Evening star., 1950-02-28
The Political Mill
British Election Unlikely
To Influence U. S. Voter
Americans Seen Becoming
More Critical of Trumun
The Political Mill
BY Gould Lincoln

The brand of socialism imposed by
the labor government on the British
people has caused the Labor Party to
lose ground materially-so materially
that the Labor government retained
bare majority in the House OF Commons
In the recent election.
Does the result of that election mean
that the Truman Fair Dealers are in for
a hard time in November elections in
this country? Is a swing to the Right,
indicated for the United States because
there has been such a swing in Britain?
The answer is NO
What happens in the congressional
elections next fall will depend entirely
on how the American voters feel at
that time, because of conditions in this
country-not because of what happened
in Britain.
Many In U. S. Hard Hit.
Entirely aside from what British
voters did, many Americans are be-
coming more and more restive and in
clined to be critical of the Truman
administration. They are hard hit by
the coal strickland there is a growing
feeling that the Administration let the
condition become serious when it might
have taken steps weeks ago. They are
COIQpldluulS
highland the Administration has done
nothing effective to get rid Of the war
time excise taxes. Unemployment is
greatly on the increase. Real peace
seems farther away this year than it
did a year ago. The Government is
running further and further into debt.
Prices of consumer goods continue high
in many lines. The farm support price
program, rolling up tremendous Gov
ernment-held surpluses of many crops.
has outraged many persons. These are
the things that are likely to have their
impact on the November elections.
The Republicans like to think that the
great gains made by the opponents OF
the Labor Party in England are pro-
phetic of Republican gains next fall. The
Democrats point to the fact that the
British Labor Party was still able to win
majority in the House of Commons
and that, after all, things in this country
are different" Rather meaningless
thinking on both sides-except that So
cialism doesn't work acceptably in coun-
tries where the people have been used
to freedom.
The Republicans have undertaken to
make the issue in the coming campaign
"Libertyl versus Socialism" The Truman
Democrats ridicule the issue. President
Truman calls it "scare words" He says
the Republicans are silly to think they
can make voters believe that the Demo-
Gratis are Socialists. Some of the more
liberal Republicans, like Senator Lodge
Of Massachusetts, don't think much OF
the issue, either.
G. o. P. Slit Overemphasized.
This split in the Republican Party.
however, may be overemphasized by the
Democrats. Taking Senator Taft Of
Ohio as symbol of the more conserva-
tive faction, and Senator Lodge as q
symbol of the liberal wing, you will find
that both are strongly opposed to the
Truman Administration and to the Tru-
man program. Senator Taft may be re-
sponsible for the slogan: Liberty versus
Socialism" But Senator Lodge is re-
sponsible for another slogan, which goes:
Social Legislation Without Socialism" !"
Both Senators are equally strong
against socialism. Senator Lodge says
he does not believe Democrats are So
cialists-but he does believe that some
of the items In the Truman program are
socialistic. The Massachusetts Senator
believes it is possible to have q welfare
society without welfare state; to have
security without red tape, without bu-
reaucracy. without governmental stupid
ity, without the sacrifice Of opportunity,
and without loss of personal liberty
Decidedly, the Republican Party, as Of
today, is not breaking up-notwith-
standing an accelerated race for leader
ship between the liberals and the con-
servatives in the party.