Memo v. Memory

Franklin Roosevelt was in a jubilant mood as he received reporters for his press conference one day last week. Chuckling as he read from a memorandum written by Economic Adviser Lauchlin Currie-occasionally remarking: "The Republicans will have a hard time answering that one." "This will come as quite a shock to some people"--he listed several highly mathematical reasons why the U. S. is not going broke. He repeated one of them three times, not from the memo but from memory. As unanimously reported by the correspondents present it ran: From 1932 to 1939, decreases in State, county and local debts were enough to offset increases in Federal debt.

Next day Candidate Thomas Dewey claimed he had turned up a whopping error in the President's figures. Quoting New Deal scripture (an AAA study), he showed that, while State, county and local debts had fallen only $130 millions, Federal debt had increased some $21 billions. And even if the President had included the big drop in private indebtedness, said Mr. Dewey, he would still be making an error of $9 billions.

The President's retort : As for those $9 billions, the AAA report had been mis taken, had made certain duplications.

Counting in private indebtedness, losses and gains canceled out. Of course, he had meant to include private indebtedness. If papers had not made that clear, it was the reporters' fault. Mr. Currie's memo proved it. Remembering how the President had wandered from the memo, the reporters thought but did not say: "That's right, you're wrong."

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