Evening star., 1932-09-18

labor 60 through the mangle OF unre-
sisted wage reductions and come out
similarly reduced in it's weight upon the
revival of business transactions. Let
the Government confine itself to making
its budget small and to making its cur
rency safe and to keeping itself solvent.
Then solvency will spread and will
gradually reaccumulate its prosperity.
That is the policy that would have
been followed by any President properly
charged with inflexible individualism.
It is the policy that in fact literally was
followed by Grover Cleveland in the de-
preston which, before this one, was the
greatest in the history Of the modern
lied industrialized United States.
Mr.. Cleveland found that depression
on his hands when he became President
in 1893 In his inaugural address he
stated that "the necessity for revenue to
support the Government furnishes the
only justification for taxing the peo-
ple," and stated further that he pro-
posed ITO reinstate the confidence
and business enterprise Of our citizens
by discrediting dependence upon gov
ernmental favor" He then adopted in
practice the following devices:
He secured the repeal Of the law re-
ouiring large purchases Of silver bullion
by the Treasury. He sold large issues
of bonds in order to secure the resources
for replenishing the Treasury's supply
of gold He reduced taxes in a certain
basic sense by reducing the tariff. He
practieed governmental economy by veto
ing even a rivers and harbors bill con-
tanning an appropriation-which he
deemed shockingly large-of $14 4,o00, ,o00
And on each Thanksgiving day, in his
official proclamation Of it, he urged the
anluent to give aims to the destitute.
And that was all.
4 Ar. CLEVELAND was great man,
wi gigantically great man; but it
would seem clear that since his day we
have travelled far in our social needs
or. at any rate, in our social demands.
Most members of Mr. Clevelands party
today express the feeling that in the
face of the present depression Mr. Hoo
yer has done virtually nothing" 1t be-
comes interesting, thereupon, as side
light upon the social development OF the
American people, to summarize the
peaks of that nothing
1. The Federal Government, for the
first time in any American depression,
has not decreased but has increased its
expenditures upon public works. In the
current year it may possibly expend for
such purposes three times as much
money as in the average normal year be-
fore the present depression began.
2. The Federal Government, for the
first time in any American depression,
has in effect been brought to direct con-
tributions of provisions and OF credits
for the relief of individual distress. Fed
orally owned wheat and Federally owned
cotton have been donated to the desti-
tute in amounts worth perhaps $70,-
600, ,OOO Federal loans have been ex-
tended to more than 500, 900 individual
farmers. Federal loans totaling $780,
Ooo, 900 are in the course of getting ex-
tended to the State governments for the
benefit of individual destitute citizens.
g. The Federal Government, for the
first time in any American depression
has assumed the moral responsibility
of making suggestions to private busi-
ness as to the general principles through
which the burden of the depression may
best be sustained and the solution of it
may be sought. The gatherings of busi-
ness leaders in Washington during this
depression have constituted profound
innovation in American economic po-
litical practice. The fact that in those
conferences the initiative as to sug-
gested business policies has been taken
generally, not by the business leaders,
but by the Federal Government is cir
cumstance still more profoundly novel