Evening star., 1953-09-07

left the White House that he
wanted to "be charitable toward
the new administration while it
is getting its feet on the ground"
said he didn't think the people
voted last fall for a change in
the social and economic princi-
pies that have made us so strong
and prosperous
But that is the kind of
change we are getting" ne told a
rally OF Michigan CIO and AFL
groups in Cadillac Square.
He singled out the adminis-
tratlon's policies on interest
rates, labor, public housing.
power and the Governments eff
forts to balance the budget by
cutting national defense appro-
priations.
Security Comes First.
I'VE have to put first things
nrSt," he said. land the security
and safety of this Nation comes
ahead of everything else, as far
as Lam concerned. I don't see
how anyone can take chances
with national defense at this
time in the worlds history"
He added that first-class Air
Force and an air raid defense
system would be worth quite a
lot to us now "even if it unbal-
anced the budget for a while
and deferred a tax cut for some
years to come"
Saying he was great believer
in balanced budgets, the former
President said he kept the Gov
ernment budget balanced until
an emergency came along that
was a lot more important than
all the balanced budgets in the
world"
Urges Labor to Hold Gains.
On labor's own front, he said
its leaders have the RESPONSE
bility of holding the gains that
labor has made-"holding them
against a spirit of reaction that
is using the election results of
last fall to get back in the saddle
again."
But he also told them they had
a greater responsibility, that of
acting mot just as the repre-
SentativeS of particular group,
but as leaders in promoting the
welfare and progress of the whole
country"
"This means" he said, that
labor must act to keep the
unions free Of corruption and
communism, the way George
Meany (AFL president) and
Walter Reuther (CIO president)
are doing. 1t means that the
branches of labor ought to work
together, work in greater unity
for common goal-and I am
glad to see that your leaders are
doing just that"
Praises Wagner Act.
Mr.. Truman praised the Wag-
ner Act as "the Magma Charta
of labor's rights" and said:
II was in the Senate when
Congress passed that law, and
I am proud to say I voted for it.
I was in the White House when
the first attempt was made to
cripple that law, and I vetoed
that effort. But the Republican
80th Congress tried it again.
And they overrode my veto and
put the Taft-Hartley law on the
books.
'The Taft Hartley law is a bad
law. and during the last presi-
Dental campaign there was a
promise made, by the Republican
candidate, that it was going to
be amended in a way that would
correct its injustices. But I
haven't read of anything being
done along that line-and I've
been reading the record.
OF the Governments hike in
interest rates, Mr.. Truman said
it may be of benefit to the
money lenders, but it surely does
hurt the rest of the people"
He listed other signs that the
Government is mo longer so con-
cerped for the welfare of all Of
us" as: The public housing pro-
gram condemned to DEATH
the cut in funds for enforcement
Of minimum wage laws and the
farmer being told he ought to
''go it alone" again.