THE TEST OF WINTER

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 95, 19 October 1933, Page 13

THE TEST OF WINTER

RECOVERY PROGRAMME

WASHINGTON'S DOUBTS

WASHINGTON,. October 9. The approach ■of winter brings a prospect of appalling suffering, with more than 10,000,000 people still out of work—a situation that will put the National Recovery Act administrators to a crucial test. President Koosevelt has 'allotted £15,000,000 for the prompt provision of food and shelter, while the Bed Cross and all other charitable and welfare organisations are working unceasingly to provide clothing. Mr. Eoosevelt is said to be turning back to, the doctrines followed by his Republican predecessor, Mr. Hoover, who relied morß on the, ad vice of business men and the heads of industry than on that of economic* theorists. Mr. Eoosevelt's most recent' moves, which recall Mr. Hoover's policy, are his expansion of the credit facilities of the Eeconstruction: Finance 'Corporation, which Mr. Hoover established; his assistance to the steel industry by Gov-ernment-financed orders for steel rails; and his loan to cotton farmers of 10 cents a lb, which is practically the market price of the product. Although no one -believes that the fight is lost, there are many who chide Mr. Eoosevelt for believing too blindly in his Brain Trust and its slogan of "Five million back in jobs by Labour Day (September 4)." As a matter of fact a conservative ■ estimate of the number back at work is less than 3,000,000. The Brain. Trust led the nation, to believe that when hours were shortened wages would be raised, but the reverse has been the case, for, in the majority of cases, as hours were shortened, the rate' per hour was not altered. This fact, added to the salary and wage cuts gladly accepted during the Hoover regime, has brought the morale of employees to. the lowest level. Mr. William Green, president of the American Federation of Labour, says that although'nearly 3,000,000 people aTe back at work, tho number of families on relief is 90 per cent, above that of last year. Official Labour leaders within the N.E.A.'s official fold sought to secure an absolute despotism over industry, and 'the impression slowly gained ground that General Johnson was aiding and abetting them with hig threats of an official boycott of employers who did not disregard prime economic laws and raise wages and lower hours. Washington, which had been veering to tho Left for is now back in the middle of the road, with an eye on Eightist doctrines. The dream of an economic revival overnight has faded, and exuberant ticker-tape, street parade, ballyhoo mothods are being thrown overboard, while responsible officials and leaders of thought are "digging in" for a hard winter.