AN ECONOMIC PEARL HARBOR?
An Economic Pearl Harbor? THE Roosevelt Administration's retreat to reaction has been one of the most melancholy political developments of our time. An Administration which launched a career of...
...The action of the House in rectifying its own mistake and that of the Senate underscores again the fact that intelligent and progressive action is far better assured by the pressure of enlightened public opinion than by any irresponsible fist-shaking from the White House...
...This retreat from progressivism shows up in its most depressing form in the failure of the Roosevelt Administration to face courageously the problems of reconversion...
...The dramatic case of the Brewster Aeronautical Corporation, where 11,000 workers demonstrated against a sudden cessation of Government orders and heart-breaking layoffs, is only one example of what has been happening as a result of our policy of...
...It is later than the Administration thinks...
...aimless drifting...
...The McKellar amendments which would have put the operations and personnel of TVA at the mercy of centralized political control were crushed under a 138 to 24 vote...
...All that the nation has had thus far from the Administration has been a "back-to-normalcy" plan formulated by a pair of Wall Street operators and turned over to an ex-Liberty Leaguer for administration...
...An Administration which launched a career of brilliant promise by taking a vow to banish the money-changers from the temple of government, and which rededi-cated itself four years afterward to a fight-to-the-finish against the economic royalists—this same Administration has opened wide the gates of government to the money-changers and the economic royalists...
...Roosevelt cannot safely "baby along" the monopolists in Washington much longer...
...The nation has had good cause to reflect in recent weeks over the alarming failure of the Administration—and Congress, too—to provide a sound, sensible, forward-looking program for the reconversion of some phases of industry to the production of civilian goods...
...It now goes back to conference committee to determine the length of time it will remain in force...
...7, 1941, and suffered the most humiliating military defeat of our history...
...The economic challenge may come just as suddenly...
...Roosevelt, according to his quasi-official biographers, told us how he planned to "baby along" the Japanese until we were ready to defend ourselves, but we were caught off-guard and unprepared on Dec...
...Heartening Victories HOUSE concurrence this week in the Senate bill to restore a $50,000,000 appropriation for the Federal school lunch program and the House's emphatic rejection of the vicious McKellar amendments to hamstring the Tennessee Valley Authority constitute two of the most notable victories for liberal forces in Congress in months...
...The overwhelming vote—113 to 23:—by which it passed the House leaves no doubt that agreement will be quickly reached...
...From many parts of the country come reports of large-scale dismissals from plants whose orders for military supplies have been drastically curtailed...
...The school lunch program, originally rejected by the House, was restored by the Senate...
...It is only too clear now that he is courting an economic Pearl Harbor whose consequences could be even more disastrous than its name-sake...
Vol. 8 • June 1944 • No. 24
