The Senator Rests

Robert A. Taft and the townspeople of Ottawa, Ohio (pop. 2,400) had a date to meet one night this week in the county courthouse. It was something of a special occasion--Ottawa was the last stop on the Senator's 100-day politicking tour of his home state. Election day was still nearly a year away, but Taft was taking no chances, knowing that organized labor planned to spend millions in an effort to oust him from the U.S. Senate. Toting a spare suit and a few extra shirts and socks, the Senator had traveled through 75 of Ohio's 88 counties. He had delivered more than 300 speeches to more than 200,000 persons, laid down his fight against the Democrats' Fair Deal, and shaken thousands of voters' hands.

"I think it accomplished just what I set out to do," said Republican Taft last week in sum-up. "Rather better than I thought. My general impression is that the people who are thinking at all are overwhelmingly on the conservative side. I talked with a lot of workmen and many of them don't have views one way or the other. Certainly they are not concerned about the Taft-Hartley law . . . There is no grass-roots objection, it all comes from the top." After one meeting, Taft remarked: "I guess they don't hate me as much as they're supposed to."

Whether they liked his views or not, voters could tell where Taft stood:

The Fair Deal: It would add $20 billion to the U.S. budget. "The Government would tell everyone when to work, what to do and when to sleep . . . It would lead to totalitarianism and a labor-socialist Government . . ."

Taxes: "We have reached the point where taxes cannot be increased."

Foreign Policy: Foreign aid should be sliced from $7 billion to $1 billion or $2 billion a year; Marshall Plan aid must stop in 1952. "Our money would be better spent on our Air Force and air defenses than in building up countries that can't possibly stand against Russia."

Aid to Farmers: "The Brannan plan is a fraud on its face because it seeks to guarantee high prices to the farmer as well as the price the consumer would be willing to pay, with the difference being met by the taxpayer. It is a fraud because the farmer and the consumer are the taxpayers."

Pensions: To pay $100 a month to everybody over 65 would cost $12 billion a year, and raise the question "whether our economy can stand that tremendous burden without deterring industry as well as the worker." He wanted a basic Government study of pension plans.

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