Milford chronicle., 1948-01-16

y
MS own state of Wisconsin where, at the
time, his Progressive Party was firmly in the
saddle. The best attempt of all, of course,
was that made by Theodore Roosevelt with
his Bull Moose ticket. He had the advantage
OF being an ex-president with a tremendous
and loyal personal following, but he couldn't
win. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS of our elective sys-
tenn which gives a candidate receiving bare
majority of the popular vote in q state that
states entire vote in the Electoral College
a third party head wins nothing, and is i'm
portant only to the extent he can take votes
away from one of the major candidates.
This latter point is what makes Mr.. Wal
lace's bid significant. He claims to have in
herited the mantle of Franklin Roosevelt
though that claim is vOciferOUsly denied in
the Truman camp. Practically every pOliti-
cal reporter thinks that he will cut into Mr..
Truman's vote, and thus be a very strong
asset to the Republicans. That is the obvious
deduction, but there is another side to it. 1t
is possible that what the Democrats regard
as the Wallace menace will help in sOlidifying
the party and lead to an extra heavy Demo-
cratic turnout in November. Again, if Mr.
Wallace shoots the works in denouncing Tru-
man policies, It might give the President
some on-the-fence, Sympathetic" votes.
One novel suggestion is that the Wallace
candidacy could be definitiVe factor in the
selection of the Republican candidate That
theory, valid or fanciful as it may be, runs
like this: Mr.. Wallace will take away enough
votes from Mr.. Truman to make the key
states of New York and California safe for
the Republicans. Therefore, it is no longer
necessary to nominate Mr.. Dewey to carry
New York, and the palm should unquestiOn-
ably go to Senator Taft, the leading mid
Westerner.
Coming down to the campaign itself, Mr.
Wallace's domestic program will be unadul-
terated New Deal. This may take some of the
thunder away from Mr.. Truman, who is ex-
pected to advocate price control and such
measures as more public power development
On foreign policy, Mr.. Wallace's announced
line has little in common with either Repub-
hcan or Democratic ideas. He wants to help
Europe through the United NatiOns-and
more important, he wants to help any and all
countries which need it, including those
within the Soviet sphere of influence. He be-
heves in cutting down our armed forces, and
he is a strong foe of compulsory military
training-an issue in which he is in general
agreement with Senator Taft, but in COM
plete disagreement with Governor Dewey
and the President.
The Wallace campaign will be aggressive
both on his own part and that of his sup
pOrters. His following is passiOnately con-
vinced he is right, and they will make stir
which is disprOpOrtiOnate to their numbers
This will add color, if nothing else, to what
promises to be an exceedingly lively cam
paign.
IN A RECENT EDITORIAL, which was
based upon the Congressional hearings on
high prices, the Atlanta Constitution OBJ
served that the retailer is not the villain of
the piece. Then it said "The truth of the
matter is that the businessman is as much
caught in the wise of initiation as is the Gus
toner.
''The grocer, the furniture man, the de-
partment store manager, have no control
over the prices they pay the professor or
manufactures. 1t is one of those vicious
cycles in which the butcher, the baker and
candlestlck maker all get caught up and
whirled around.
Production - replacement of shortages
with plenty-seems the only answer now the
dilemma has reached present proportions.
-. The retailer simply hasn't got the ans
wer."
The testimony of retailing before the
Congressional subcommittee was impress
sive in the extreme Spokesman for all kinds
OF stores, including both Independents and
chains, pointed out that profit margins are
no larger than in the past and in many cases
are even smaller. That is the result of in
tense competition and of retailing's desire
to give the consumer every possible break
as matter of good business. But prices have
moved lnexOrably upward, and retailers are
powerless to stop the spiral.
Every intelligent retailer, like every in
telligent manufacturer, knows that price in
fation menaces the American system of mass
production and mass distribution which has
given us the highest standard of living on
earth. They are fighting it with every re-
source they possess. But they can't do the
job alone.
&1O&G
THE YEAR WHICH JUST CLOSED
witnessed a record fire loss in the United
States. 1t was year in which hundreds OF
millions Of dollars worth of property, much
OF 1t scarce, was needlessly destroyed. It was
a year In which ten thousand or more people
were burned to DEATH and other thousands
disfigured and crippled for life 1t was year
of disaster for a legion of American fanoil