Capital Comment
STOUT, JONATHAN
Capital Comment By JONATHAN STOUT Battle of France Ends Battle of Reconversion Washington, d. a—The great Battle of the Petomac it ended—for the swift military advances have ¦aired the...
...This is the paradox of liberal politics—the politics of retreat...
...The war criminals must be punished...
...But this does not give a tree indication of the opposing forces at work...
...Totalitarian rule began in Russia, spread to Italy, to Spain, to Germany...
...And although the Republicans at* trying to make the Negro issue a football, enough 'OOP legislators will Join with the Southern Democrats ' u kill off any chances for a real FEPC...
...Today, however, Krug is the rallying ground of the liberal forces...
...The minute they have laid down their arms—no matter how much we despise them—one of our objects will be to keep them alive...
...Would Murphy have moved in any major affair without the detailed and explicit approval of the Administration t And yet the liberal press builds up an artificial distinction between Mr...
...Murphy haa been a faithful messenger of Mr...
...The battle, in the main, has been pictured as a fight between small business and big business, between free eearpetitien end monopoly...
...See I. F. Stone's dispatches to The Nation...
...Under these conditions self-help should revive quickly, and whatever supplies are sent In by UNRRA will be thankfully received...
...However, the chief issue raised was the amount of unemp'oyment compensation, a valid issue in itself, but sn evasion of the chief issue...
...The whole task will be longer, tougBer, more complicated than it has been in Italy...
...Murphy and Mr...
...But no matter how eager their desire for improvement, they all crave stability...
...The conflict, actually, was between war contractors and non-war contractors, between Arms with huge war orders and Arms that had completed the war orders...
...War construction would be reduced even more than that, he said...
...But *f industry cannot take up the slack, then will come to* first teat of the government's policy of relaxing controls...
...Murphy haa keen . assailed aa an appeaaer, the man who engineered the Darlan deal, etc...
...At that time, the Army will make wholesale cutbacks which will bare the effect of starting off all industry on an even basis...
...Will Civilians Lose What Soldiers Win...
...Right now our main purpose Is to kill Germans...
...Dictatorship was the result of want and of the confusion which is bred by want...
...The minute the Nazi v troops are destroyed or beaten, our effort must be bent toward creating these conditions...
...Krug's policy won out and tits power facilities were not extended as much as the liberal elements claimed was necessary...
...Stable and democratic government depends upon a tolerable physical existence...
...We cannot have anything decent or durable Jn Europe unless people have food, shelter and a feeling of security...
...These plans are now being pigeon-holded...
...We did not in this ease have the problem of enemy status U bedevil us...
...Now that the smoke ef kettle ha» eleared—with the only casualties, some reputations and aomt tone of newiprint carted away— the observer can gain a perspective...
...These corporations without war orders—mostly smaller businesses—wanted a go-ahead signal on resuming civilian production, a step which would have placed them a jump ahead of their competitors...
...In France, apparently, we are doing better...
...Certainly if Murphy had been a faithless messenger would he have been named to this important poet...
...They are now in a highly Auid state...
...The basic issue for the liberals should have been the retention of all expanded war plants under government ownership so that productive facilities shall not be "plowed under...
...Our spearheads have entered Holland and made experimental thrusts into Germany...
...These attacks (were inspired by Harold Iekes of the Interior Department and Leland Olds of the Federal Power Commission, both of whom claimed that Krug was resisting the expansion of power facilities and thua aiding the "business-as-usual" boys...
...Nearly every responsible observer expects the *er in Germany to be over within six weeks...
...Within a few months the great population of the Reich itself will be on our hands...
...Bat now the shooting on the Rhine has stopped the •hooting on the banks of the Potomac...
...And again, while on the subject of paradoxes, have the liberals who now call for a "hard peace" with Germany objected to the resurrection of the Wehrmacht in Russia via the Union of German Officers, or the use of hoary Junkers such as Marshal von Paulus, or various SS leaders and concentration camp chiefs who grace the commanding staff of the Moscow Committee T And again...
...The Paradox of Liberal Politics The recent appointment of J. A. "Cap" Krug as acting head of the War Production Board haa brought ami hoeannahs from the liberal press, especially P*f...
...But our chief administrative headache will be Germany...
...They point out that • statutory government agency on diaerimination, with sewers similar to the National Labor RelaUont Aet, it necessary to prevent thia disaster...
