Evening star., 1949-03-14
Truman Depression
Seen in Job Scarcity
And Business Trend
President Is Blamed
For Industry's Caution
And Buyer Resistance
By David Laurence

And Buyer Resistance
Rp David Laurence
The Truman depression" is
here. Despite all the efforts OF
the administration to minimize
it, camoufage it, and deny its
existence. the fact remains that
an economic readjustment of as
yet undetermined proportions is
in evidence and has been develop
ing ever since the election last
autumn.
President Truman scared Amer
ican business men by going
radical. Plans for expansion Of
heavy-goods industries have been
curtailed because of fears Of
heavier taxation and strikes and
because of the Illustration of
business incentive through Fed
eral Government harassments.
Mr.. Truman is aware that
something has happened to busi-
ness. He began before he left
Washington recently a series of
talks with business men in order
to reassure them individually that
he doesn't mean to hurt business.
But he is unwilling to let the
people know what he is privately
saying to business men. He is
afraid even to let their rames
be published for fear that his
labor -union allies may accuse
him of consorting with what they
regard as their natural enemies"
Deeds of reinsurance alone rather
than words now can stem the tide
of encouragement in business
circles.
Unemployment Increases.
Unemployment has been in
creasing every month since the
autumn elections. Demands by
the public for many articles is
reported to be falling off. Back
logs of orders are vanishing In
many lines of business. Month
by-month ordering and hesitation
are commonplace. This is In part
due to the high price levels and
In part due to an inclination of
many people to save their money
for rainy days. Official statis-
tics for the last quarter of 1948
show that savings have been in
creasing substantially. which
means that fear of the future has
arisen and spending is no longer
carried on with assurance that
times ahead will be good.
To a remarkable extent this is
Q sudden loss of confidence in MIR.
Truman's extravagant promises
made during the campaign. He
warned the voters that only
Dewey election could bring re-
cession and that the Communists
were eagerly awaiting such a re-
suit. He boasted that the high
incomes received by the people
were the consequence Of policies
of the Democratic administration.
This, is only another way Of
saying that the Truman admins
tration considers itself responsible
for what goes into the pay enYel-
ope each week and for the main
tenance of jobs. The administra-
tien,= therefore. must take the
blame for any unemployment that
arises.
Unfortunately, the present un-
employment can be traced in large
part to Mr.. Truman's irresponsi-
bility in soaring business into
stagnation. Had a Republican
administration been elected. there
would have been such confidence
instilled in the business world
that long-range programs for
strengthening the American eco
nomic system would not have
been abandoned and certain
spotty readjustments that are
inevitable in a postwar period
would have been taken in their
stride in the larger and more
extensive operations Of a business
community confident that it
could go ahead for four years
without fear of capricious legis-
lation.
Industry Frightened.
The biggest of all Truman
blunders was the call for an ex-
cess-profits tax. Even though this
now has been abandoned, and a
substitute tax policy is far from
being clarified, the agitation did
its damage in November and De-
cember when important plans for
1949 were laid aside. Today the
effects of that grave mistake are
being felt in the increasing num-
Der of persons on unemployment
relief.
Another blunder was Mr.. Tru-
mans arbitrary handling of the
labor management problem. In
stead of realizing that only fair
and impartial conduct Of gov
ernmental policy could assure
peace on the production front,
Mr.. Truman became a PARTISAN of
the labor-union autocrats. It
means that the hoped-for in
crease in productivity per man
hour. which has been counted on
to help Offset recent wage in
creases beyond cost-of living
needs, has been dealt body blow.
This has upset planning in busi-
ness ana will continue to do so
for many months-at least until
after the congressional elections
of November. 1850. Then the
people will have an opportunity
to pass Judgment on an admins
tration which has failed tn main.