Evening star., 1933-01-03
DEMOCRACY GIVEN
CHANCE TO HOLDON
Presidents Committee Sees
Continuance of Existing
Form of Rule.
BY the Associated Press.


pect of continuance Of the demo-
cratic regime, with higher standards
of achievement and with more pre-
vision and contriving spirit" was ad-
vanced by the Presidents Research
Committee on Social Trends In its re-
p-rt.
It declared, however, that the future
will call for wide and bold expert
mentation" because of the social rela-
ticns crowding within governmental
influence and control.
For three years following appointment
in 1929 by President Hoover the COM
mittee. assisted by over 500 investiga-
tors, has been surveying developments
ince the turn of the century. Its find
ings fill two heavy volumes and other
publications are to follow.
DR.. Wesley C. Mitchell professor of
economies at Columbia University, is
chairman of the committee and DR..
William F. Ogburn. professor Of soci-
ology at University Of Chicago, director
Of research.
More Government Demands
1T seems inevitable" the committee
declared in its review of findings, that
the varied interests of the country will
find themselves invoking more the help
of the Government to meet emergencies,
to safeguard them against threatened
dangers, to establish standards and to
aid them in extending or defending
markets"
1t visioned the rise of new types of
politico-economic organization, peither
purely governmental nor purely busi-
ness, greater executive power and in
creased Capitalization.
Pointing out ways to economy through
efficient administration, 1t said, "TheGe
reads to economy are well understood
and may readily be used whenever the
will to do so is sufficiently developed"
Citing crime, corruption and poor
government, the committee declared
that many have been led to conclude
reluctantly that the emergence Of some
recognized and avowed form Of pluto
cratic dictatorship is not far away"
Continuance of Regime.
IAN Interpretation which seems to
have a margin of advantage" contin-
ued the report, ''is that of the prospect
of a continuance of the democratic
regime, with higher standards Of
achievement, with more highly uni
sounder types of civic training, with
broader social program and a sharper
edged purpose to diffuse more promptly
and widely the gains of our civiliza-
ton, with control over social and eco
nomic forces better adapted to the spe-
cial social tensions of the time, with
less lag between social change and
governmental adoption and with more
provision and contriving spirit"
It predicted greater emphasis upon
the Interpretation of social data and
asserted that the type of planning most
urgently needed must include Scien-
tific, the educational, as well as the
economic (including here the indus
trial and the agriculturaD and also the
governmental"
Mentioning unemployment insurance
and old-age pensions, it asserted: THE
committee Is aware of the numerous
objections urged against these schemes
OF social insurance but it is also
impressed by the inarticulate misery of
the hundreds of thousands or millions
of breadwinners who are deprived of
their livelihoods through no fault of
their own.
Standard May Decline.
ITO put the cost of unemployment
Squarely upon those who remain at
work, upon employers and upon the
public purse makes every one conscious
Of the difficulty and focuses attention
upon the need of devising more con-
structive methods for dealing with it."
For the very near future" it said,
"the standard of living may decline"
partly because of "the weakness of COL
lective action on the part of wage
earners"
Concerning laws, the report declared
that "the lower forms of collusion be-
tween the courts and crime, the inter-
mediate types of job brokerage in judge
ships and the more refined manifesto
tions Of judicial remissness are a chal-
lenge to our constructive statesman
ship and at times an occasion of pro-
found despair"
DR.. Mitchell said that one Of the
implicit conclusions in the committees
findings was that business recovery
would be slow.
Delayed by Debts.
Recovery is delayed" he said, be
cause of the delay in readjusting the
private debt structure, principally the
lcng-term structure, which was con-
nected with the real estate boom. 1t is
a much slower matter than the liqui-
dation of boom in merchandise"
The report showed, he declared, that
the country's industrial and agricultural
equipment had been progressively ad-
justed to mechanical invention with
large gains in productivity per worker,
but with disregard for the fact that
1.-The effective limit upon production is
the limit of what the markets will abb
sorb at profitable prices, and this limit
is set by the purchasing power at the
disposal of would-be consumers"
A fundamental issue" of the report,
Prof. Mitchell said, was the emphasis
that "the basic feature of our present