Evening star., 1962-04-22
u. s. A.-PoIice State?

After more than a week of soul
searching and political wind-testing, the
Republican high command has decided
to make major issue of the Presidents
handling of the steel price ISSUE And
it may be a real live isSue-if the mail
from our readers, overwhelmingly criti-
cal of the President, is reliable guide.
The pronouncement by the Joint
Senate House Republican leadership
strikes us, however, as suffering from
two defects - overStatement and dis
torted Selectivity.
Mr.. Kennedy, at his April II press
conference, went pretty far His manner
was one of outrage and cold anger. His
threats, both express and implicit, were
unusual if not unprecedented. And the
manner in which the enforcement
agencies of Government swung into line
behind him certainly suggested that the
full power of the Federal Government
was about to be used to impose an
economic policy on the steel companies.
The G. o. P. says this performance
was more characteristic of a police
state than a free government" And
it adds: Most disturbing in its impli-
cations was the use of the FBI. Since
the days of our founding fathers, this
land has been the haven of millions
who fled from the feared knock on the
door at night. This Nation must
realize that we have passed within the
shadow of police state methods"
Does a rational appraisal of the
facts sustain this rhetoric? Can a fair
estimate of Mr.. KennedyS whole per-
formance in office, as distinguished
from one FBI phone call to a reporter
at 3 o'clock in the morning, support
belief that the police state is waiting
in the wings on the American stage?
We do not think so.
The Republican statement also says
that it is both a proper function and
the duty of President to help Ameri-
can private enterprise maintain a stable
economy, but that he must usually"
find his way by persuasion and the
prestige of his office. The use of the
word usually" suggests that there are
exceptions to the perSuaSion-and-preS-
tige rule, but since the Republicans do
not spell this out we have no way of
knowing what they consider them to be.
1t certainly is true, however, that
persuasion and prestige may not always
serve to maintain a stable economy.
And what if an unwarranted price or
wage increase, in spite of the Presidents
best persuasive efforts, is about to be
imposed? Should he resign himself to
an inflationary revival that could de-
Stroy the dollar, deal most cruelty with
the millions of Americans on fixed in
comes, and gravely impair our inter-
national position? Should he ask a
Congress, which ShrinkS from the pros
pect, to impose wage-price controls
controls which probably cannot be made
to work in peacetime? Or should the
President go beyond persuasion and try
to pressure the offending industry or
union into being reasonable?
Mr.. Kennedy took the latter course
on April II, and the Republicans seem
to think he has given them a first-claSS
domestic political issue. Maybe they are
right. But as time goes on, and if Mr..
Kennedy is even-handed in this buSi-
ness, we think it will not be so easy to
sell the voters on the notion that an
essentially moderate President is really
a disguised version of the man on horse
back.