Growing Issue

On a four-day airborne invasion of Texas, the Dakotas and Missouri, winding up last week in St. Louis, Vice President Richard Nixon flashed a preview of the intensive, fast-paced campaign he plans to undertake in mid-September. It was a strenuous sample: 18 speeches in six cities, mercilessly crowded schedules, jostling crowds, exploding flashbulbs, endless lines of hands to be shaken. In Minot, N, Dak., trapped on an auditorium stage, he even bowed gracefully to that inescapable insigne of presidential candidates, an Indian war bonnet. Seasoned Campaigner Nixon liked what he heard and saw. The crowds were bigger and more enthusiastic than he expected, bolstering his hopes for carrying Texas in November (against any Democrat except Texas' own Lyndon Johnson) and the Midwest farm states despite farmer discontent. In Fargo, N. Dak., upward of 3,000 cheering, placard-waving Dakotans greeted him at the airport--and, incidentally, jammed up the departure of Democrat Jack Kennedy, in town to lend a hand in the special senatorial election (he was greeted by 200). Nixon found another crowd, complete with brass band and Fourth of July sparklers, awaiting him in front of his hotel. He grabbed a sparkler, used it to conduct a few bars. Wrote New York Daily News Reporter Frank Holeman, after covering the four-state swing: "If you are making any bets on the national elections this fall, here's a friendly little tip: don't be a sucker. Don't give long odds against Nixon."

The Magic Figure. In St. Louis, in a speech to a Junior Chamber of Commerce convention, Nixon took an outspoken stand on a major campaign issue, the "growth" debate. A report by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund set the growth issue fluttering in the political winds in 1958 by urging that the U.S. adopt as a national goal an economic growth rate of 5% a year--as against the average 3% a year over the past half-century, and the roughly 4% a year that economists estimate for the 1960s. Nelson Rockefeller still stands foursquare on a need for a forced growth rate of at least 5%. Democrats have picked up the Rockefeller figure, charged that the Eisenhower Administration's anti-inflation policies have caused economic "stagnation," and made "growth" their No. 1 domestic issue.

Arguing about economic growth rates, said Nixon, "is rapidly becoming the most fashionable political parlor game of our time--a game we might call 'growthman-ship.' " But the real question is "not one of ends but of means. Everybody is for growth. The issue is how can we best achieve it."

In Nixon's view "the growthmanship school" 1) "argues that the Government should plan and manipulate the economy to arrive at an arbitrary, fixed percentage rate of growth"; 2) believes that any kind of Government activity directed toward this objective is good--including inflation if necessary; and 3) "has greater faith in Government action than in private enterprise as a creative force in insuring economic progress." Asked Nixon: "What sort of society are they proposing?" The way to achieve maximum growth in America, he countered, is not by increasing the size and cost of Government but by: P: Expanding the "opportunities for investment and creative productivity for millions of free Americans." P: Avoiding interference in "the private sector of our economy." P: Pursuing a "sound fiscal policy" to forestall inflation. P: Combating "abuses of economic power by management or labor."

Public Sector. Having made it clear that he was against forcing growth just to meet some arbitrary figure, Nixon made a deep bow to the advocates of more Government spending. "If we are to grow at a maximum rate in America," he said, "we must recognize the continuing need for investment in the public sector--in our public education establishment, in our national transportation system, in the renewal of our run-down urban areas, in the development of our natural and human resources . . . But among our other objectives are freedom and security . . . What best promotes freedom best promotes growth. What best promotes growth best promotes security."

For a man who intends to save his major campaigning until mid-September, Nixon had got off to quite a start. He had shown restless Republicans his crowd appeal and answered critics who had challenged him to speak out on basic issues.

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