...There was, too, a strong and well-organised underground movement capable of stepping in quickly to maintain order...
...They must be treated so the notions of repeating their crimes will be driven out of their heads...
...Unless our regime gives us in some reasonably near future a population conditioned so that it can achieve a satisfactory existence In democratic ways, we ahall hare in this key territory either Communist dictatorship or a new form of fascism...
...And while on the subject of paradoxes, we might take a look at the current campaign regarding Robert Murphy, who was assigned to Eisenhower as the special advisor on the German problem...
...Stacy Hay, director of the WPB Bureau of Planning Statistics, said that ground Army needs would be reduced about 60 per cent for the year under the over-all Cutback of about 40 per cent in munitions production •t fall of Germany...
...Whatever theory we hold about conquest, disarmament,- reeducation, reorganisation— we can do nothing with 66,000,000 persons unless they are fed, unless they are organized, In our main policies we must be controlled, not by hates stemming from the past, but by hopes aimed at the future...
...But—taking all this for granted—Europe cannot be decent and steady with 66,000,000 hungry and discontented people at ita heart...
...The large Arms, particularly the Big Three in auto, fought hard for a plan which would hold back all civilian production until every Arm had an even start...
...Along the same line, the Kilgore-George light is a similar index...
...In view of the mounting task which faces us as we cross the German borders, our failure in Italy sounds a sharp warning...
...Various witnesses nave testified that if industry follows the policy of the 'ast war of firing Negroes first and downgrading Negro skilled workers there will be • series of explosions all over the country...
...The Senate Education and Labor Committee has been holding hearings on a bill to create a permanent Fair Employment Practices Committee...
...Roosevelt...
...We are driving the Germans out of the country, but numerous authentic reports testify to the mounting deathrate which results from hunger...
...We have, too, the advantagt of an established government which was able to mors in from Algeria and take over...
...Not that the European nations will be satisAed with a restoration of prewar conditions...
...Capital Comment By JONATHAN STOUT Battle of France Ends Battle of Reconversion Washington, d. a—The great Battle of the Petomac it ended—for the swift military advances have ¦aired the reconversion problem...
...Nelson had laid down plans for resumption of some production for the home front, and WPB investigators were in the Aeld making surreys...
...and in more than one nation they are bent on achieving a higher degree of democracy and of physical well-being...
...The drop in government spending will bring about the ¦rst wave of "transient unemployment," the technical mrm for those men who—Washington hopes—will be Unemployed only until industry Anishes its retooling...
...The Army, which is distinctly not interested in c i v i I i s n production, becked up the big war contractors...
...By throwing responsibility for government on the French them-* selves, we are able to sidestep Mame for the evils thai flow from war and destruction...
...France is a liberated ally and as such becomes the charge of the United Nations Relief and llehabih tation Administration...
...Roosevelt and the White House...
...There would also be a 20 per cent cutback in aircraft Production, 20 per cent in naval vessels, and over 60 per •ant in the Maritime Commission program...
...The evil which we have fought at infinite cost through years of blood and tears arose out of political and economic failure, out of the want and confusion which resulted from social breakdown...
...But logic never pes over toe well in Washington—not when it has to .aateod with polities...
...These reductions, he went on, would bring the cost of war production from $70,000,000,000 down to about 1*0,000,000,000...
...And failure will be far more costly...
...In every case the dictator was able to seize power because the political authorities were unable to satisfy elementary human needs...
...It was, however, only slightly more than a year ago that the same J. A. Krug was charged with heme the front for the "power lobby," and was the target of widespread attacks in the same liberal press...
...It is an index how far over the tug-of war has moved...
...The situation will, presumably, be similar in Belgium and Holland...
...s^S our armies advance, military tasks are exchanged for administrative problems...
...We shall be carrying on a race between education and a new political debacle...
...Acting Chairman Krug this week declared: "I sm quite sure the Army is not going to cut back half the competitors and try to hang on to the other half...
...The appointment was hailed as a victory for liberalism sad a defeat for the big business and army elements la WPB...
...Within a few weeks Prance and Belgium have been added to the liberated territories...
...If the sacrifices of our fighting men are not to be in vain, the slashing military victory must be followed up by comparable achievements in the Aeld of political organization and civil administration...
...We are now on the road back to democratic institutions, to order, to freedom...
...The German people must learn what war means...
...But in every single caae, Mr...
...well, that's enough for now...
Vol. 27 • September 1944 • No. 37
