Montana labor news., 1933-11-23
THE WASHINGTON
SCENE . By Laurence Todd

WASHINGTON-(FP)- President
Roosevelt's brain trust is doing some
furious thinking nowadays about fall
ing production. The NRA, which was
to have buoyed consumers purchasing
power and put most of the unemploy-
ed back to work by winter, is begging
down badly. The New York Times
index shows production at u per cent
of normal and falling rapidly. At
the present rate, factories will be op-
Grating on the Hooverian 1882 level
within a few weeks.
This has brought much rejoicing to
Republican hearts. The Republican
National Committee has come out of
its bomb-proof shelter to yell, 81 told
you So" in the direction of the Roose-
welt camp. ut can't be DONE" is the
burden of the old guards contribution.
A return to the happy Hoover days
is the implied solution.
&&&
Failure Of NRA to solve the un-
employment problem and increase
purchasing power will hardly bring
cheers from the nations workers and
farmers. They have made several
distinct gains in the past six months.
For one thing, workers have been as
sured the right to organize-if they
will fight for it. And a determined
attack has been made on the sweat
shop and its cruel wages, hours and
working conditions.
On the debit side of NRA, so far
as workers are concerned, is the
threatening anti-strike propaganda of
Gen. Johnson, Sen. Wagner and others
the implication of a fascist regime
if miners, steel workers and others
try to upset the industrial applicant
by a determined mass fight for high
er wages. And every workers organ
%ization has been fighting the absurd
ly low wage scale levels of NRA-
the usual 30-40c an hour %minimums,
together with the 40-hour week,
which fails in any regard to cope with
the task of putting 100000 men
back to work.
Many of the big industrialists, such
as Ford and Mellon, and the big fl
nancial interests have been fighting
NRA tooth and ~toenail. Another
powerful group has favored it be-
cause of the price-fixing and limita-
ton of output provisions, which have
been a success in restoring profits in
the oil industry and certain others.
Many members Of the Drain trust"
see that the 40-hour week and the 40c
minimum wage are no solution. Some
are agitating, with labor, for the 30
hour week and higher wage scales.
Employers retort that such a program
would kill all hope of operating in
dustry so that profits could be wrung
from it. There the discussion dead
locks.
What can Roosevelt do now? MANY
economists are advising him that a
reduction of the tremendous debt bur-
den can help. That means reduction
in the bonded Indebtedness of corpor-
%ations, in the mortgages that are
bowling down the farmer. That means
that hundreds of corporations must
go into receivership, that tens of
thousands of coupon-clippers must
give up hope of interest.
And once the receiverships begin
mounting again, what will happen to
that magic slogan of all the profit
seekers, confidence ?" DR.. Alex
Sachs, who has just resigned as
chief of the NRA planning division,
was said to have been working on a
plan to let this process of deflation
proceed while still keeping the dot
tom from falling out" of the business
structure. The plan required too
much courage, and so he has quit his
job and is returning to Lehman Bros,
the big New York brokerage firm.
###
With the industrial machine STALL
ed again, and the Public Works Ad-
ministration's $1,000, 100000 STARTER"
bound up with red tape, the Roosevelt
Administration apparently has given
flee as the Eastern office of the Lea
que with Alfred Bingham, editor of
~