Fable of the Contrary Liberals and the GOP

...Krug's accomplishments...

...Imagine putting up a pushing juvenile and a bumbling windbag against one of the truly great men of our generation ami against that rarity among politicians, a decent and straightforward man...

...It seems to me that it isn't a bit smart to watch what the comrades do and then go and do the contrary...

...We will find that most of these threats are empty, but this does not make them any less dangerous,, for if we let them scare us out of our plans wa shall surely also lose our shirts...

...Full employment is easy...

...And that parade in the garment center on that celebrated rainy Saturday...

...Nobody would trust him with that...

...Yet if the logic of the liberal animadversions against Roosevelt is to be followed, we would be saddled with Dewey and Bricke...

...He is not a planner in the sense that he has some ideological attachment to planning as such...

...It is essy to bring it about and its basic principles, which are nothing but elementary commonsense, can be understood by anybody...

...JULIUS A. KRUG, known less formally as "Cap Krug," has been chairman of the War Production Board for three months now...

...With that taken care, of any other dangers, even if they are real, are of secondary importance...

...Lerntr...

...Thi* may seem to be nothing very much, depending on how you view Krug's acceptance of a policy tantamount to virtual dismantling of government controls...

...It gets pretty confusing sometimes...

...This in effect is playing right into the commissars' hands, for they would like nothing better than to lie able to claim full credit for Roosevelt's forthcoming victory...

...will still be good...

...That, too, was beautiful Red-Baiting...

...I'm going to give that team all the moral support I can, and will holler blue murder if the opposing team starts its usual eye-gouging, neck-throttling and knee bucking...

...These economic principles must be generally understood if we are to have intelligent social action and it to hoped that thin column will contribute significantly tttxurh general understanding...

...Whenever we hear that the country will "go bankrupt," or that we shall be mined by an unbalanced budget, or that our money will become worthless, or that we will be overwhelmed by national debt, we can bring the issue down to earth by asking: "Does this mean that there will be too little or too much spending...

...They will form a handy primer on tht way our economy works and on what we can and cannot do to make it work better...

...I Suppose there isn't one among the anti-Communist experts who doesn't think that the opposition to Roosevelt is a pretty terrible gang...

...Whether there is a job- for a man depends on whether the article he would produce can be sold st a satisfactory price.' What is considered a satisfactory price will be different in different forms of society, but in any modern society which tries to produce the kind of goods the public wants to buy, people will get jobs only to the extent thst their products can be sold...

...Krug ¦aid that before the Herald Tribune Forum Within this predetermined framewoik, Krug has done an intelligent and sound administrative job...

...Jobs and Dollars Full Employment...the First Lesson In Ihix scries of notes, Dr...

...If it does not mean too little spending jobs will be easy to get, and if it does not mean too much spending our money...

...The number of persons who can find jobs therefore depends on the rate at which money is being spent in buying the products of industry...

...If les* money is spent the opposite will happen and fewer workers will be employed...

...The volume of employment (the number of jobs) is thus directly connected with the rate of spending...

...Editor't Note: We suggest that readers clip and tavt these little economic essays by Dr...

...I've been wondering why it is that entirely sensible people take it for granted that they are the only ones whoa* Eyes Have Been Opened...

...Batchellcr has been recalled to the WI'H from his executive post in a large steel corporation which the labor people say lias a good labor record...

...But just remember, the wster boy isn't calling the signals, nor does he ever carry the ball...

...On the other hand if the rate of spending is greater than the ideal rate, the demand for goods will be greater than can ba supplied and prices will rise...

...If the rate of spending i* less than this w* will not have full employment, and the degree of unemployment will depend on the degree to which tha rata of spending falls short of the ideal rate...

...It anyone tries to tell us of terrible things that will happen if measures are taken to keep tha rata of spending at the right level, we do not have to get scared...

...If this were so we would really be in trouble, because until ordinary men like our Congressmen and Presidential aides understand the matter, the necessary steps to end unemployment cannot be taken...

...The mi'tiny in the ranks of the statistician came to a head with the resignation of two men: Bassie and Kaplan...

...WPB officials close to Krug size him up in this way...

...One thing is clear: hrug has not had a free hand in determining WI'H reconversion policy...

...Blaisdell has the complete support of his staff, which is something that Msy was never able to achieve...

...Yes, it's pretty tough to go all out for the team when you know down deep in your heart that one of the water boys if a Communist jerk who only a game ago sloshed slops all q*er the joint and called the quarterback a dirty, rotten imperialist...

...If more money is spent in any week or month the shopkeepers will find their shelves emptying and will give more orders to tne wnoiesaiers who win give more oruers to me manufacturer* who will need to employ more people to fill the increased orders...

...The trouble with tome of our contrary liberali is that they ttrain to desperately at a gnat that they are ready to swallow not atone a camel hut a u-hole herd of *lephantt...

...I have sufficient respect for the President's acumen to imagine that nobody ia kidding him about the Communists...

...Our firtt important conclusion it that if the total rate of spending on all goodt and tervictt it kept neither too low nor too high we can havt neither depression nor inflation...

...for the next four years...

...Stacy May, who was Director of Research and Statistics, has been replaced by Thomas Blaiadell, formerly of the National Resources Planning Board...

...Nelson claims the credit for having suggested Krug as his successor...

...The greatest obstacle here is the common feeling that it is a dangerous and difficult job—far too hard for the ordinary man to understand...

