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MONDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1943.
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THE CRITICAL DAYS
The principal threat to a sweeping upsurge of pri
vate enterprise after the war, as George W. Wolf,
president of United States Steel Export Company
sees it “is the possible retention by government of war
time controls over industry . . . Freedom for business
from unnecessary government controls is therefore a
postwar ‘must’, ranking in importance with the other
freedoms for which we are fighting.”
Is it possible the day or six months after the war
ends, that the federal government will relax its ration
ing controls, its priority system over materials, its
ppice ceilings, its labor “freezes”, its wage stabiliza
tion measures and all the other paraphernalia of the
war effort at home? It has been argued, for example,
that the wear and tear on capital equipment has been
so great through the war production years, the output
of peacetime consumers’ goods so slow' in starting, the
inflationary pressures so great, that only the strictest
form of rationing, materials control and price and wage
stabilization measures can cope with the situation.
That has been the argument presented by eminent
economists, notably people like David McC. Wright of
Harvard and William D. Fellner, of the University of
California. , "
This, of course, falls in with the administration’s
own policy of retainng controls over virtually every
form of endeavor. It is the sort of setup which plan
ners prefer, for w'ith strings tied to every element of
the American economy, they can guide the trends as
they wish. Therein lies the great danger, and business
executives who have pondered the problems of post
war employment, production and markets should not
^overlook the transition period—w'hich will be critical.
Our experience after World War I was such as not
to warrant repetition. Returning soldiers found few
jobs open to them, prices of agricultural commodities
soared, and inflation was the order of the day until the
slump in the early 1920’s. This time, whth our war
production many times vaster than in the 1916-18, the
adjustment if undirected would be infinitely harder,
and the immediate confusion and ultimate slump would
be much worse.
The question boils down to the problem of direction:
who will guide and control the post-war adjustment?
With an administration in Washington that would be
more concerned with the health of private enterprise
than is the present government, one might feel some
what reassured that the federal controls were not be
ing twisted for some sinister purpose. Without that
assurance, business can only put its trust in Congress,
but it must examine the problem extensively before
hand in order to determine the minimal regulations
necessary to carry the country through the transition
period, so as to advise Congress. In the last analysis.
JAM SESSION of a EUE-Cunen.
executives will have to be the salvation of the country,
but to wait until the last moment to decide upon a pro
gram, would be foolhardy. The time to do that is now.
(Chicago Journal of Commerce). ,
A BUSINESSMAN SPEAKS
; We see by the reports from Washington that the
war has imposed an obligation and responsibility upon
the entire American industry to produce the imple
ments essential for fighting and winning the war, and |
in a very large measure to equip our allies throughout
the world in order that they may continue in the role
of allies until complete victory has been won, and peace
has been achieved.
The economic system of America has wholeheartedly
assumed these obligations and responsibilities, as im
posed upon it by the Federal government in its all
out war effort.
i
When the smoke of war has blown away with the
advent of peace, business and free enterprise, will be
required to absorb the manpower of our armed forces
into such employment as is desired by them, in order
to maintain an economically sound peacetime era of!
prosperity.
But. the thinking businessman of today, in view of
the reconversion problem, from war to civilian produc
tion will be face to face with a very critical question:
which system shall prevail—Economic State Socialism
or Free Enterprise?
Propaganda
Aided y
U. S. Mistakes
By JACK STINNET
WASHINGTON — In spite of
the fact that Japanese propa
ganda povides a lot of snickers'
(boys back from the Pacific tell
me that they listen constantly to
the Nip radio for first the good
American dance band music, but
secondly for the laughs they get
out of Ja<p efforts to discourage
or frighten them) the Adminis
tration had to make two major i
moves recently to block it.
In the first instance the Jap!
beat us to the draw and badly.
No sooner had President Roose
velt asked Congress to give him
the right to establish Philippine
independence the moment the
time is ripe instead of waiting
for 1946, than Toyko announced
the immediate independence of
the Philippines.
That is a laugh, but dont think
it isn’t an effective propaganda
weapon. By merely relaxing some
military regulations over the
Philippme civilian population
and toss.ng the ball to puppet
leaders, they can create a semb
lance of independence that might
leave many civilians there with
little heart for seeing their is
lands a battleground.
• * •
The second move to cut out a
Jap propaganda cancer came
when, with Administration urg
ing, the House Rules Committee
cleared the way for a vote on the
Magnuson bill, which would re
peal the Chinese exclusion act.
No single move by our govern
ment or statute on our books has
provided the Japanese with such
an effective propaganda weapon
as the act by which the Chinese,
out of all peoples in the world,
are forbidden entry to these
shores and of course denied the
nght of naturalized citizenship.
Both editorially here and
among supporters of the Magnu
son bill on the hill, the Chinese
exclusion act has been deplored
as one of the most antiquated and
unfair laws on the books. Its in
ception was. perhaps, almost a
humanitarian measure, for it
came when western employers
were importing Chinese coolies
by the boat load. They were vir
tually slave labor and in some
sections so upset wage scales as
to reduce Amerance labor to
pauperism.
Those were the lush days of
immigration. Immigration quotas
have been shaved and shaved un
til today, if the Magnuson bill
passes, as most observers are pos
itive it will, the Chinese under
present quotas could enter only
at the rate of 105 a year.
* > *
In view of this and of the dam
age the act has done in our re
lations with our ally, it is diffi
cut to see how there could be
strong objection to its repeal.
Two amendments to the Mag
nuson bill that are almost certain
to come to a vote are those which
would (1) cut all immigration
quotas in one-half for 10 years;
and (2) offered by Representative
Martin Dies of Tegas, suspend all
immigration for the duration.
Whether either would provide
the Japs with an alternative pro
paganda weapon is hard to say,
but propagandists here are de
ploring the fact that any amend
ment has to be considered along
with outright repeal of the
Chinese exclusion act.
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