PLEA FOR PEACE.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20425, 2 October 1934, Page 1

PLEA FOR PEACE.

Truce Between Capital ano Labour Sought. MR ROOSEVELT’S BROADCAST. United Press Assn.—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright. WASHINGTON, September 90. In a broadcast speech to the nation President Roosevelt to-night proposed an armistice between Capital and Labour while the newly reorganised N.R.A. evolved the legislation intended permanently to safeguard the rights of each. Within the coming month the President plans to confer with representatives of Labour and Capital, seeking their co-operation in establishing a specific trial period of industrial peace. Mr Roosevelt assailed the critics who claimed that certain phases of the “New Deal” were unnecessary and were subject to great risks. He cited Eng. land’s policy to meet the depression, saying: “They would have you believe that England had made progress out of the depression by a do-nothing policy; and by letting Nature take her course, but I do not believe that any intelligent observer can accuse England of orthodoxy in the present emergency.” Citing the accomplishments of in's administration, the President said that the banks had saved the homes of the people, and farms, railroads and industry had been aided financially; unwholesome conditions in the investment field had been eliminated, and business regulated, resulting in greater profits as well as higher wages for Labour. Assurances Sought. From those willing to join in establishing this hoped-for peace period the President said he would seek assurances regarding the making and maintenance of agreements which could be mutually lived up to, and under which wages, hours and working conditions might be determined. Any later adjustments could be made by agreement, or mediation or arbitration of State or Federal agencies. Employers and employees would not be asked permanently to give up the weapons common to industrial war, but both groups would be asked to give a fair trial to peaceful methods of adjusting their conflicts of opinion and interests. While industrial recovery had been retarded by strikes, their extent and severity had *been far less than for any comparable period. The President praised General Hugh Johnson for his able and energetic leadership of the N.R.A. administration. He vigorously denounced the view that the United States must be reconciled to permanent unemployment running into millions.