...Fable of the Contrary Liberals and the GOP By J. C. Rich WITH the campaign in it* finaland goofy three minute* of play, this unreconstructed radical and confirmed labor skate will startle the world by calling for a cheer for the home team from our own section...

...Madison Square Garden last Tuesday had the comrades swooning, and not because of Sinatra, but because it was jam-packed with voters whooping it up for Roosevelt, Truman, and Wagner, voters whom even Dewey's publicity sharks couldn't call Communists...

...His appointments have been generally good...

...Donald Davis, formerly vice chairmaa for field operations, has resigned and been replaced by Jamas A. Folger, who ii ssid to be a keen and effective administrator by people who have seen him in action...

...threw a picket line of Mothers tfirst around the White House...

...Considering that he came into office as the result of a bitter feud over reconversion between Donald Nelson, the former chairman, and Charles E. Wilson, the executive vice chairman, it is perhaps worthwhile to do a little stocktaking of Mr...

...And would they guarantee that the Communists wouldn't crawl into the woodwork again...

...Krug u a rare bird among top war agency administrators he is a career eivil servant...

...Difficult complications are often used to browbeat us until we are exasperated and lose confidence in our own commonsense, but we can leave these complications for later, dealing with the first basic principle today...

...As a Red-Baiter in good standing— I can produce testimonials from the Daily Worker and Frriheit — I'll be damned 'before I'll let them use me for a tail to their kite, ami that's whst snti-Communist liberals are doing when they oppose Roosevelt...

...Whether you think Krug has done a good job as WI'H chairman depends on what you eiperted of him...

...Ithtc.toller is replacing such a blow hard as Arlhui Bunker, a Lehman Bros, investment banker, in position of importance...

...Taking Stock on J. A. Krug By Bradford F. Carter Columnitt, Labor Prett Attociatet MR...

...We didn't support Roosevelt in 1940 merely because the Communists were opposed to him then, It's therefore silly to go sour on Roosevelt merely because the Communists have gone sticky sweet on him...

...Would it be a change for the better to get a host of Hitler lovers, union haters, grifters and grafters in Dewey's snd Brickner's wake...

...There is a Red-Baiter for you...

...In view of what we know of Krug's background and thinking, it ia an open question whether left to his own devices, he would have recommended such a drastic removal of controls...

...Previous to his war experience, Krug was an engineer for the TVA It is fair to say that Krug rose to a position of importance m the WI'B, even before he became chairman, because of demonstrated ability to do a competent operating job...

...Krug has also fell that because of his reputation as a New Dealer, which he is, he has to lean over back ward* to show a l< alt v to the free enterprise system somewhat more vigorously than would be required of, say, a dollar a-day man...

...For ¦jl we know, he's probably a Yale man out on the field there...

...Ililand (.J...

...Instead of retiring to his plush tower in the Ford Building and leaving the field clear to the Communists, he went out to the cloak and suit district and put over the biggest bang-up job of campaigning since the dsys of torchlight and red flare processions...

...This reflect* itself in such statements as "I am confident that we must place our main reliance for a speedy return to normal production upon individual initiative and enterprise...

...On balance, Krug ha* succeeded in eliminating cliques and internal bickering in the WPB...

...Certainly the Communists don't...

...I, DO hope that the clamor of Communism being dinned by the Republican pitchmen hasn't impressed the ex-'' perts on our side of the street...

...There will be full employment if the rate of spending is so great that all our available manpower is needed to fill the resulting orders...

...I'll bet he remembers ;is well as any of US that only yesterday the Browder Boys were calling him every name in the book and the Honorable the Vlto the Man hi.I.,1.1...

...This may seem too obvious, but it is the flrst basic principle of full employment and from it follow many fundamental conclusions that are easily missed...

...Rather, he has a singular capacity to size up situations and to make sound spot decisions, as particular problems develop...

...Hi* sphere of operations has been limited by the While House derision to drop practically all controls after victory in Kurope...

...Maybe we would thereby be rid of some of the Bolos as well as of the slightly enceinte virgins of the pink aersuasion who have been cluttering up Washington, but what would we get instead...

...The neatest trick of the campaign is the one that Dubinsky played on the Thirteenth Street comrades...

...He believes thst the bsair principles of economics rsn be understood by the man in the street if they are stripped of the jargon which often serves to make them sound mysterious instead of making them easier to understand...

...It makes me pretty sore to see him, but it's my team that's out there standing up to the bruisers, snd It's my game they'ra playing, and I've got a lot at stake on this game...

...In other words, wa will have inflation...

...It is not a novel campaign stratagem on their, part...

...FDR is as hep to all their antics and flip-flops as any disillusioned ex-('oin-munist, but h* probably thinks it's more important to keep his eyes on the ball than to pay attention to the party-liners...

...It's as natural for the Male Thai Man crowd to call Roosevelt a Communist as it is to call him a monarchist, and they've done both...

...And our sideline quarterbacks aren't satisfied with anything the team does, but keep hollering instructions and calling the players down every moment.of the play...

...l » • • » Nearly everybody agrees that our most important job after the war is the abolition of unemployment...

...The resignations were more a protest against May'* inept handling of the WI'B ststiitical function than they were a protest against Army attempt* to sUppresi information...

...Abba P. Lerner, (he Knglish economist, now on the (iraduate Faculty of the New School for Social Itesearrh, will discus* the key economic Issues of the day in non-terhniral Isngusge...

...The trouble with our crowd is that they're such pernickety purists that they cannot tolerate a speck of du.it on the eaptain'a uniform even when be is forced to tackle on a muddy field...