The Daily Alaska empire., 1933-08-03

good and the whole bright chance will just turn out to be a ghastly failure and another shattered hope"
 These two observations go to the heart of the project which the Ad- ministration has launched, and it is safe to say that the crucial sec tion of the blanket code, the most difficult to operate and yet the most essential part of it, is Sec ton g, which limits the increase Of prices. The whole scheme depends upon the willingness and the abil- ity of employers to increase their costs at the expense of profits and reserves rather than by raising prices. Because they are asked to do a thing which is contrary to the established habits of business conducted for profit, it is necessary to appeal to their patriotism, to their higher emotions, and also to their fear of a boycott and other forms of public pressure.
 No human mind can, l should suppose. estimate the practical ef- fleets of campaign of this sort. But clearly it will be easier to bring in the large corporate em- ployers than the small employers in the smaller towns. The Presi- dent recognized this in his radio address by pointing out that "the great basic industries have come forward willingly :. and ac- cept the principles leading to mass unemployment" but to the small CT employers the President knew that he still had to make his case. This is not difficult to under stand. The great corporations have reserves which they can draw upon. They are by and large high ly mechanized so that wages are relatively smaller part of their costs. They have much to gain by the relaxation of the antitrust laws, and have many reasons for cultivating the good will of Wash ington.
 The small employers are in a rather different position. They do not in general have any great mar gin of reserves to draw upon. La bor costs are often decisive for them. They have less to gain Tn any reasonable time from the new liberty to combine And they are less sensitive to national opinion.
 One can readily forsee that some of the major difficulties will be found in attempting to apply this code to the hundreds of thousands of small industries and small shops scattered all over the country. The other great difficulty will be to keep prices down so that they Will lag behind wages. I do not know how Washington will do this, ex- cept in the relatively simple case of the highly organized industries.
 If Washington is relying upon propaganda and boycotts to force the enormous number of small en- blowers into line, it is greatly to be hoped that it will think twice before using such dangerous wea- pons carelessly. It is one thing to use the pressure of national opin- ion to compel great anonymous corporations. It is quite another thing to set people against each other who must go on living to- gether as neighbors.
 For my part I do not like that kind of coercion. do not like to hear the Adm n i st r ation using scornful epithets to browbeat men whose difficulties no one in Wash ington can conceivably have under stood. I do not like government by propaganda which may in a thousand communities incite dis cord and jealousy and hysteria and fear among the people. A govern ment should govern by the use of it's lawful powers and not by un- loosing popular emotions.
 So I venture to say, be careful Be very careful not to carry moral coercion too far. Be on guard against those who love the excite ment and enjoy coercion for its own sake. It will be easier to cal them forth than to restrain them later. It is easier to touch off hys- teria and rancor than to quell it Nor is 1t worth while to resort to such measures. What can be done by an appeal to reason and through moderation of feeling is worth do- ing and will help somewhat. But anything that requires propa- ganda of intolerance is worse than useless. It is monkeying with dyna- mite.