REACTION IN CONGRESS

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25345, 19 November 1947, Page 6

REACTION IN CONGRESS

Approval For Aid To Europe DOMESTIC PLAN CRITICISED (Rec. 11.30.) WASHINGTON, Nov. 17. President Truman’s drastic plan to curb prices appears to be heading for rough treatment by the Re-publican-controlled Congress. There was, however, general sympathy with his plea for emergency aid for Europe. Republicans and Democrats are generally agreed that interim Hid is not only necessary but Urgent. The United Press says: “The first Republican reaction was one of surprise and anger at the unexpectedly broad powers sought by President Truman. Cries of ‘polities’ rang out almost as soon as the President finished speaking. Even some Democrats predicted that the proposals would soon run into trouble.” The United Press adds: “The House Republican leader, Mr Charles Halleck (Indiana), declared that the President was trying to get Congress to correct the Administration’s ‘bungling, mismanagement, maladministration, and bad governmental policy.’ “The Republican national chairman (Mr Carroll Reece) said that Mr Truman was ‘hopelessly bewildered’ and was trying to establish the very police state that he denounced so emphatically last month. “The Republicans held a series of locked-door meetings soon after the President spoke. There are strong indications that the Republicans may try to draft a counter programme of their own to cope with a further threat of domestic inflation.”

Enactment Thought Unlikely The Speaker of the House* of Representatives (Mr Joseph Martin) after conferring with' leading Republicans in the House, said that the President’s economic control programme had little chance of -enactment at the special session. He added that the President “should have known he could not get measures so controversial and of such magnitude enacted in the space .of time between now and the regular session in January.” Typical comments on Mr Truman’s control proposals were:— Senator John Sparkman (Democratic. Alabama): A courageous and positive programme. It left the problem right in the lap of Congress. Senator Eugene Millikin (Republican, Colorado): I am sorry the President did not propose a reduction in Government spending equal to his foreign aid expenditure. Senator Robert Taft, a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, said that Mr Truman’s proposals were “a step toward a completely totalitarian nation.” Senator Taft contended that a return to Government control would leave the nation with no surpluses for the foreign aid programme.

“liie way to hold prices down is for the Government to spend less money, reduce taxes, limit exports, control the growth of private credit, and hold the Marshall plan within a reasonable figure,” he said. Senator Taft added that of about 20,000,000,000 dollars’ worth of exports in 1947, only about 40 per cent, went to Europe. Surely, he said, the United States should ration the rest of the World on steel, grain, and oil before even considering rationing its own people. Newspaper Comment The “New York Times,” in a leading article on the President’s economic programme, says: “It is to be hoped we will be spared the anguished cries of those who raise the spectre of totalitarianism whenever., a Government attempts to attack an emergency with an emergency. The Presidents address was by almost any test a genuinely commendable effort.” The “New York Herald Tribune” says: “Mr Truman’s programme was bold in concept, but was presented with damaging caution and was inadequate in its approach. It is undoubtedly a moderate and even the minimum programme for any real attack on inflation. If it is not applied with vigour it will largely be useless. The nation has reached a point of crisis at which skill and courage are better arms than cautious ineptitude. There is no turning back from the difficulties surrounding us, and no room for petty politics in meeting them.” Mr Truman’s address caused barely a flutter on Wall Street. Trading was sluggish all morning, but after Mr Truman’s message there was a slight rally. Leading commodity markets showed a firmer trend after Mr Truman’s message. Wheat soared on short covering, and. cotton futures rose sharply.