Evening star., 1931-06-21
NEW THOUGHT ON SOCIAL
SET-UP TRACED TO SOVIET
Topic, Gaining Ground in U. S., Is Kind
of intellectual Epidemic Caught
From, Russian Experiment.


good many of these slogans lose their
magic when subjected to a little con-
centrated thinking)
The Presbytery of New York. speak
ing Tor SO congregations, "afirmS its
belief that there Is needed an economic
reconstruction of society," United
States Senator Robert F. Wagner (Dem-
ocratic) Of New York sees around US
the seeds of instability and collapse"
Thomas L. Chadbourne. big New York
lawyer, big business man, once big lead
er in the Democratic party, says with
more restraint than most of the proph-
cts of new order): THE capitalistic
system is on trial. = We must begin
at once to recondition our machinery
and adapt 1t to the changed order"
William Gibbs McAdoo, Secretary Of
the Treasury under President Woodrow
Wilson, is practically as specific as
young Senator La Toilette is declaring
that the old order is dead. that the new
must be. Throughout the world" he
says, the sun in setting on the acquisi-
tive society" And what MFR. McAdoo
means by the "acquisitive society" IS
the same that Senator La Toilette and
all Of US mean by ''laissez-faire," or the
American system, for in our system we
put much reliance upon the hope Of
gain as the motive that causes individ-
uals to work, to invent, to devise.
Whether any other exclusive and uni
verSal incentive can be effective with
the mass of mankind remains to be
seen. 1t is far from demonstrated yet,
even in Russia.
Sees Need Of New Formula.
There must be, Mr.. McAdoo saws. "a
new formula for human affairs" His
concrete suggestion Is "a national eco
nomic council - composed of man
ufacturers, merchants, agriculturists and
representatives of labor and the mining
and transportation Industries"
Mr.. McAdoo got that idea from his
experience as cabinet member in the
war. There was then War Industries
Board" which-under the conditions Of
war-functioned admirably. But SO long
as it functioned you couldn't buy bag
Of cement to mend your front walk
without an 20. K" from the War In
dustries Board. And you couldn't go to
work in a cigar store If the Government
felt it needed you in shipyard or as
soldier
True. MI. McAdoo doesn't mean
that his peace-time national eco
nomic council" should have as much
power as the War Industries Board"
But it would have that much power or
~ NOulu 1ldFE IIOUG at al. MI.
McAdoo'S new formula for human
affairs" really Squints partly toward
Russia, partly toward Italy, His ma
tional economic council" would become
the government. would take the place
OF Congress. Mr.. McAdoo didn't in
tend that: he expressly disaNows It.
But his national economic council
means that or it means nothing mora
than what the United States Chamber
zF
Grafton Of Labor now are. Many of
those who talk rather vaguely about
a new formula" and new "set-up"
Of society do not realize the path that
inevitably they are on. Mr.. McAdoo's
suggestion is much milder than most.
But even so, one would like to hear
the remarks of Mr.. McAdoos father
in-law, woodrow Wilson, or the prob
ably more sulphuric remarks of his
political demigod. Andrew Jackson,
about the course Mr.. McAdoo proposes.
From material here on my desk I
could fill ten pages of this newspaper
with similar prophecy of change, sim
liar sympathy for change, from sources
conspicuous in all walks of life.
Is there no talk that looks the other
way? Yes, it is beginning to come.
Ex-PreSident Coolidge observes, with
disapproval, that 1.-The pulpit and the
commencement platform frequently as
sert that our economic system
is on trial"
To which Mr.. Coolidge, speaking on
his own account, declares with charac-
teristic pungency, that we live under
a system of individual freedom and
f-government, where each individual
is entitled to the rewards of his own
foresight and industry and is charged
with his own support. The only way
to change this system is to restrict the
freedom of the individual, let some one
else govern him. give the rewards of his
industry to others and make him sup
port others, That system is slavery"
Stands by Present Order.
With equal earnestness does Presi-
dent Hoover stand by the present order,
reject the counsels of the prophets.
His Indianapolis speech last Monday is
in every ones mind. His Valley Forge
speech was really an impassioned call
to America to ever continue that
(Washington's) fight We are still
fighting this war for independence.
50 For the energies Of private in
itiative, of independence and a high
degree Of individual freedom of our
American system we are offered an al
Turing substitute in the specious claim
that hired representatives of hun
dred million people can do better than
the people themselves, in thinking and
planning their daily life"
Not for Mr.. Hoover is any supreme
economic council Better than any
Superpower whatever, in Mr.. Hoover's
economic conviction. held by him with
the earnestneSs and patience of a re-
hgion, is the aggregate of the resource
fulnesS and initiative and energy OF a
hundred million average Americans. He
has an almost emotional faith in the
old and democratic method of Amer
ican individualism. and Quaker's pa
tient determination to abide by 1T.
Clear sightedly he admits that there
are defects in it. which must be rene-
died: but firmly he holds that for
Americans the system is better than
any alien invention bearing the label
made in Russia"
But, perhaps we need not get too
serious about the complainers against
America, the comparers with Russia. A
conservative old gentleman of the
writer's acquaintance, who has wealth
cred several business depresSionS, was
really very much annoyed by the COM
planners and alarmiStS until he found
an answer which he could hurl at them.
whereupon his good humor was re-
stored. His answer is the classic one
that "OP BilP' (the British soldier In
Bairnsfeather'S cartoonS) made to a fell
low Tommie who complained of the
1nadequacy Of a shell hole they had
crawled into as a shelter from a de-
scending barrage of German explosives.
II you knows where there's q better
ole, go to it."