Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-08

dent formed a National Business Con-
ference. including more than 400 lead
ers in all lines, to put into practical ex-
ecution the plans formed at preceding
conferences.
The Government itself acted by es-
tabliShing a Division of Public Con-
struction in the Department of Com
merce.
The business men of the Nation, act
ing through the Chamber of Commerce
of the United States, devoted themselves
to discussion of problems of stabiliza-
ton, with the personal encouragement
Of the President, the Secretary of Com
merce, the chairman of the Federal
Farm Board and other officials.
Another help, hailed by every business
man and by thousands of individual
taxpayers, was the reduction of income
taxes by $160. 100000 in December, 1929.
The Federal Bureau of Public Roads
spent money to speed road building
projects a month ahead of time in De-
cember, 1929. Roads through national
forests and parks that ordinarily would
have been postponed were set going in
stead
Our merchant marine and shipbuild-
ing were helped to new contracts
through administration of the ocean
mail act.
Altogether the Government and the
Nation as a whole put in motion the
greatest program of public works and
public utility construction ever under
taken. amounting to more than ST.
900 900, 900. This was an absolute re-
versal of past experience, when it was
the policy to shut down public works
at the first sign of depression. And
we owe this great starting of things
to the initiative of President Hoover.
1t is the fashion now to pick at the
President and ask, why doesn't he
do something's" This is the answer.
He saved this country from hitting the
bottom after the crash. In every for
mer crisis nobody had ever attempted
this. The cry is raised. why isn't
business on the move?" The answer is
that these moves have been made.
After former crashes the country often
had from two to six years of slack
times. Within a year after this recent
collapse in the security market We
have started operations whose effects
must ultimately be felt.
Start of New Energy.
You may not feel it yet in your i'm
mediate neighborhood, but this new
energy is starting where 1t ought to
start, at the center of the works. And
the movement is the more to be de-
pended on because its work is going on
quietly, without fanfare of self-ad-
vertising
Slack times always start the critics.
Some of these have said that in spite
of all these solemn agreements by in
duStrial leaders, that employment
would not be slashed or wages cut, the
promises have been broken. It may
be true in scattered cases, but viola
tons of such agreements have not
been general.
Hard times have not prevented other
employers from setting up advanced
humanitarian reforms. At Birmingham
and elsewhere the Steel Corporation.
where continuous operations are in
volved. are working on the 8-hour day
The 12-hour day has been discontinued,
along with the 7-day week. At times,
in special occupations, mechanics, cleo
triclanS. engineers, ETC., a 9 and 10 hour
day still obtains on repair work and
so on. But the Republic Steel Corpora
ton has followed suit with the 8-hour
day and eliminating the 12-hour day
and 7-day week. other companies are
also about to do this
The Atlas Cement Co. has abolished
the 12-hour day. All plants wherever
they are, are now on the 8-hour basis
Such thing never happened in former
slack times The policy then was to cut
wages and lengthen hours. 1t is one
more piece of evidence that we are on
the forward move.
But of all the calamity talk we heard,
by all odds the great part of it was
aimed at the tariff. 1t was going to
ruin the country. 1t was going to raise
prices skyhigh
AS fair specimen of the doleful
predictions made a certain Senator pre-
dicted that the increase in the tariff