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Show Dark Spectre of Inflation Rises to Haunt Congress Strenuous Nail -Biting Marks Senators, Representatives Worried Over Much Debated Subsidy Question. By BAUKHAGE Newt Analyst and Commentator. f V I ' i WNU Service, Union Trust Bulldlne, . Washington, D. C. Unless I miss my guess badly, as thee lines appear In print, a number num-ber of senators and representatives will be going through one of the most nervous nail-biting periods they have ever experienced. When the antisubsidy bill passed the house with such an overwhelming overwhelm-ing majority enough, if the vote held, to pass it over the President's veto a lot of congressmen were beginning be-ginning to worry. They were wondering: won-dering: If the measure really does become law, will the ghost which the President has conjured up really walk? Inflation is that ghost. Nobody wants Inflation. Memories are long enough to remember re-member how short the long green ' shrank after the last war. Suppose there came to pass what all the highbrows high-brows and the low-brows were predicting pre-dicting would, that if you lifted the lid just a 1-e-e-t-l-e, It might blow off, members of congress had begun to ask themselves. The memory of the boys selling apples, the memory of mortgages foreclosing, the memory of "Mister, have-you-got-a-dime?" began to stir in many a dormant corner. people. As the Allies march nearer to victory, the restraints of regular tion and regimentation chafe more and more. But down deep in the hearts of many a lawmaker today is the realization reali-zation that whether the administration administra-tion has been right or wrong in the way it has done things, it was right when it said that inflation had to be avoided. And that is why today, unless I miss my guess, or unless some Daniel Dan-iel comes to judgment who can discover dis-cover a better salve than subsidies, the administration will win, at least a partial victory, in the battle which will be staged in the days just ahead. Railroads Plan For Future Traffic There is one thing we are all interested in-terested in. Getting from where we are to somewhere else and getting back again. Naturally, we want to do it as cheaply as possible. Today in Washington Wash-ington there is going on the preparation prepara-tion for one of the greatest transportation transpor-tation battles in history. The airlines air-lines believe that the war has virtually virtu-ally made the skies their garden. All they have to do is to spade it. When Strange Phenomenon It was a strange but not an unaccustomed un-accustomed phenomenon. The phenomenon phe-nomenon of the congressman torn between what the particular group which dominated his constituency wanted and what he felt honestly and sincerely was the best thing for them in the long run. That doubt began to stir. It was an interesting thing to pass through the halls of the Capitol and of the House and Senate Office buildings and talk to these men. You could almost see the spectre rising behind them. The spectre of inflation pointing its finger fin-ger at them. Whenever you run into someone whose business it is to feel the pulse of congress, you get the same reaction reac-tion I have just pictured. Members of congress are worried. They don't want to be blamed for inflation. And that is why now, at this moment, mo-ment, when the fate of the Commodity Commod-ity Credit corporation (which nearly everybody wants) would seem to be sealed by the triumph of the anti-subsidy anti-subsidy provision, such fate may not be so certain. When this subsidy fight started, I wrote in this column that the administration ad-ministration realized it had one of the hardest fights it ever had ahead. That there seemed to be absolutely no compromise in sight. The other day, a man, wise in the ways of congress and beholden to no party and, so far as I know in the years I have known him, never nev-er a proponent of any measure (his business is to be neutral), said to me: "Wait and see, somebody like Senator Taft will come out with a. compromise." Well, I have waited and perhaps by the time you read this you will also have read that somebody "like Senator Taft" has produced the compromise. If not, the administration's so-called so-called "hold the line" policy will bite the dust. See how the congress has struck at almost every brick in that wall. Treasury Department The treasury said: you must tax the spending money out of the pockets pock-ets or you'll have inflation. The congress con-gress passed a tax bill that would raise about a fifth of what the administration ad-ministration said was necessary. This disregard of treasury's advice was due only in part to a lack of respect for Secretary Morgenthau's tax theories. And everybody blames the President for that. He doesn't have to keep Morgenthau in his cabinet, cab-inet, even if he was a good neighbor up there on the Hudson. But congress con-gress wouldn't have taken anyone's advice on that subject. The congress threatened to stop the appropriation and authorization for the Office of Price Administration. Administra-tion. It managed to consider bills to take away OPA's powers, bit by bit, to maintain the ceiling on coal and on oil. These are just a few of the many efforts to shake loose the war restraints. re-straints. Congress has reflected, honestly enough, the feeling of the peace comes, and the various restrictions re-strictions are lifted, the people will spread their wings and fly. The other day, the executives of the leading railways got together. They thought and thought And this is what came out of the hopper: (1) Reductions in passenger fares, both coach and Pullman, immediately immedi-ately following the war. "We shall have to reduce rates after the war and do it quickly and thoroughly," one executive said. "Any dawdling and hemming and hawing will only result in our emptying empty-ing our trains again and in the loss of the highly desirable -public relations rela-tions and advertising value that an immediate and voluntary slash would bring." (2) Widespread introduction of lightweight, streamlined coaches and Pullmans, with old cars being scrapped forever. . (3) Greater use of modern merchandising mer-chandising techniques, including larger appropriations for institutional institution-al and product advertising. (4) Greater consideration to the comfort and convenience of the passenger, pas-senger, described frankly as a radical rad-ical departure by one executive. Passenger's Interest "The railways have been too prone to subject the passenger's interest in-terest to the whims of mechanical and operating offices and to the requirements re-quirements of mail and express schedules," he commented. (5) Simplification of rate structures struc-tures by establishing a common base rate for the whole country, and simplification sim-plification of accounting methods. (6) Restrictive union rules which will nullify, as airlines grow larger, much of their prewar personalized service sales appeal. "So long as there were only about 350 passenger-carrying planes in the country, carrying about 20 passengers passen-gers each, the personalized service created a tremendous sales appeal. When the airways go after mass passenger traffic, they will find this type of selling impossible," said another an-other executive. (7) Restoration of passenger service serv-ice at many points. "We have denuded our railway of passenger service at many points and we are thoroughly ashamed of having done so," one official said. (8) Greater comfort and better service on all carriers from local all-coach trains to the extra fare trains. (9) Speeding iip of passenger schedules by such means as continuing con-tinuing to take out curves, reducing stops, and improving "head-end operations" op-erations" (mail and express loading load-ing and unloading). After that pronouncement, the railway executives stepped forth and announced in stentorian tones that they were not afraid of competition from the skyways. "Fine." says the humble traveler, "we don't care whether it's airways or railways, so long as we get where we want to go and get back, economically eco-nomically and comfortably." We will. |
