Milford chronicle., 1960-09-16
TWO-PRONGED DEFENSE


of massive retaliation This major ele-
ment in American policy since it was enunci-
ated by John Foster Dulles grew up with the
development of nuclear weapons.
United States defenses, and to large
extent the nations effectiveness in foreign
affairs, were based on the notion that the
Communists would not initiate any military
adventures which risked the nuclear oblitera-
tion of their homelands. This policy worked
rather well until the American monopoly of
nuclear weapons was broken. Now, with
nuclear stalemate in effect, the concept of
massive retaliation alone is no longer ten
able. The free worlds defense, now subject
to brush fire" attacks, need strong conven-
tional forces as we'll as obliteration weapons.
1t is reassuring, therefore, that both
Senator Kennedy and Vice President Nixon
have pledged to build up U. S. conventional
forces. Necessarily, reliance on both nu-
clear retaliation and conventional weapons
will be expensive in both men and materials.
But there seems to be no other way of main
tanning adequate defenses to deal with any
emergency that may arise.
THE LESSER EVIL
In recent months fears have been ex-
pressed in some quarters over the outflow of
gold from Treasury stocks of this interna-
tional exchange medium. Also there was sur
prise when the Federal Reserve Board, in the
face of this fact, embarked on its current
easy Tor easier) money policy.
There is really no cause for surprise.
What the Reserve Board did was to accept
the lesser of two evils. Domestic pressure
had been growing for supply of money at
lower rates to stimulate the economy. But
with rates reduced the risk must be run that
foreign investors would increase gold with
drawals to take advantage of higher interest
rates prevailing elsewhere in the world mar
ket.
Were this latter event to take place in
any substantial degree, devaluation might be
forced on the American dollar. While this
possibility need not be taken very seriously
at this stage, devaluation is not out of the
question. Easy money can be catch phrase
having an attractive sound. But it should be
realized that too easy money can have an
adverse effect.
THE WRITING ON THE WALL
An Oregon newspaper recently carried
two particularly significant stories on the
same page. One discussed the campaign to
unionize California's hundreds of thousands
of agricultural workers, with resulting
strikes, picketing of farms and possible loss
of hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of
crops.
The other announced the use by Oregon
cherry growers of a Cherry shaker" as an
answer to labor problems and higher costs.
Similar mechanical equipment can also be
used to harvest plums and prunes according
to the head of agricultural engineering at
Oregon State College. Michigan research
workers estimate mechanical equipment may
enable seven men to do the work of 33 hand
pickers of cherries. AS the purchasing power
of the dollar drops and wages go up with no
corresponding increase in production, costs
are bound to RISE thus forcing the develop
ment of more and more labor saving machin-
cry in the effort to hold down runaway prices.
The passage of federal minimum wage
and hour laws and more and more "cradle
to the grave" federal handouts simply ag-
gravate the situation, put another turn in
the initiation spiral, make it harder and hard
er for unskiled labor to get jobs, and drive
up living costs.
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