Evening star., 1950-12-24
Sees President Differing
With Economic Adviser
Writer Calls for Unity
In Policy on Controls
By Frank r. Kent

IIdCGlCdlly cVcIy Ollc dSIccS LlldL tllS
peril which now threatens the United
States is the gravest in our history. In
such an hour partisan politics is par
ticularly sinful thing and national unity
utterly essential. This being so, Ameri-
can citizens as a whole feel an urge to
respond to the Presidents appeal for
bipartisan support in his foreign policy.
There just isn't anything else to do.
No matter what you think of Mr.. Tru-
man. he will be President for two more
years and Mr.. Acheson will remain his
Secretary of State until he voluntarily
retires. The Republican demand for the
latterS resignation just as he left for
the Brussels conference was poor
patriotism and worse politics. Unless
there was a great principle involved or
they had program and policy of their
own to offer (Which they distinctly have
not), it was stab-in-the perform
ance for which there seems no excuse.
However, no matter how intense their
desire to present a united front to the
foreign foe. those to whom Mr.. Truman
appeals have every right to ask why he
does not personally exert himself toward
the vital business of unifying his own
Administration on domestic issues.
some Of which are important enough to
affect the whole defense program. The
best example Is in the matter of inf1a-
ton.
Last summer accepting the obvious
economic fact, made clear in two World
Wars, that in face of huge Government
expenditures for defense the only way
successfully to combat imitation is
through wage and price controls, Con-
gress passed bill giving Mr.. Truman
full power. Because of the violent oppo-
sion OF the labor bosses with whom he
Is politically linked, it generally was
recognized that Mr.. Truman would not
exercise this power until after election.
Since the election, Mr.. Truman re-
peatedly has insisted that the time has
now come to control prices and that
wage control must accompany 1t. He,
OF course, has lost a valuable four
months in moving, and the delay has
greatly enhanced the control problem.
But at last he has moved and now
openly advocates wage control Also
ne has directed department heads to
curtail all nondefense expenditures,
which Senator Byrd and others have
said could be cut by 5 billion Also, he
has appointed wage stabilizer and
price stabilizer and finally he has named
Charles E. Wilson head of the new
Office OF Defense Mobilization.
Belated as these moves are, at least
they are in the right direction, partic-
ularly the selection of Mr.. Wilson, whose
ability and character are conceded and
who took the job on his own terms,
which means he has a free hand. full
power and is the real boss. In this
there is hope. All of which emphasizes
the difference between Mr. Trumans
present stand, in which he is supported
by MIR. Wilson, and that of his official
economic adviser. Leon Keyserling. The
President now is for quick wage price
controls. for a reduction in nondefense
expenditures and an advance along the
economic lines laid down by Mr.. Baruch.
Unless he has changed overnight.
these are not at all in accord with
Mr.. Keyserling's views which he has
expressed not only to Mr.. Truman per-
sonally, but in speeches on various plat
forms-also on television and radio;
also, in letters to the press concerning
misinterpretations." For example, Mr.,
keyserling puts wage-price control last
on the list OF what he calls my priori-
ties" to control imitation. Recently, ac-
cording to Allen Kline, president of the
American Farm Bureau Federations. he
went even further than that. Last week
In Dallas at the AFBF annual conven-
ton a resolution urging Mr.. Truman
not to clamp on either wage or price
control was passed unanimously. Mr..
Kline tried to get Mr.. Truman on the q,
telephone to tell him about this but
was only able to get Mr. Keyserling.
Mr.. Keyserling, he said, told me we
were 100 per cent right" Months ago
Mr.. Keyserling was reported by those
with whom he talked as insisting that
nondefense expenditures must 60 UP
instead of down.
Thus we have the head of the Presi-
dents Council of Economic Advisers
publicly taking position which seems
at variance to that of the President.
This is not unity; this is discord which
tends to confuse the people and make
our economic situation more difficult.
1t does not make sense for the Presi-
dent and his chief economic adviser
to be going In different directions under
these conditions.