The Washington times., 1933-10-21
NATION To HEAR
ROOSEVELT ON
NEW CRISIS
Vast Hookup to Garry Appeal
For Unity in Face of Farm
Strike, NRA Troubles
BY GEORGE r. HOLMES
International News Service


International News Service
Confronted with organized re
volt in the farming regions, snip
ing at the NRA, and widespread
labor turmoil in the industria
centers. President Roosevelt took
his troubles into the quiet reaches
of the lower Potomac today
there to study out the next phases
of the new deal.
Tomorrow night, over the great
est national radio hook-up ever
arranged, the President will again
go to the country with an &C
counting of his, stewardship, ar
explanation of administration
policies, and an appeal for ma
tional unity behind his recovery
program.
Crisis At Hand
It will be one of the most i'm.
portant speeches Mr.. Roosevelt
has made. For it is recognized
candidly that crisis has been
reached in the whole far-flung
recovery program, and that un.
less checked the present drift
may defeat or nullify what gains
have been made to date.
Mr.. Roosevelt will remind the
country that the depression was
long in the making and will be
long in the curing; that there is
no magic formula for instant re,
covery.
There is reason to believe, too,
that he will propose definite
steps to alleviate conditions in
the farming country, where low
agricultural prices and steadily
rising prices in other directions
have so enraged the farmers that
strike" has been called in half
a dozen midwestern and north
central States. Just what these
steps are, however, remains to be
Disclosed.
The President recognizes that
agricultural recovery, admins
tered through the Agricultural
Adjustment Administration, has
failed to keep apace with indus
trial recovery; that prices for
what the farmer purchases have
far outstripped the prices for
what the farmer has to sell.
Great Dispar:::y
The situation which has led up
to the agrarian revolt was graph
ically depicted today by the
Department of Agriculture in
making public a price index
which disclosed the wide gap be-
tween crop prices and those for
other commodities.
Taking 100 as an index for
pre- war price levels, farmers this
month were paying prices in,
dexed at 116 and 1T, while re-
ceiving for their products prices
indexed at SO and 70-a dis
parity of some At cents between
the farming dollar and the cost
of living dollar.
For example. the department
pointed out that compared with
the same pre-war index, the
farmer during September and Oc'
tober has paid for staple foods an
index of 104 and 105; clothing,
127 and 1870; operating costs, los
to 107; furniture, about 1873;
building materials, about 147;
farm machinery, about 139, etc.
To Get Degree Today
Mr.. Roosevelt took these sta
tiStics and a lot more with him
For a time he was tempted to
cancel a long-standing engage
ment. to receive college degree
in Southern Maryland today and
remain in the Capital to keep in
close touch with the situation.
1t was finally decided that he
could do more thinking" by get
ting away from the hectic activi-
ties of Washington, so he board
ed the Sequoia last night and
sailed.
While chiefly concerned at the
moment with the farm strikers
demonstration, Mr.. Roosevelt Is
no less concerned with the in
creased sniping at the NRA, and
the continued labor troubles that
plague the codes already formu-
lated.
Help Little Fellow"
One step he has in mind and
which will not be long in forth
coming Is to ease the NRA burden
on the little fellow"
Much Of the dissatisfaction
with the NRA has come from the
small merchant and employer,
who operated on narrow margin
anyway, and who has now had
greatly increased operating costs
saddled upon him.
The retail code, one of the
most important of all, is now on
Mr.. Roosevelt's desk.
When it is made operative
there is reason to believe that 1t
will exempt retailers and en-
ployers in towns of under 5000
population, instead Of 1,400, as
at present. That would ma
terially tighten the hand that has
rested heavily upon the little
| fellow"