ON THE RECORD

In Key West last week, Harry Truman told reporters that much of his program would be based on his Sept. 6, 1945 message to Congress. Actually, a good part of that message had to do with problems of postwar reconversion. But the relevant points of the message, plus his messages to Congress in 1947 and 1948, plus the Democratic Party's 1948 platform (he helped write it, he said), plus his campaign speeches, provide an up-to-date view of Mr. Truman's ideas which, if he is as consistent in the future as he has been in the past, he will recommend:

Foreign Relations. Continuation of the bipartisan policy; renewal of reciprocal-trade treaties; further liberalization of the Displaced Persons Act to admit 200,000 more D.P.s; full support of a free Israel.

National Defense. A 70-group Air Force; Universal Military Training: continued development of atomic power under civilian control.

The Economy. Stand-by power to clamp on price controls, allocation and rationing of scarce materials; stronger rent controls; strong federal support of farm prices; ratification of an agreement which would guarantee U.S. farmers an export market of 185 million bushels of wheat a year for the next five years; government construction of more grain bins; crop insurance: a broad program of soil conservation, rural electrification, reclamation; development of more TVAs.

Labor. Minimum wage of 75-c- an hour (now 40-c-); restoration to the Labor Department of all the authority taken away from it by the 80th Congress; repeal of the Taft-Hartley law and a return to the more pro-labor pattern of the Wagner Act; government action to maintain "full employment" with a goal of 64 million employed by 1958; more generous unemployment compensation.

Social Welfare. Broadening of social security to cover 20 million U.S. farm workers, houseworkers, etc., not covered now; an increase of 50% in all social security benefit payments; a national health program to insure medical aid for everyone; $300 million in federal aid to raise the incomes of schoolteachers and provide more schools; a slum-clearance program; a low-rent housing program to put up 15 million units in the next ten years.

Civil Rights. A federal anti-lynching law; repeal of the poll tax in the seven states which still have it; a law against segregation and discrimination in interstate transportation; a permanent federal Fair Employment Practice Commission to see that there is no discrimination in jobs.

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