Review of Mr. Ralph Robey's Newsweek Article, "The Economics of Mr. Truman"

THE ECONOMICS OF MR. ROBEY Mr. Ralph Robey, in Newsweek of September 18, 1944, quotes the following passage from Senator Harry S. Tryman's Labor Day speech before the American Federation of Labor in Detroit: "We shall not, for the sake of price and profit, restrict our output of the good things of life. Then, placing his own far-fetched construction on ehat Mr. Truman said, Mr. Robey goes on to say: "Let's look at it in terms of tenderloin steaks. To most of us they are one of the good things of life. Then the sentence would read: 'We shall not, for the sake of price and profit, restrict the output of tenderloin steaks.' Wouldn't that be wonderful? The farmers and cattlemen presumably are to go right on raising cattle and providing us with tender loin steaks regardless of the price they get for them, or that is, regardless of whether the price is sufficient to cover the cost of pro- duction and leave a margin of profit.' The thought that Mr. Truman, of course, intended to convey was that the production of the good things of life should not be limited by monopolies or priced so high for the sake of unconsciable profits that they would be out of reach of the ordinary citizen. Mr. Robey has taken tenderloin steaks for his example but he ought to know that the Big Packers fix meat prices for their own profit and that thef prices are far above the prices farmers and cattlemen receive for their cattle. In fact, if the prices received by the producers were anywhere near the petail prices of ten- derloin steaks the farmers and cattlemen would be raising and not worshiping golden calves. KRUMAN is NARA