Milford chronicle., 1962-06-15
TRADE ORGANIZATIONS

TRADE ORGANIZATIONS
Premier Nikita S. Krushchev proposed
recently a worldwide trade organization
Shortly after his proposal, Secretary of State
Dean Rusk said the Soviet leader was prob
ably offering these steps as diversion and
to interrupt the progress now being made
by the free world with their healthy eco
nomic conditions.
What worries Mr. Khrushchev is that
a guise or a legitimate offer, he has in the
past denounced the common markets and
he is certainly concerned over the success
of these markets. Especially does the Euro
pean common market give him great con-
Germ.
What worries Mr.. Khurshchev is that
in the next ten years or so Western Europe
will be tied together completely economical
ly and this union will also include Britain
and Ireland. By then there will probably be
a close working trade partnership between
the United States and this group of coun-
tries.
If Mr. Khrushchev is honest in what he
is proposing and does not expect us to all
become Communists, and he cannot expect
that, then he must expect Russia to do away
with Communism by joining our system of
free trade
Maybe his proposal has some weight,
but we doubt if Mr. Khrushchev would give
it a second thought, if we actually started
negotiating along these lines. He would like
to stop the common market progress but to
enter it would be disaster for the Commu-
mist.
PRESIDENT KENNEDY'S PROGRAM
President Kennedy's ambitious and far
reaching domestic legislative program may
not have precisely fallen on evil days, but it
certainly has run into some very tough
shedding. This is in contrast to his foreign
policy, which, aside from questions of de-
tail, has enjoyed support of both the par
ties and of such outstanding opposition fig
ures as Mr.. Eisenhower and Mr.. Nixon. In
deed, except for the tragic Cuban Bay of
Pigs fiasco, criticism in this area has been
limited and moderate.
Not so his domestic proposals. And this
is not, as some Administration supporters
claim, the work of few stubborn Congress
sional leaders who hold key committee posts.
Numerous surveys indicate that while the
President is personally extremely popular,
many of his major programs are not.
Numbers of Congressman periodically
poll their constituents in an effort to learn
their views on controversial issues. One of
them is Representative Walter Norblad, of
Oregon's First District. Here are some of
the questions in recent QUESTIONABLE sent
out by him, along with voter answers:
Do you favor the Administration pro-
posal that the United States purchase 500
million worth of the United Nations 5000
million bond issue? Yes, 27 per cent; No,
81 per cent Undecided, 6 per cent.
Should the United States continue to
oppose admission of Communist Red China
into the United Nations? Yes, 83 per cent;
No, IA per cent; Undecided, 3 per cent.
Do you favor easing tariffs and trade
restrictions? Yes, AT per cent; No. 43 per
cent. Undecided 10 Der cent
Should the United States continue to
give aid to Yugoslavia? Yes, 20 per cent;
No, 65 per cent; Undecided, Is per cent.
Do you favor creation of new Depart
ment of Urban Affairs and Housing with
Cabinet rank? Yes, IA per cent; No, IA per
cent; Undecided, II per cent.
Should the law be changed to permit So
cial Security retirees to earn more than
$1,000 year without penalizing their So
cial Security benefits? Yes, SO per cent;
No, 27 per cent; Undecided, per cent
Should the United States continue to
give foreign aid to those Latin American
countries that did not join us in voting to
expel Castro's Cuba from the Organization
of American States because of Cuba's ties
with the Communist bloc? Yes, 27 per
cent No, sc per cent; Undecided per
cent.
1t cannot be fairly said, of course, that
an expression of voter opinion in one Con-
gressional district is typical of the whole
country. But other such polls taken in wide
ly separated and diverse regions, do indi-
cate that there is strong opposition, among
Mr.. Kennedy's admirers as well as oppo-
nents, to some of his key proposals. This
is true of the plan to extend medical bene-
fits to everyone drawing Social Security
benefits, an issue which was not covered in
Mr.. Norblad's sampling. In fact this par
ticular piece of legislation will probably pro-
woke the bitterest battles, in and out of
Congress, of the current and perhaps of
coming sessions.
Mr. Kennedy is learning what many a
President has learned before him. 1t is one
thing to propose programs, no matter how
big, revolutionary and costly. 1t is a very
different thing to get them enacted into the
law of the land.