Show Will as Save Europe In order to provide sufficient food Europe and to prevent runaway inflation at the United States must re-impose wartime rationing and control of basic commodities and of wholesale and retail This is the essence of the latest report by the President's Economic They point out that some of these controls can be exercised through existing powers which Truman but has not yet chosen to Other necessary powers must be authorized by The council recommends that the administration prepare concrete draft the and Concrete Plans take administrative steps necessary to restore the following extend export controls beyond March impose various controls to limit the use of wheat and other prevent speculation on the grain market by the Security and Exchange commission type of reinstate the curbs on installment buying due to be removed on 1 retain the present level of taxes as an inflation If these measures do not prove enough to provide Europe with food and brake the economy of the United the council warns that rationing and price control must be called The council's report has been brushed aside by Truman for voluntary He termed the return of price control and as well as the continuation of rent as methods employed by a police By this he has projected the high cost of living directly into the 1948 The politics behind his decision appear somewhat like He wants to be reelected next To Politics Mix controls now would give added ammunition to the Republicans for use in their the American Way of It is possible that the President also feels that it should be congressional responsibility to initiate and return controls since they did away with them last The third reason is perhaps that the President does not think he could get congress to restore The last point is somewhat a reiteration of the first the election in Congressmen too are jockeying for the better position in the eyes of the voters at next year's The bandwagon to be on now seems to be that of less and less a runaway inflation in America could certainly ruin many political futures for those who are climbing Voluntary rationing places the responsibility for saving enough food for saving Europe from starving this winter directly on the American Europe's plight offers a fine opportunity for a moral exercise for Americans a test of our Failure to ourselves away from the involves the lives of other Can this responsibility be delegated to the American people when their political leaders refuse to Voluntary rationing may be a valuable means of Help ing public so far as it It will help meet the world's food But in the view of the Nourse-Keyserling-Clark Economic it will not be enough by If the lives of these European nations are not saved by voluntary then all the American people have accomplished is to prolong Europe's If these nations their importance to us will be The American people can be delegated much of the responsibility to carry through a program of European reconstruction and a plan to stabilize the economy at but they must look to the President and congress for such as voluntary are only half-hearted attempts at If our constitutional system with its spread out responsibility is to survive it must act as has no place in our thinking and acting on world problems James |