Evening star., 1960-05-08
G
Stevenson For Redirection Of National Purpose

balanced budgets and against in
flation does not hamper that
growth.
Mr.. Stevenson has said, I'VE
should try to reduce the debt
when we can, but debt reduction,
as such, must not be made the
major objective of fiscal policy"
He has Endorsed some fiexihility
in money rates." which means he
would not automatically oppose a
tight money" policy. He says
rising prices are real danger"
but he thinks exaggerated fears
of imitation have prevented the
Government from making needed
expenditures.
The evidence indicates Mr.. Ste
senSon. though an advocate of in
creased Federal spending. is far
from radical in economic policy.
He has genuine abhorrence Of
direct Government controls.
His solution for the imitation
problem is exactly the same many
Democrats have ridiculed Mr.. Eli
senhower for advocating: Self
restraint on wage and price in
creaSes."
On the issue which many OBJ
servers consider the most potent
domestic political question this
year-provision of hospital care
for retired perSonS-Mr. Steven
sons 1856 stand is almost iden-
tical to the position the Eisen-
hover administration has adopted,
reluctantly and under heavy pres
sure, this year. In discussing this
problem in his 1856 campaign, Mr..
Stevenson never once referred to
the proposal advanced by Demo-
Gratis this year, providing health
care through the Social Security
System.
The Insurance Program
Instead, he called then, as Mr.. -,
Eisenhower is calling now, for a
program handled through private
insurance firms, financed as far as
possible by the individuals them
selves, administered by the States
and aided by matching Federal
grants only for those who could
not pay the full costs of the in
surance themselves.
Above all, he insisted, as Mr..
Eisenhower is doing now, that
participation in the program must
be voluntary, that mo one be ;
compelled to obtain this protec-
ton"
Mr.. Stevenson is also, in a fun
damental sense, States Fighter"
He wants to keep government,
close to the people. But, as he
said as far back as 1852, "the
tidal drift toward the Capital will
go on and on unless those neces-
sary functions of government
which don't have to be performed
in Washington are performed, and
properly performed, at the State
or local level"
He has applied this doctrine
even to the area of civil rights,
where, to many liberal Democrats,
1t seems to conflict directly with
the goal Of substantial equality to
which he is clearly committed.
One of the arguments Mr.. Steven
son used in seeking a State fair
employment practices law in Illi-
noiS was the contention that this
sensitive question was far better
handled by local communities than
by national agencies.
The Segregation Decision
Despite this preference, Mr..
Stevenson specifically accepted
and Endorsed the Supreme Courts
school deSegregation decision-in
identical speeches during the 1856
campaign in Little Rock and in
Harlem. He has also backed leg
islation to assure the right to
vote under the law" to all citizens.
Typically. Mr.. Stevenson ends
his discussions Of civil rights on
a moral note: "The responsibility
and the opportunity of the Presi-
dent in matters such as these go
beyond the execution of the law.
For his office is the repository Of
moral authority as well as legal,
and it is from our chosen leader
that there must come to our
hearts, our heads and our spirits
the common impulse to honor in
our daily lives the principles we
proclaim to the world"