BALLOON OVER IDANO

Several days ago Senator Borah expertly launched a political balloon. In a letter to Colonel Theodore Roosevelt he raised from the dead the old issue of monopoly. In effect he demanded that the son of the old "trust-buster" rally to the old cause and, not altogether without design, managed to get his own name plastered over the nation's front pages.

While it is impossible not to admire the political astuteness of the veteran senator, it seems transparently obvious that "trust-busting" is not of such pressing importance as issues suggested by colonel Roosevelt's reply. The defict, taxation, Bureaucracy, unemployment--to name only a few--loom larger on the political horizon. Senator Borah did a public service when he attacked the NRA from the standpoint of free competition. But by helping to clip the eagle's wings, he destroyed in large part the value of his present thesis.

Political wisdom requires a better answer than monopoly-baiting. Even Senator Borah's cloquence as a standard-bearer could not inflate the issue to proportions comparable to existing ones. Republicans have been charge with inability to outline a so-called "constructive program", and some would put an attack on monopolies in that category. But if Republicans pretend to be realists, and at the same time wish to quibble over terminology, they have a reply. Nothing could be more constructive than an attempt to replace administrative machinery which creates a fool's paradise for farmers, a staggering debt for coming generations, and a government running at a loss, financially and morally.