Evening star., 1948-10-23
Dewey Pledged 10 Cut
Taxes and 'ljnsnarI'
Federal Machine
Both Held Hard to Garry
Out; Roosevelt Platform
Reputation Recalled
By Frank r. Kent

WIldI are IIlc pIU1ilScS VI pItSl~
Dental candidates made in a CAM
paign worth-if anything? And do
many people really care? These
questions have been raised recently
and, If one wants to be realistic,
the answers are not encouraging
quite the reverse. For example, in
this campaign all the candidates
have made specific pledges calcu-
lated to raise unjustif1ed hopes
among the great credulous masses
of the people-that is, if the latter
took such things seriously or were
better equipped to understand and
remember them.
OF course, it Is not worth while
recalling the numerous and fan
tastic promises of the lurid Mr..
Wallace. For one thing, they have
been too ridiculous; for another, he
will not get so much as a single
electoral vote.
The case of Mr.. Truman is not
nearly as bad as that. However, his
chances of winning are so remote
that the temptation to make
promises to the special groups is
very great and, in some directions,
he has gone very far.
Vinson Incident Cited.
The NEE sure of his desperation
Is most convincingly attested by
the lamentable Vinson incident, but
hardly less so by the fact that his
two most outstanding and concrete
promises are far beyond his ability
to redeem even If elected with a
Democratic House and Senate. One
of these is repeal of the Taft-H Hart
ley Act, for which a majority Of
his own. party in Congress voted;
the other Is enactment of his So
called civil rights" program, op-
position to which will be far more
determined and effective in the next
session than 1t was in the last.
Actually. it is only Gov. Deweys
promises that really count in this
campaign, for, unless all signs fail,
no one else will have the obligation
and opportunity to make good on
them. In view of this, it is inter-
esting to note that Gov. Dewey
has put out far fewer promissory
notes than the others. For one
thing, he hasn't had to. From the
day of his nomination, he has been
the favorite in the race and in
better position to resist pressure
from the special groups AS re-
suit, most of his promises have
been made in generalities and to
the people as a whole instead of
specifically to particular classes.
Backed Taft-Hartley Act.
It is true that, if elected, Gov.
Dewey will take Office singularly
free from special commitments,
either as to jobs or legislation. This
does not mean that he has not
taken a firm stand on vital issues.
He has been clear in his indorse-
ment Of the Taft-Hartley Act and
certainly he could hardly be more
concrete in support of the present
foreign policy.
Probably the two most important
and specific of the Dewey pledges
are: CD To reduce the debt and
cuS taxes; (2) to t'unsnarl, unravel
and untangle" the Government ma
chine. Doubt is expressed as to
whether he can fulfill either of
these. Concerning the first, the
argument is that he Win not be able
to cut taxes or reduce debt because I
the cost of our foreign policy and
defense agencies, to both of which
he is completely committed, will
be so greatly enhanced next year
that the odds are he will be COM
PEELED to raise taxes and add to
the debt. Concerning the second, |
the point is made that other Presi-
dents have tried the "unsnarling,
unraveling" operation and lamen-
tably failed.
Will at Least Try.
The answer from the Dewey inner
circle is that he may not be able toI
do these things but he is going to
make an almighty hard try. One
way of increasing Federal revenue
which he has in mind is to reform
the method of collecting income
taxes, which conceivably might add
q billion dollars annually. Another
is to eliminate waste and reduce
the Federal pay roll so as to save
another billion-which Senator
Byrd says can be done and in which
effort he is eager to help.
If he can do both these things, he |
can carry out both these promises.
Concededly, they are not easy to
do; but following 16 years of malad-
ministration by one party, he should
be in better position to succeed
than any President for long time.
The question is how hard will he
try? Will he take the postelection
view that these promises were
solemnly made; that their redemp-
ton is matter of good faith and
self respect, vital to him, his party
and the country?
Has Reputation Precedent.
Or will he feel it is not essential
to exert himself too much about his
campaign promises; that the diff
culties are too great to tackle; that
there is no use making the enemies
he must make If he fights hard;
that the people do not remember
or care, though nothing he said
during the campaign had quite the
popular response as his "unsnarl-
ing" pledge? If he takes this view
it would amount to reputation of
his pledges and those who know
him best are sure he will not do
that.
However, he has a reputation
precedent. The most spectacular
and complete reputation of party
and personal pledges in our history
was by the late MIR. Roosevelt fol-
lowing the 1882 election. Elected
on what was, perhaps, the strong
est and best platform either party
had had in many years, he not only
failed to fulfill its pledges or his
own but went sharply in the other
direction. With the single exception
of the antiprohibition promise, the
whole platform went "out the win
dow" in less than a year. And the
great, credulous masses apparently
did not care or remember or re-
sent. This reputation is one of the
H. - Ii ~ l.