Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1949-01-07
Pledge Of Fair Deal
For Everybody Called
Impossible 10 Fulfill
Federal Action Rests
Unfairly on Many, Even
With Best Intentions
Bv David Laurence

With Best Intentions
By David Laurence
President Truman took a bit of
political risk when he promised in
his State-of- Union message q
flair deal" for everybody.
This is probably the most i'm
possible slogan to fulfill that could
have been suggested in these
troublous times, for even with the
best of Intentions governmental
action rests unfairly on many groups
and many individuals.
Presumably the people aggrieved
will remind the administration of
that promise at every turn. The
Republican Party will not fail to
quote 1t In terms of congressional
action in the elections two years
from now or in the presidential CAM
paign four years hence.
Questions Asked.
Already 1t is natural that ques-
tons should be asked seeking a
definition of Just what is meant by
the fair deal" offered by Mr..
Truman.
Will 1t be fair DEAL" for ex-
ample, to deprive employers of the
rights equal to those Of labor unions
which they had under the Taft
Hartley Act and are now about to
lose?
Will it be q fair deal" to allow
workers to be coerced into unions
when they don't want to join-a
form of intimidation against which
they were protected by the Taft
Hartley Act but not under the one
sided Wagner Act about to be re-
stored?
Will it be a "fair deal" to spend
more and more money for additional
governmental activities when the
American people are asking for
economy and reduction of ex-
penses?
Will it be a fair deal" to the
persons-retired workers and widows
living on pensions and annuities
TO devalue the purchasing power of
their dollar still further through an
unsound fiscal policy of the Coy
eminent?
Will 1t be a flair deal" to make
the persons who have the respon-
sibility Of American business en-
terprises take a wage cut while
other workers are given q substan-
tial increase in wages ana relief
from tax payments?
Will 1t be flair deal" to put the
Government itself into competition
with private enterprise, as recon-
Presidents message, and thus be-
gin to reduce the value Of existing
investments in those same indus
tries?
If, by chance, the Government
steps in to support the price Of farm
products at a high level so as to
keep the farm vote happy, will the
housewives who have to pay the
bill think 1t "fair deal" for the
Government thus, in effect, to keep
high the cost Of living?
Politics is a game in which cater
ing to special groups has always
been customary, and this in itself
negates flair deal" for everybody.
Some day, perhaps, leadership will
arise which sincerely seeks to hold
level the scales Of justice, and some
day such leadership may even come
through rejuvenated or reformed
political party. But today the con-
f1ict Of interest between the "haves"
and have nots" is growing more and
more noticeable as the trend to-
ward conhscation of the savings Of
thrifty people becomes more and
more pronounced.
Method Of Confiscation.
Taxation lis one of the Oldest meth
DDS Of confiscating private prop
erty. To spend more and more Gov
eminent funds to benefit large
groups Of voters, in what is really a
paternalistic rather than a self
reliant economy, Is to make 1t in
evitable that higher taxes will re-
duce the incentive and impair the
initiative of the managerial class.
This is the first class that has to be
weakened and then destroyed in
order for the way to be cleared for
state socialism.
1t may be doubted whether Mr..
Truman knows the implications Of
his own recommendations, but the
promise Of fair deal" for every
body would be reassuring If there
were the slightest evidence of any
real intent to apply it and give
management and labor, managerial
class and working class, a chance to
keep the dollars saved.
But today, with billions of dollars
invested in savings and with an arti-
flcially supported economy, the like
lihood Of further depreciation of the
dollar in terms Of gold looms strong
on the horizon.
The biggest single fact about the
dollar and its future in the world
is that a $252, 600, 900 900 debt hangs
over the Nation and neither politi-
cal party, and certainly no leader of
the Government, has offered any
concrete plan to retire the debt by
any long-range or any other kind Of
plan. 1t seems to be taken for
granted that there will never be- a
run on the dollar even though gov
ernmental expenses go higher each
year and tax rates continue to rise
A fair DEAL for the dollars earned
by American labor a decade or more
ago and put into savings accounts
and insurance policies for their fam
lilies is about the number one obli-
cation Of any fair deal" today.
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