Show wallace ballads s job program pl i pak packs political TNT reorganization of commerce department first step forward in formulation of full employment policy by BAUKHAGE news analyst and commentator service 1616 1619 eye street NW washington D C the recent operating and organization program for the department of commerce created very little littie excitement in washington or elsewhere when it was released I 1 think it made page 15 of the new york times the times gave much more prominence recently to another document from the pen of henry agard wallace his new boak sixty million jobs of which I 1 shall speak later congress may slumber on the reorganization report for yet a little but when washington wakes to the real significance of this 10 page mimeographed document it will find between the lines much upon which to ponder maybe that is why it was double spaced to me this is a three in one instrument ment just as its author henry wallace revealed himself ai as a three in one personality when I 1 called on him just before the publication li of his program his first approach to the governmental limelight since the change in administration tra tion the report on what mr wallace in his capacity as secretary of commerce hopes will mean the revitalizing and expanding of his department envisions the metamorphosis of that somewhat turgid and impotent institution into a vigorous and human organization which will reach out and touch millions of individuals just as yie go governments merriments most virile department agriculture does secretary wallace said frankly at his bis press conference and also in more detail privately to me that he thought that the depart department ment of commerce should do for the business man big and little what the th department part ment of agriculture does for the farmer big bigand and little and it will if he has his way r active department Secre goal wipe out of your mind if you will that onetime one time problem child of the new deal the agricultural adjustment administration now weigh the testimony of observers including anti and I 1 think you will learn that as secretary of agriculture the author of sixty million jobs did a good job in revitalizing his department how much it will cost to do as much for commerce we get him to estimate but he finally told us that it would be less than one sixth of the cost of one days war at VE V E day by a series of calculations we arrived at the figure of 40 million dollars since the commerce department spent about million dollars last year mr wallaces changes would make a total cost for his revitalized department of million dollars those who cry economy will shudder at that figure but they will hear bear this answer if business big and little wants help similar to that which agriculture demands and gets it will cost something the department of at agriculture cost approximately 79 million dollars torun last year and the farmers want it to do less thre will also be another explanation of the figures which will attempt tempt tto to show that part of the ex pan sidn of the reorganized department is really contraction and that brings us to the second integer or of the three in one composition of mr wallaces plan the plan is more than a blueprint for changes in a single governmental institution it is definitely a part of president tru mans reorganization plan which it is fair to assume would bring back under the afe commerce rooftree the hord elof agencies and com commissions m fissions which have to do with industry and business and biow now we come to part three of the tri function of the wallace program it is by his own implication a part of his recipe for full employment included in his book sixty million jobs and mention of that brings me to an examination of mr wallace himself I 1 said that like the program of ke reorganization for his department mr wallace seemed tripartite nt to me when I 1 called upon him he came down the great cavernous room which herbert hoover planned for his successor and we sat in chairs about a little table that made a hos has bitable oasis in the midst of the desert vastness of high walls and lofty ceiling A presidential ghost emerges I 1 had really come to see henry wallace the author of six sixty t Y million jobs which had just been reported a best seller in two new york stores we discoursed at some length on that opus and gradually I 1 found myself also talking to henry wallace secretary of commerce tor for as I 1 suggested earlier many a strand from sixty million jobs may be discovered in the warp and woof of the department reorganization plan As the conversation moved from book to report and back to book again never getting far from the theme of full employment I 1 thought I 1 could make out an form arising from what had been up until then my two part author secretary host the third being although not yet completely mate realized zed little by little became translucently visible to the naked eye this party of the third part I 1 thought I 1 recognized as henry wallace presidential candidate or at least 1952 perhaps I 1 would not have believed my eyes if it had not been for a statement which a stout supporter of mr wallace had made to me sixty million jobs comes pretty near to being just about the best political platform the democratic party can run on in the next election in one place author wallace says there are a few of course who think that any government servant who uses the phrase full employment is engaged in some deep dark plot but they are the except exceptions ionE that prove the peoples sanity and soundness as a whole senator mcclellan might be con can one of the exceptions from his remarks in the debate on the full employment bill he said that thai the measure gays says a great dea and actually means nothing except to create an erroneous impression in in the minds of the people he latez described it as soft soap sixty million jobs draws commendations whatever the lawmakers think the reviewers certainly are full ol of praise for wallaces book the nevi nea york times calls it a thought ful and thought provoking discussion discus of american political economy ane ani the saturday review of literature agreeing with the times adds that more than an recent work or economics or politics it can serve as a moral testament and intel guide in the eventful dim cult days ahead the work appeared first in a busi ness letter sheet size with cover it followed in orthodox book boob form later the author hopes he h told me that it will be printed in a cheap pocket size edition when mr wallace said that I 1 thought I 1 caught his triplet nodding emphatic ap approval prova while ghostly lips formed the words for every voters pocket much water will pass beneath the th potomac bridges between now ane anc 1948 or 1952 we have with us at ai present a conservative congress ane anc the political veterans say that nc n matter which way the wind maj blow abroad it is blowing to th i right on capitol hill and they abc hopefully perhaps not too leftward left wart wari at the other end of Pennsyl pennsylvania Penn sylvani avenue secretary author candidate will wal laces full employment program re quires much more legislation that thai the full employment bill that is ii only the first step the expansion and reorientation orientation re of his and departments will be required ther there will be special taxation then will be at least the blueprinting blue printing a 0 public works there will have to bt b a settled policy providing for foreign loans the bretton woods program and other stimulants of world bradt and tourist traffic if a too conservative congress die not grant the minimum legislative implementation the sixty lillior jobs plan could not be carried out that however mr wallaces sup porters insist will simply make R 6 million people who want jobs plus their families vote for the tear anar who believes they can be produced |