Ottawa County news. (Port Clinton, Ohio) 1931-1956, 1953-11-20

represent just business and in
dustry alone.
You see the one-sided nature of
the new Government in practical
ly everything it does.
| Take its attitude toward labor.
The new Administration made a
big show of giving labor represen-
tation in the government by max
ing one of its leaders, Mr.. Martin
Durkin, the Secretary of Labor.
Mr.. Durkin took his job serious
ly. He drafted amendments to take
some of the unfair provisions out
of the Taft-Hartley Act-an Act
which the President himself ad-
mitted can be used to bust the
| labor unions.
You saw what happened. Mr.
Durkin found he couldn't get any
where in carrying out this prom
Use made by the Republicans to
labor. So he got out.
And who did they replace him
with? One more business man
! That makes it unanimous.
You know, in the early days,
there was wisecrack passed
around that the Cabinet consisted
Of mine millionaires and one
plumber"
One of the Deputy Secretaries
! said that wasn't true. He said,
Were all plumbers. We're all
down under the sink working"
A farmer out in Iowa heard
that and said, $50 that's where you
are! Would one of you please
come up long enough to see what's
happening to farm prices"
Or take the position of the
white-collar worker. Last year the
Republicans talked a lot about
the plight of the white-collar
worker because of rising prices.
They were going to do something
about that.
So they took over in Washing
ton. A few days ago it was an
nounced that prices had risen for
the seventh consecutive month
and had hit a new all-time high in
every month since June.
Now while farm prices went
down, food prices in the stores
went up. Who's getting the differ
ence? President Truman asked
for funds for the Federal Trade
Commission to investigate this
market spread" The Republi-
cans killed that request.
Now they've announced, six
months late, that they'll try to
make the study after all, but
within the private walls of the
Department of Agriculture
When they gave out the latest
figures, they asked the press
please not to emphasize the new
all-tirle records in the cost of liv-
Ing but instead to emphasize that
it had only risen gradually. a.
The one-sided nature of the
Government is reflected not only
in the Cabinet-which is the Wis
ible government-but also in a
strange kind of invisible govern
ment that has grown up in the
Nations Capital. This invisible
government consists of boards,
commissions, and committees set
UP to study our national problems
and develop policies for the new
Administration.
These study groups can be de-
vices for delaying action-what
Governor Stevenson called "gov-
ernment-by-postponement." But
that is only part of the story.
The rest lies in who heads and
who makes UP these study groups.
They are advertised as open.
minded groups but they have be.
come, instead, an elaborate ma.
chinery by which big business can
mold the policies of the Admins
tration.
Take the new study group on
Federal-State relations - which
will advise on what Federal pro-
grams should be abandoned or
turned over to the States. The
head of this group, Clarence Man.
ion of Indiana, went on a TV
show the other day and they
asked him what he thought of
IVA.
He said, 81 think the IVA
should be sold to private business.
I don't think the Federal Govern
ment should have built the iva
project in the first place"
That's the kind of open-minded
approach DR.. Manion is taking.
His mind may be open but his
words are those of the private
utility lobbyists.
Last April, another leading Re-
publican proclaimed that the Fed
eral Government ought to get out
OF the electric power business as
soon as possible.
So this equally openminded
gentleman was chosen to head up
another study of what Federal
functions should be abandoned.
His name is Herbert Hoover the