THE PRESIDENCY: Time to Think About People

Still confident that the U.S. economy will soon turn upward, still determined to avoid desperation moves that might bring on a red-ink torrent for years to come, President Eisenhower was nonetheless deeply concerned about the human dislocations of the recession.

"This," he told 1,200 Republican women in Washington's Statler Hotel last week, "is not an exercise in economic theory. All the economic indicators and high-sounding oratory in the world cannot fill the empty place in a pay envelope." He repeated his theme next afternoon at a White House meeting with the Executive Committee of the Governors' Conference. "This is a time to think about people," said Dwight Eisenhower, "and not about technicalities."

Ready to Encourage. The human problem nagging the President most is that of jobless workers at the end of their unemployment-compensation benefits, which differ widely from state to state, ranging from a 16-week time limit in Florida to 30 weeks in Pennsylvania. It was in an effort to ease the plight of such workers that President Eisenhower invited the governors' committee to the White House, presented a plan under which the states could draw federal funds to extend unemployment compensation for 13 weeks. Although the new plan included a complex formula aimed at maintaining the delicate balance of federal-state relationships, some of the governors seemed fearful of an invasion of states' rights. And, much to Ike's surprise, nearly all of them seemed unenthusiastic about the plan.

The governors could afford to be cool because state unemployment-compensation treasuries, constantly replenished by payroll taxes, are still well filled. With a record $320 million drain in February, the total pool decreased by only $173 million, leaving a huge balance of $8.2 billion. Despite gubernatorial coolness, the Administration will probably move ahead with some sort of plan expanding unemployment compensation. At the same time, it will continue speeding the flow of federal money into the economy. Last week the President ordered Housing and Home Finance Administrator Albert Cole to speed up the spending and lending of about $650 million in funds already appropriated for public housing, urban renewal, public-works loans to local governments, etc. He also instructed Agriculture Secretary Ezra Taft Benson to "encourage" the outflow of Rural Electrification Administration loans.

Not to Be Panicked. These were measures that might help tide the economy over until the upturn the President hopes for later this spring. But the President stands firm against a drastic antirecession tax cut before then. Said he in his speech to the Republican women: "This Administration is not going to be panicked by alarmists into activities that could actually make those hardships not temporary, but chronic."