Harris Sees Republican Victory as Resentment for Reins on Business

Viewing the Republican election victory as reflecting "for the most part" natural public resentment toward government controls during a period of peak business activity, and a desire to change an administration so long in power, Seymour E. Harris, professor of Economic, yesterday predicted a "general economic recession during the next year and a serious depression in anywhere from two to four years." The depression, he claimed, would come during a period of Republican control, and the people will demand government action and receive it.

"People will only stand for controls when things aren't going well," Professor Harris said. "In addition, this election reflects a general dissatisfaction with the treatment of post-war economic problems by the Administration. The American public, however, is certainly not fed up with planning for good. If the Republicans win in 1948, and if we have another serious depression in the early 1950's we'll have another period of planning--in fact the largest ever on a peace-time scale."

Analogy With 1932

Sumner H. Slichter, Lamont University Professor and a prime mover in the Committee for Economic Development, drew an analogy between the Democratic success in 1932 and the GOP sweep on Tuesday. "Every party has its blind spots," he explained. "One of the things which contributed most to the rejection of Hoover in 1933 was that he couldn't visualize adequately the problems of the unemployed and was very slow in getting the Government to help with relief. Now the Democrats have been in office long enough to get into some ruts--to develop some blind spots. One big blind spot of the Democrats has been their inability to understand the problems of business or to appreciate the importance of those problems to the community."

In an analysis of the Fulbright plan, calling for President Truman's resignation and a placing of the country in GOP hands, William Yandell Elliott, professor of Government, said, "It makes a good deal of sense. We cannot afford a government that is deadlocked in this crucial time of world history. If the President chooses a moderate Republican, there will be a real chance to work along the main lines of domestic policy and strengthen foreign policy. The nation is obviously calling for a change in labor policy."

The plan is "a little unfair to Truman," Professor Elliott went on, "since the election did not turn on Presidential tenure so much as on piled-up discontent of the past years. However, it seems clear that the country has had enough."

American Plan 'Okay'

Arthur N. Holcombe, professor of Government, felt that the Fulbright proposal is one which "would come naturally from people who think the British parliamentary system is more democratic and efficient than ours." "Our system," he added, "can function and accomplish the purposes for which it was designed without having one party in control.