Evening star., 1949-01-15
Nation Seen SaddIed
By Debt if Truman
Program Is Voted
Proposals Held Designed
For GuIIibIe and Insult
To Intelligent Persons
By Frank X. Kent

" eFe" ANs - WV
The political befuddlement in
Washington is such that 1t is not
always easy to see the realities be-
hind the propaganda fog. But as
the fully organized new Congress
prepares to settle down after the
Inauguration several more or less
basic facts emerge. For the sake of
sanity these ought to be kept clearly
in mind.
Chief among them, of course. is
the character of the Truman pro-
gram. Since its submission this pro-
gram has been analyzed at length
by the experts, denounced as social
istic by some, eulogized as liberal"
by others. Actually, as now re-
vealed, it is wholly political in its
conception, primarily designed for
the guillible and completely insult
ing to the intelligent. 1t is, in fact,
anything but on the level. There Is
no other way to look at it unless
one wants deliberately to delude
ones self or for one reason or an
other is so committed to the direc-
ton in which the country is being
taken as to be indifferent to the
consequences.
1t is not a question of the merits
or desirability of the Truman re-
quests. There is room for debate
about these-Federalized medicine;
Federalized public education; Fed
eraliZed housing aid; expansion of
social security; extension of river
valley development along IVA
lines; Federalized power lines for
extension of rural electriflcation:
new warehouses for crop storage:
immediate action on the st. Law
renee waterway; creation of numer-
Gus new boards and commissions
for variety of things, etc.
Approach to Bankruptcy.
There are two sides to these prof.
ects, ample scope for honest differ
: ence of opinion. But there is no
room for difference of opinion
about the fundamental fact that at
this time and in the way proposed,
Mr. Truman's program cannot be
put through without approaching a
national bankruptcy that would
tragically affect not only every
man, woman and child in this coun-
try but in most of the world. This
exceedingly grave fact is totally
ignored
Here is a President who Solemnly
asserts that it is vital to balance the
national budget and reduce the
national debt. He proposes to do
this by imposing four billion more
new taxes on income and corpora
tions. 1t is already clear land must
have been known to the Truman ad-
visers) that Congress will not i'm
pose anywhere near that amount of
new taxes. But even if it gave him
what he asks, it would not be
enough because Mr.. Trumans other
recommendations would increase
the national debt instead of de-
creasing it. Also they would make
the already precariously balanced
budget hopelessly unbalanced. And
here is a President fully equipped
with the knowledge that the Fed
eral bureaucracy is so vast, waste
full and costly that it no longer
functions with even a semblance of
efficiency. yet he presents program
that inevitably must add greatly to
its size, cost, waste and ineflciency
Considering these things. there
are only two tenable views to take
of Mr.. Truman, neither of them
complimentary: % You can be-
lieve that he is honestly convinced
the proposals he asks Congress to
enact are sound and right but not
smart enough to know that even
a part of them would completely
nullify his recommendations as to
debt and budget; or ~ you can
believe that he is sufficiently
clearheaded to know the fiscal
danger involved in his program
but was compelled to present it
by the promises made to the spe-
cial groups during his campaign
and has no real expectation that
much of it will go through.
Nation to Be Saddled.
The truth is the whole business is
a mess and the great danger is
that the President, in his present
honeymoon" period and with all
the liberal propagandists shout
ing about his mandate" may get
more of his program through than
he expectS-or wants. If that hap
pens. the Nation will be saddled
permanently with grievously heavy
burdens. steadily increasing with
the years to the back-breaking
point. The hope is that the con-
Kervatives, Democratic and Re
in Congress, will get together to
prevent this from happening. Moth
ing else will. True, they would
have to combat practically every
lobby in Washington, including the
two most powerful - farmers and
labor However it is a fight tre-
mendously worth making. For, with
out it, the whole program could go
through. In that event the so-called
social revolution would indeed
be inescapable and the United
States no longer entitled to boast
of its fundamental freedom or eco
nomic soundness.
If situation like this can have
humorous side, it is furnished by
the plight in which this Truman
program has placed those publicity
avid Republican Senators, who call
themselves modern minded" (they
no longer like the word "liberapJ
and are-so they say-striving to
"yitallze" their party along con-
structive' and progressive" lines.
The Truman program leaves them
rather appalled, at its terrifying
cost and inconsistencies. Neverthe-
less, they discover that most of
the things for which he asks were
recommended in the Republican
platform, and to save their souls
they cannot think of single CON
.structive" or progressive" idea
that Mr.. Truman has left out.
Also, these modern minded" Re-
.publicans now find that Senator
Taft whom for a long time thew