THE PRESIDENCY: Back to Work

"What a life!" murmured one of a group of officers of the International Chamber of Commerce. He was commenting not on the pressures of his job, but on those of the President of the U.S., who last week dropped by the I.C.C.'s meeting at Washington's Sheraton-Park Hotel. President Eisenhower, just returned from a 15-day golfing vacation at Augusta, shook his head, cracked: "After two days home, I'm about ready to go back."

But the President scarcely had time to sing a second chorus of postvacation blues: he was too busy. Though he ducked a press conference, he presided over meetings of Republican congressional leaders, the National Security Council and the Cabinet, as well as over the swearing-in of Secretary of State Herter and Special Consultant John Foster Dulles. He also opened a new chapter in his drive for a balanced budget by briefly taking advantage of the public-opinion spotlight focused on the I.C.C. meeting and on a meeting of the National Association of Manufacturers.

Before the N.A.M., Ike exhorted the nation's business leaders to lend their influence to communicating "the matter of fiscal integrity" to others. "The strongest force in a democracy is an informed public opinion ... I can't conceive of a better and finer occupation, really a vocation, rather than an avocation, for anyone who is employing others and dealing with others ... than to use his influence in making certain that [fiscal problems and the principles of frugality] are understood."

To the assembled I.C.C. officials—some of whom were visiting the U.S. for the first time—the President extended an invitation to "see all you can of our country . . . You will not be pleased with everything you see. Neither are we. But you will see us as we are." Repeating his favorite theme that a "free market economy . . . can outproduce any other kind of economy known to man," Ike left the I.C.C. meeting with a succinct reminder: "The old saying was that 'Trade follows the flag.' But the flag of which I speak is an international banner—that of freedom and peace."