ROOSEVELT PLAN

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 83, 5 October 1933, Page 17

ROOSEVELT PLAN

A FRANK EXPERIMENT

HIS AMAZING POPULARITY

TEST IN NOVE3IBER ,

A visit to Washington just now is a remarkable experience. Certainly nothing, like the operation of the "New Deal" has been seen in America since the war, and even that situation was hardly comparable. Jfor everyone knew that the war -.work was temporary, anfl expected'that;after it was over things ■would go back-more or'less to normal. "I'odayp eve>yoho -''believes-- that the I changes] wiiivbe permanent, or, rather, that. t%y.are the first of a. series of alterations which will carry the nation further--and-further into uncharted territory, says the American correspondent tii;jtjjS>£'Manchester Guardian.'' Moreor|r,}tlie problem of tho war was simplicity, itself compared with that of these iimeii; '.Then you simply raised a great deal o£ money, spent it for things which in one way ,ot another contributed towards winning the conflict destroyed these things or wore them cut, and made more. Now the problem i* iow to restore prosperity in a great nation which has been suffering from a desperate economic disorder—and still 3s,idespite the improvement which has taken place. People cannot be ordered 1o gft out and buy. You cannot compel ■employers to increase wages without seeing to it that they havo the money ■with, which to do this; therefore they inuat get good prices, which means sub«tantial profits. On the other hand,,if profits are too large, labour's share is too small and-consumption will no<i be. restored. The "Government has powers ■which, broadly-interpreted, permit the limitation, of profits; will it rise them! No one knows; thus far it has confined Itself to appeals to patriotism.' Surely at is fair to say that , if, -. through' patriotism, the capitalist will abstain from making as much money as he can, that will be an experience ■unique in lfetory. ■• ■. '-\ '■' \.'. .'■"■"■■ ' ■' -■•v'--TAtekB.rAOED. . ;. ; 'Despite ithe ' size of tho tasks, "Washington is' facing them boldly, thousands of men and women have some to the capital and obtained «?mployment helping to administer the "New Deal." Anyone who ha 3 been here as.iong as. two months is regarded as the oldest inhabitant; the man of a wepk'service.patronises him of three days. In > -,dozens of 'Grovernment buildings space«ha9 hastily been made for new- employees'; -or .have'" gone to work, apace ot ; not, v setting up their idesks in'^the corridor's^ .'No one knows where anyone ;or aiiything is, or who is the person, in-, charge pf such-and-such a section;^Telephone.service breaks down under the'; rush, .of sudden new calls. The P&W;Office is swamped with its problem. v6f! ./(finding addresses for hundreds lof. '-strangers, to say nothing of the .-pioblem, .created as ,5,000,000 employers, more or less, write in to the Government that they .have signed the '•■blanket voluntary code" and want the right to display the "Blue Eagle" (General Hugh Johnson, Recovery Administrator,! ca.lls-jt-a hawk), which is, the ■nsignia'.otYthoSo who are aiding •the Government'in its task. The programme, in summary, is a fairly simple one, with three chief parts. First, prices are to-bo raised about BCt:;3per cerit. ? which'is-another, way of Bstying thai thTdollar'is-to'be depre-.

ciated a. third. At tho samo time, Wages are to be increased —especially the smallest ones—and hours shortened, increasing- employment. These things together will causo people to buy, which in turn will further augment employment and consumer purchasing power. Secondly, 3,300,000,000 dollars is to be spent as quickly as possible for public works, which will help to start, the machinery of industry, as well as providing large amounts of employment and giving profit to private firms. Thirdly, ; .through something of an internal tariff scheme, agricultural prices .are "to be brought back to their .pre-war parity with other prices, so that the,, farmer will be at least as prosperous, relatively, as he was during the decade, 1903-.13. Everything else is incidental to,theso three main efforts. . , FRANK EXPERIMENT. Perhaps the chief thing which distinguishes Mr. Booscvclt from almost all other statesmen is that ho is frankly an experimentalist. He does not at all mind making his mistakes in public, and promptly ' acknowledging them when he finds that they are mistakes. This may in part account for his amazing popularity, which, instead of diminishing with the end of the '/honeymoon" period, seems to be higher; so far as, the. masses of the people1 are concerned, than ever before. While,the explanation for this fact is partly his skilful and effective speeches on the wireless and his charm when he appears in the talking Vmovies," a deeper, reason '. is that bis boldness and experimentalism are so well attuned to the American .character. He is not a master of economics, but he summons the best advice he can get and unhesitatingly acts upon it as the economists themselves wouldneyer dare to do. He does not knovv how to briug about" a managod- currency, or even whether one is possible, but he-proposes to try. His blanket voluntary code contains a danger that hundreds of thousands of smallvshopkeepers will be forced into .'bankruptcy, but he unhesitatingly took the ; risk when it seemed' the lesser of two evils. (Separate trades were inexplicably slow mi their own- codes,' and whblesale:,pJice» were', running ahead of wiges'at.« -most alarming rate.) Corifirjfrated'ttiy burdens; which would seem enougli to •kill1-' ten meni; he remains genial md sunny, sleeps soundly,-and enjoys .bantering with his long-faced assistants.- :; -~ ' "■ .". : '; '. ~. ■' 'TESTS TO COME.' , One great test of his plans will eorno at about.'the beginning of November. Manufacturers have plunged recklessly ahead, making vast: quantities of goods, and these will reach the retail shops at about ihat time. Unless before that date he has managed to put several millioii inen.backat work,-and to raise all-wage* by! many joints;-a'-.new crash seems likely. A'notherf great/test will; cgtae. probably, many mouths later, wh'en the' United?-States., Supremo .OoutJt. passes judgment upon" the constitutionality of the Industrial Becovery Act. If the Justices of the. Court, remember their, previous decisions, it' is hard to see! how they can .avoid declaring it unconstitutional, or eonsti-; tional only temporarily because of, and during, the emergency. By that time,however, the decision mayi be of only academic importance: after six or eight months of, the ,"New Deal, "no power on eairth can. put Humpty;Dumpty back on the wall again, or, as the Americans are, fond 'of saying, can "unscramble; the eggs." ,' ' ■'■ ■ , •