16,1949 THESE DAYS By George E. Sokolsky ECONOMICS STUDY SET Who Makes Our Policy? A reading of the Interim Report of the House The late Harry Dexter White, then Assistant Yale to Seek Ways of Making Committee on Un-American Activities raises the Secretary of the Treasury, is stated to have co- Short-Term Forecasts question as to who formulates American poli- operated with the "Silvermaster Group." Special to THE NEW YORK TIMES. cies, both domestic and foreign. For instance, It is true and must be noted that of those men- NEW HAVEN, April 8-A ] the way was paved for the downfall of China tioned above, Lauchlin Currie, Harry D. White, research project on the problem Bela Gold (Sonia Gold) and Frank Coe appeared of making short-term economic more by an extraordinarily incorrect and even before the committee at their own request and forecasts is planned by Yale wicked monetary policy imposed on that coun- categorically denied the accusations made against economists, the university an- try by the United States through its so-called them by Elizabeth Bentley and Whittaker Cham- nounced today. experts. But who were the experts? The research is to be con- In this report, the following persons appear as bers. Further, the committee reports that no ducted at the Cowles Founda- monetary experts. According to the testimony charges of Communist party affiliation were tion for Research in Economics at Yale, It is being supported by of Elizabeth Bentley and the investigations of made against either Lauchlin Currie or Harry a three-year grant of $34,000 the committee, the, Communists and their as- Dexter White. from the Rockefeller Founda- sociates were divided into cells. The "Silvermas- In this article, I am not discussing party af- tion. ter Group" was headed by Nathan Gregory Sil- filiations. I merely make the point that many James Tobin, Professor of vermaster, Director of the Labor Division, Farm of those who dealt with the monetary problems of Economics and director of the this country and who were in a position to bring Cowles Foundation, outlined the Security Administration; detailed at one time to the Board of Economic Warfare run by Henry influence to bear upon the American attitude objective of the program. He toward the monetary problems of China were on said it would seek to evaluate Wallace. techniques for forecasting the In this group, I find the following names of these lists. Some day, perhaps even during the Alger Hiss level and course of over-all eco- persons who could have been or might have been nomic activity in the United influential in wrecking China by means of wreck- trial, the Administration may disclose the data States for periods no longer gathered by the FBI and thus far unavailable to ing her currency. than two years in advance Solomon Adler, Treasury Department; agent in Congress. It is impossible to accept these lists China. as absolutely correct unless there is further cor- Frank Coe, Assistant Director, Division of Mon- roboration; the Department of Justice has the April 9,1956 means to determine the facts. If any of these etary Research, Treasury. Lauchlin Currie, administrative assistant to the men and women are unjustly classified, it would President (Currie was actually imposed on be. to their benefit if the true facts were made Chiang Kai-shek as an adviser by President available officially. If the Bentley-Chambers lists Roosevelt). prove to be true, then every official act of these Mrs. Bela (Sonia) Gold, research assistant, Bu- individuals needs to be restudied in view of their reau of Monetary Research, Treasury. affiliations and basic philosophies. William Taylor, Treasury Department. This we know: China, a silver country, was William Ludwig Ullmann, Division of Monetary wrecked by the American silver policy. Her Research, Treasury. money grew increasingly valueless after the According to the same House Committee on United States undertook to advise China on Un-American Activities, the following were in the currency reforms. The coincidence of wrecking a Perlo Group": nation by ruining her currency with such lists Victor Perlo, Monetary Research, Treasury. Elizabeth Bentley and Whittaker Chambers Harold Glasser, Treasury Department. vided is too sharp to be ignored