BEWILDERMENT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 139, 14 June 1935, Page 5

BEWILDERMENT.

BUSINESS IN U.S.A.

"ROOSEVELT STUMBLING

ALONG."

MORE INDUSTRIAL TROUBLE.

"Business conditions in the United States at present are chaotic, as no one seems to know what is going to happen next, and there is a widespread fear of further industrial trouble," said Mr. H. W. Smith, of Sydney, who is returning by the Mariposa to Australia after a business visit to America. Mr. Smith, who is a member of the firm of Smith and Ellis, timber and shipping agents, spent three months in the United States on business, and found that both the timber and shipping trades on the Pacific Coast were in a very unsettled state owing to labour conditions. Mr. Smith said that at present American business men were afraid to make commitments far ahead, owing to the quick way in which conditions were varying and labour costs altering. The worst feature was the industrial trouble which was being experienced in all quarters of the country, fear of which was intensified by rumours. The recent decisions of the Supreme Court, declaring parts of President Roosevelt's programme invalid, had accentuated the trouble. These reversals had produced a bad effect, but this had been overcome in some industries by employers continuing to observe the N.R.A. code voluntarily °as a means of stabilising business. "A Long Way To Go." "America has got a very long way to go' before .it can enjoy prosperity again," said Mr. Smith. "The Americans are only beginning to realise their troubles." "The whole country was reeking with dissatisfaction in his opinion, and while the President still

retained his personal prestige and people believed that he was doing his best, the opinion seemed general that he was just stumbling along. The quick changes in hie policy had had an unsettling effect, and there was a widespread feeling of uncertainty. i The present dissatisfaction had made it easy for agitators to foment industrial trouble. The- most affected State in that regard at present was California, where the former Sydney labour leader Tom Bridges was prominent in the trouble. At present both the timber and shipping Industries in this | State were being -seriously affected by labour disputes, and there was no sign that the position was likely to improve shortly. "People are very pessimistic in America at present regarding the near future, but underlying their, depressed outlook they still retain sufficient optimism to believe that America will pull through," concluded Mr. Smith. Some Signs of Recovery. A more hopeful view of the next few months in the United States was takenby Mr T. H. Levy, managing director of Theo. H. Levy, Pty., Ltd., of Melbourne, who is also returning from a business visit to America. Mr. Levy, after visiting China and Japan, crossed America by air, returning to Los Angeles after spending some time in New York and Chicago. "They have had a pretty bad time there, and no doubt conditions have been very unsettled, but signs of recovery are noticeable now," said Mr. Levy. "I think they have seen the worst of it by now. The indications generally, as they were interpreted to me by Americans I met, were that recovery had commenced to set in." > Mr. Levy admitted that there were a great number of pessimists to be heard throughout the country, and that business had been forced to carry on under most difficult conditions. Changes which were revolutionary to the American mind, as they involved a complete change of policy, were brought into operation, only to be scrapped in some cases a short time after their inception. Some of these mistakes arose from the natural desiro to restore prosperity by short cute, which were soon found to be impossible. However, notwithstanding these difficulties, he personally was convinced that conditions had started to improve. '