Show w BABSON'S AUTHENTIC ST STATEMENT A TEl never aen w flab Special to to THE EXPRESS PRICE CONTROL WITHOUT LAW Babson Park Mass Decem December ber This 2 column has been generally pleased with dent Johnsons Johnson's efforts to unite all elements of the population in the Great Consensus Busi Businessmen of both major cal parties have given the Ad ministration strong support However in recent weeks they have become increasingly dis dis- dis disturbed I by government efforts to control prices and investment without the passage of laws by Congress LAW vs VI EDICT Our Founding Fathers de de- de devoted voted their greatest efforts to- to toward toward ward setting up a government of laws as opposed to a govern govern- government ment of men They had had firsthand knowledge of the op op- op which a power across the seas imposed on men in America without their consent Hence the popular cry of those days No No taxation without re I presentation Our Constitution was drawn with the clear intent of ting the powers and functions of the legislative executive and judicial branches of the government Safeguards were set up to prevent the executive from taking over the inherent power of the legislative It was the job of the executive to en en- en enforce force the laws drawn by the Congress who were the re- re representatives representatives of the people Ex- Ex Except Except in extreme emergencies and in ways specifically defined defined ed the executive was not to rule by edict BEHIND TO TODAY'S DAYS DAY'S HASSLE What is disturbing many to- to today tolay lay day is the Administrations Administration's ef forts orts to control prices and in- in investment in vestment without explicit con con- congressional gressional legislation Certainly I no one wants inflation History shows that previous periods of of prosperity have been wreck wreck- wrecked ed on the reefs of high prices Many now living can recall President Roosevelt's condemn condemn- condemnation of copper price hikes it in inthe the spring of 1937 1931 They ber that big jumps in the metal were followed by the business downturn later that year Un it is this fear of what could happen Cn to our cur cur- current rent prosperity that is behind present Administration efforts to roll back prices wherever they stick their heads up in bas bas- basic is ic materials IN INVESTMENT TOO Bulging prices are not the only areas that are disturbing the government planners today Our international payments pos pos- position Hion the balance between what we owe foreign countries and what they owe us has run against us again in the third quarter And fears are rising that the fourth quarters quarter's ance may be even worse Here again direct intervene ion by the executive department of the government seems to ap ap- appeal peal to Washington Recently it stepped in and requested that a abig abig big publicly owned Canadian utility postpone its November planned financing in the U S until alter after the first of 1966 presumably because seasonal forces would make our financial position stronger in the first quarter of next year In addition U S corporations with with properties abroad are be be- be being ing asked to cut down the size of planned further investments outside this country TWO GREAT DANGERS Hasty unilateral action by the executive without deliberation and consent of Congress poses two Iwo great dangers dangers for our future The first is political it it is not the American way The second sec sec- second ond is economic the thin Ira fra gile line of public confidence could be cracked with tang effect on our current wave of prosperity In its very effort to prolong the boom the Ad ministration could be raising a barrier to its future progress Take a look at the steel ry Usually a prince in good times its common stocks have long been laggards in the mar mar- market ket place If the pinching of profits through price restrict ions should spread through the economy could recession be far behind But of far greater import ance to America are the polio poli- political I aspects of our forsaking I the constitutional way of con ducting our government If the executive branch today can use powers granted to it for stock piling strategic materials to beat back prices may not some future executive use acts now on the books regulating trade and drugs to limit consumer action even without the threat of war necessity Regardless of what happens to copper or al al- al aluminum prices or even to the economy we predict that much discussion of the above will be heard not only among the cit but also in the halls of the next session of Congress STRONG MIND I wouldn't want to say my wife always gets her own way said a man at a laundromat But Dut she writes her diary a week ahead of time |