Evening star., 1949-07-10

President Truman won election
last November, but as minorit!
President. He did not receive
majority of the popular vote. Th'
81st Congress. elected with him
does not support some OF thu
campaign pledges made by Mr.
Truman-notably repeal of th'
Taft-Hartley labor law in tott
and restoration of the lopsidee
Wagner Labor Relations Act. No
does it stand for increases il
taxes and some of the heavy
spending programs-for social as
sistance-which are included II
the Truman Fair Deal program.
Democrats Confident
The margin against these Tru'
man proposals, in the present
Congress, is slim. indeed. BY only
two votes were the opponents OF
the administrations labor bill able
to turn back a proposal, offered by
the Democratic floor leader OF the
Senate. Senator Lucas OF Illinois
to strike out of a Taft substitute
all authority for Government use
of an injunction in a strike OF
lockout which threatened the well
fare of the American people. Only
by a vote of 81 to AZ was the Taft
substitute for the administration
bill finally passed. In the House
the division over the labor bill was
so close that neither the admin
istration forces nor their oppo.
nents were able to win a clear-cut
victory-and the bill was recon-
mitted.
The Truman Fair Dealers
therefore, have only to hold theil
present strength in House ano
Senate and pick up a handful OF
other seats in both Houses to
bring the s2d next) Congress in
to line with the Truman admin
tstration. In the opinion OF the
Democrats (the Truman Demo-
crats) and their labor allies, this
is not going to be difficult to do
The Democratic National Com
mittee has told the President that
1t will have a million dollars in
the bank to start the campaign.
CLOS PAC and the AFL's coun-
terpart are ready to beat the la
Dor bushes for millions of dollars
to be used. too, In the fight to
elect a labor Congress.
So the battle is shaping up. The
Republicans, who must make
gains in the coming congressional
elections if they are to stave OIL
eventual disintegration as a major
political. party. are laying their
plans, too. One of their troubles
lies in the divisions in Republican
ranks over items in the Truman
program. The prospect, there
fore, is for a number of individual
battles in congressional districts
with no cohesive. overall Repub-
lican Party platform.
Fight for Dixiecrats
The 'Dixiecrats," the anti-Tru-
man Democrats in the South, are
faced, too, with hard fights. The
Democratic national organization,
backed by President Truman and
the power of Federal patronage,
is hacking it's way into this ter
ritory. 1t will substitute, wher-
ever it can, Southern Fair Deal
candidates for the old-line Demo-
Gratis who adhere to the political
principles of Senators George OF
Georgia and Byrd of Virginia. If
Gov. Thurmond of South Caro-
lima finally makes the race for the
Democratic senatorial nomination
against sitting Senator Olin D.
Johnston, the outcome of the con-
test will be almost as significant
for the Democratic Party of the
South as the outcome of the SEN
atorial election in Ohio. where
Senator Taft Republican. must
defend himself against the Fair
Deal-Labor combination. will be
for Republicans. Thurmond car
ried his State against Truman last
year.
If the "socialist-labor" political
combination can get a firmer grip
on large segments of the rural and
farm vote. the troubles of the Re-
publicans and the conservative
Democrats will be multiplied. In
the 1948 presidential campaign
Mr.. Truman did amazingly well in
some of the greatest farm States.
He carried Iowa and Minnesota
and Wisconsin-not to mention
Illinois and Ohio. which are great
agriculturally as we'll as indus
trially. His victory in California
by a narrow margin was due to
the farmers rather than to indus
trial labor.
Bid for Farm Vote
To bolster their hold on this
farm vote, the Truman Democrats
are offering the farmers subsidies
far outreaching those in the Re-
publican Hope-Aiken law and in
excess of the subsidies authorized
for the farmers during the wal
period. They are contained in the
Brannan program and bill-which
plans to look after the farmers
who grow "perishables" as well as
the grain, tobacco and cottor
farmers. The Brannan bill, which
would bestow these benefits upon
the demonstrating the money
out of the Treasury-at the same
time gives the Secretary of Agri.
culture dictatorial powers over the
farmers. He could. if he believed
1t necessary, cut a farmers cror
in two. thereby curtailing the
farmers earning capacity one
half. Quite a power to place ir
any ones hands.
What happened in 1948 may
happen again in 1850, with 8