The journal. (Caldwell, Ohio) 1934-1961, 1949-11-24
American Way
SALT WITHOUT SAVIOR
BY DIR. ALFRED p. HAAKE

Adults do not work too hard
at emulating great men, but
growing children do still look
up to their heroes for examples
by which to govern their own
conduct. High officials in gov
ernment are among the great"
who have always appealed to
Youth.
Many young people look up to
the President of the United
States as pattern to follow;
whatever he does would be all
right for them TO do! And it is
part of the responsibility assum-
ed by every president to set
for our Youth an example that
it would be wholesome and ben
eficial for Youth to follow.
What kind of example does
our President of the United
States set?
He begins by repudiating his
own solemn oath of office. We
expect the president to perform
that oath. His failure to do so is
bound to be disastrous to many
code of personal conduct
among our Youth. II is not sur
prising that so many disregard
law and moral obligations when
our first citizen sets the example
of contempt for his own solemn
oath of office.
When Harry Truman was in
auguarated he held up his right
hand, and invoking the God of
the Bible as witness, he swore
to obey the Constitution and to
enforce the laws of the land.
Among those laws is the Taft
Hartley Act. Mr.. Truman prom
ised Phillip Murray and other
labor leaders that he would have
the law repealed because they
! wanted it repealed, and he said
! things about the law that no
honest man would say if he und-
erStood it and had studied how
it actually worked. But, it is the
law, and Mr.. Truman's own
party refused to repeal it. He
has sworn to enforce that law.
Now a national crisis threat
ems the very life of our nation,
with more than a million men
already out in the coal and steel
! strikes, and many more millions
likely to follow in consequence
of those strikes. Railroads are
already curtailing schedules,
hundreds of small plants are
shutting down for lack of coal
or steel, or both; the larger
plants are about to follow suit;
winter is close at hand; and with
our economy already seriously
undermined by the rampant
socialism in Washington, Mr..
Truman fails to invoke the Taft
Hartley Act to bring about re-
sumption of our economic life,
and the strikes closer to settle
ment.
Mr.. Truman prefers to serve
the labor leaders, and contrib
utes materially to the further
decentralization and ultimate
communizing of our country.
Perhaps he is just afraid the big
labor barons will defeat him
when he runs for a third term,
and prefers getting labor votes
to being right and serving his
country as he solemnly swore to
do when he took office.
1t may be that Harry is just
ignorant. That is not hard to be-
lieve, for he has been at some
pains to prove it. Maybe he ac-
tually wants the decentralization
which the continued strikes are
bound to bring, and thus push
us further toward dictatorship of
socialism. But, the unhappy fact
remains, regardless of the reas-
on, that the president waits for
instructions from his real bosses,
the labor barons.
That is one count. Here is an
other:
We are told, Thou shalt not
steal. Youth in thousands of
communities would be Mortified
if local officials made a practice
of buying votes for one dollar
each to get themselves elected.
Such men would be thrown out
of office and into Jail. The faith
of Youth in decency and morals
would be destroyed.
But the president of the Unit
ed States offers a more substan-
tial bribe in terms of hundreds
of dollars of benefits to special
individuals or groups. What is
worse, ne promises to take the
money for the bribes away from
other groups or minorities which
cannot protect til m e We S
against the taxing policies of a
wasteful administration, or
merely piles up a larger deficit
for future payments out of their
own pockets by the very dupes