CONSIDERATION of the postwar economy is almost as vital today as the urgency of speeding the war effort was after Pearl Harbor. There are reports out of Washington that the President is scanning the field for an economic czar or a board to guide affairs in the reconstruction period. This is a job for American business; only the best and most practical brains of the nation should be considered for this stupendous task.
Of all wars in history, the successful pursuit of World War II should be credited in a large measure to American industry. Without the ingenuity and productive ability of industry, the best trained armed forces ever created would have been pulverized by the mechanized juggernaut which the Axis powers planned and built up over a 20-year period. For several years before our declaration of war on the Axis, American machine tools were already being shipped by the thousands to the free nations of Europe. Without this aid, we wonder what the European picture would look like today.
Before the war, we did not have a unity of opinion regarding our entry into the conflict. Today, men in all positions agree that American leadership is essential in settling the world’s postwar problems. We think they also agree that our internal problems must be steered by the American business man. Keep the long-haired theorists to their studies. There is sufficient business leadership in this country to cope with the tremendous task of steering the readjustment of our own economy, if not that of the world. There must be complete co-operation between business, government, and labor.
Every business, labor or civic organization should lend its best thought in this direction because out of this effort private enterprise and the American Way will rise or fall.
