hand.
Then, after the war, there Is
huge supply of money and no goods
to buy. During our own Revoiutlon-
arv War, the Continental Congress
issued so much paper money-Con-
tinental dollars they were called
that when we want to describe
something as worthless. we some
times say Its not worth = Con-
tinental.' -,
To pay the costs of the Civil
War, the Union printed greenbacks
so many of them that prices
scared. That is similar to what
happened after the First World War
and now we have it all over again.
The question is what are we going
to do about it. After our wars IN
the past we have sometimes worked
our way out we'll and sometimes
badly. This time we can not al
ford to do it badly, and II we are
going to do it better, we need sober
and wise leadership with the cour-
age and the understanding to do
the job.
At the end of the war, our Gov
ernment had one of two simple
choices. 1t could continue price
controls for a reasonable time,
gradually lifing them as the sup
ply of goods caught up with the de-