Sore Spot

The tenderest, sorest spot in the Eisenhower legislative program is the Administration's proposal for a short, one-year extension of the reciprocal-trade act. A year ago the White House settled for a one-year extension on the excuse that it needed time for more study of the problems of freer trade. Last fall the Randall Commission on Foreign Economic Policy began studying, came up with a program that President Eisenhower called a "minimum." It included a modest recommendation for a three-year extension of the reciprocal-trade act. Now, faced with opposition from the G.O.P. high-tariff bloc in Congress, the Administration has backed down, is asking for only a one-year extension--and more time for study.

Last week in the Senate, Democrats prodded the Republicans right in their economic sore spot. Said Tennessee's sharp-tongued Albert Gore: "Even though the Randall Commission made its report . . . and even though the President had made his recommendation to Congress, the high-protection group has won its first engagement without so much as a skirmish." The Democrats, said Gore, would save the day and append the full Eisenhower-Randall recommendations to the first suitable bill that came along.

But almost as soon as the headlines appeared, the Democrats proved that they didn't really mean it. When Chairman Dan Reed of the House Ways & Means Committee called the one-year bill up in the House, the Democrats made no effort to tack on a three-year amendment.

The short-term bill whooped through, 281 to 53. Prospects were that it would sail through the Senate too, where Democrats--including Gore--seemed content to rest on their propaganda victory.

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