Toledo union journal. [volume] (Toledo, Ohio) 1942-current, 1950-07-21
Home FrontQ Questions
On disability To Win
Denocracy's Battle
by Alvain Hamilton and Cushman Reynolds
For Labor Press Association

from the Korean peninsula we know it's an
uneasy peace" we're enjoying in this Ameri-
can summer, a not quite healthy prosperity
we're enduring.
For the time being at least, we don't feel
up to writing about the finespun military de-
cisons on which that future in part depends.
We have plenty of colleagues in Washington
who'll do that for us, although they're half
way around the world from the shooting.
Nevertheless, we can pose some questions
which aren't being asked loud enough and
may not be asked loud enough until the first
emotional flush of war has passed. Then 1t
will be too late.
For instance: If large-scale war or its
near equivalent is to be with us for long
time to come as it we'll may be - is the
US in shape to fight without experiencing &C.
onomic exhaustion or confusion? In other
words, is the present prosperity firm founda-
tion on which to build war economy? Is our
industrial life still so organized that few
big fellows will be able to skim off the cream
while they wrap themselves in the flag and
win their Navy "E'?
We don't know. But memories of "last
time" - which wasn't long ago lead us
and many others to wonder. The answers de-
pend on the thinking of lot of top-level
politicians, industrialists, economists and SOL
diers But they also depend on the decisions
made by the American voter between now and
y,
you and you and you, not to mention us-bet-
ter start putting it up to Congressional candi-
dates.
For starter ask them If they're for Taft
Hartley repeal You hear strange things in
Washington One set will tell you solemnly:
"We can't repeal Taft-Hartley with war on"
Another set will startle you by declaring:
maybe we ought to suspend Taft-Hartley for
the duration" without quite saying what they
mean. Either way, the reasoning is pretty
coldblooded, has little to do with the welfare
of American workers. The men who are draft
ing the blueprints for the allout war that
still may come are thinking strictly in terms
of production Quickest way to deal with
labor management strife would be to repeal
Taft-Hartley outright and enact a new law
treating labor management relations fairly.
Or ask them If they believe the Employ
ment Act of 1946 can be made to work in
time like this. This was to have been the
Full Employment Act" you remember but
1t lost some of its oomph on the way through
Congress. Nevertheless, it's a revolutionary
measure that was passed with the support of
organized labor 1t sets maximum employ
ment, maximum production and maximum
purchasing power as the basic economic goals
of the nation. Under the statute, the President
has Council of Economic Advisers to help
him work up specific policies aiming at these
goals. In addition, there is special joint
,
economic report. In way you could say the
Employment Act was tailored for war situ-
alton If Congress lets 1t work. So watch
what happens to the Council of Economic Ad-
visers when decisions are made in the next
few weeks on how the national economy is to
be managed.
We're great admirers of some of the others
in President Trumans official family. We
have faith in their capacity to help organize
the fight against Communism with dIIe reqard
for the welfare of the American people There's
Secretary of Agriculture Brannan, whose
major job will be assuring the production of
food and other agricultural products. There's
Secretary of the Interior Chapman, who must
plan the use we make of natural re-
sources - our minerals, oil and timber There
is Secretary of Labor Tobin who will have
big say-so on manpower. (We're not happy,
though, when we think of Secretary of Com
merce Sawyer, who's a foe of the antitrust
laws whenever there's an attempt to enforce
them)
But it's the Council of Economic Advisers
which for four years has been wrestling with
the basic problems of American production,
including the problem of how to put every
body who wants to work into a productive
job. And it's the members of the Council -
Leon Keyserling, Roy Blough and John d.
Clark - who must provide many of the for
mulas by which the nation will live in the inn
mediate future. They are the ones whose
sponsibility it is to increase our productivity
and at the same time increase the capacity of
every family in the nation to buy more goods
and services. It's up to the voters to get them
selves a Congress which will know how to
weigh and act on the Advisers recommended
tions.
A war economy brings new bread-and-
butter problems for every American. The Ec-
onomic Advisers as legitimate part of their
job can tell President Truman and Congress:
CD That we can win a militory engage
ment with Communism only if there is in
creased production of such essential materials
as steel which now are controlled by monopoly
pricing systems resulting in production levels
below what is needed in war, however hot or
cold. (They can outline the steps to take to
boost production, too,)
CD That there must be some poiu changes
in the distribution of the national income
among consumers who get a weekly pay en-
velope, investors who collect dividends and
clip coupons, and Uncle Sam who picks up
the taxes. That is. therell have to be some
changes made If we are to carry out adequate
ly the technical aid program we call Point
Four, complete the Marshall Plan, put on a
publicity drive to sell democracy throughout
the world and support military campaigns in
Korea or wherever else. It's not just ques-
tion of telling Secretary of the Treasury Sny-
dar IN trot mn IN and eli for