Evening star., 1951-07-19
Midwest Floods Sfres,
Need for Economic
Curbs, Wilson Says
By james Y. Newton

-N~e~>-e~S@S@@ A@SStOA %AhsSA AOo
e. Wilson today declared that the
disastrous Missouri Valley floods
create the need for extraordinary
Government help" and further
emphasze the need for a strong
economic controls law.
He compared the destruction
caused by the floods to that Of an
atomic attack and estimated the
present property damage to be
''well over 81 billion" The Army
Engineers had assessed the dam
age at $3.50 million.
Mr.. Wilson said repairing the
flood damage will be a "long,
costly and difficult task" and I'VE
will probably have to divert mate
rails to the stricken area that
otherwise would have gone into
defense production"
Our recovery from this disaster
will be significant test of our
ability to recover from an atomic
bomb attack" he continued.
Addresses Postal Clerks.
1T is one more reason added to
many others why the new (eco-
nomic controls) legislation should
not tie one hand behind our backs
at the very moment when gigantic
problems confront u.s."
Mr.. Wilson make a strong ap-
peal to Congress for a strong con-
trolS law in an address before the
convention of the AFL Retail
Clerks international Association.
He said the. cease-fire talks in Ko-
rea have "lulled some people into
a false sense of security"
ITO the conspirators in the
Kremlin," he continued, Korea is
only an incident. The failure to
subjugate the Republic of Korea
can easily be shrugged off by Mos
COW.
ITO morrow. next week, next
month, next year, Russia can start
another Korea-for example, in
Iran"
Weak Economy Is Danger.
Mr.. Wilson said it would be
folly" to remove anti-inf1ation
safeguards from the staute books,
adding that the weakened Amer
lean economy would be a "windfall
for communism.
Referring to the apparently sue
cessful efforts to water-down in
f1ation legislation in Congress, Mr..
Wilson told the union delegates:
"One Of our troubles in
America-is that sometimes we
seem to have government by pres
sure groups, rather than govern
ment in the interest Of the people
as a whole.
Rules Must Be Enforced.
".. But somewhere along the
line, halt must be called, if the
Jockeying for advantage is not to
prove fatal for all Of us. There
comes time when that unpopu-
lar person known as the umpire
must enforce the rules of the
ball game-or there won't be any
ball game"
Mr.. Wilson, the former presi-
dent of General Electric Co., has
been criticized by the National
Association of Manufacturers and
other big business interests, for
advocating continuance of strong
controls. He said the question is
being asked in some places: What
has happened to Charley Will
Son?"
The answer, he said, is that
nothing has happened to Charley
Wilson, nor to the hatred of Gov
eminent controls which II have
often expressed in normal times" !"
These, he added, are not normal
times.
"Still Hates Controls"
II still hate controls, but 7 hate
communism more. In fact, in the
language OF the Bible, ! hate COM
munism in good measure, pressed
down, and shaken together. and
running over"
II myself would shudder to ac-
cept the horrible responsibility for
insisting on disabling the Defense
Production Act and thereby les
sening our chances to avoid a
third world war with all of the
frightful tol in death and destruc-
ton such a war would take"
In telling the union delegates
that the full force of the defense
production program was still 10 be
felt by the economy, Mr.. Wilson
Gaids eft lie fo11v m ooSl1yna fho4