The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1933-05-19

by q committee of
81 congressional and in
dustrial leaders head
"ss's' ed by Senator Wagner
of New York. Some members of the
so-called brain trust" also had a part
in its formulation.
The bill provides for full govern
ment control of industries through a
federal board that would closely re-
semble the war industries board of
1918. AS summarized by one Wash
ington correspondent, it proposes to
set aside the antitrust laws, the fed
eral trade commission act, and the
Clayton act; empowers the national
board to designate any industry as
one affected with public interest !;
permits price fixing directly and wage
regulation indirectly under govern
ment supervision, and provides for the
self-organization of industry through
trade associations.
The major features of this bill have
been approved by the National Asso-
citation Of Manufacturers and by Pres
ident 81. I. Hartman and other Off
GERS of the Chamber of Commerce of
the United States. 1t was said that if
Mr.. Roosevelt liked it, the measure
might be offered to congress as sub
stitute for Secretary of Labor Perkins
bill establishing the 30-hour week and
bureaucratic control over production
and wage scales of industry. Or it
might be combined with the Perkins
bill, which was meeting with such de-
cided opposition in the house of rep
resentatives that the administration
leaders seemed ready to abandon hope
of its passage during this session.
This industry bill sets up a board
consisting of seven members headed
by the secretaries of commerce and
labor. The others are to be spokes-
men for commerce, finance, labor, ag-
riculture, and the public.
The plan sanctions the formation of
Industrial and trade associations which
shall work with the national board to
correlate production with demand,
establish prices of commodities at
fair levels, and stabilize markets.
WHILE the National Recovery act
w was still under consideration in
the White House, the President in a
brief message to congress asked imme-
diate passage of bill which he hopes
will rescue the railroads from their
desperate situation. It provides for
federal dictatorship under 'co-ordi-
nator of transportation" whose func-
ton it would be to eliminate duplica-
tion of services and wasteful methods
of operation and to bring about finan-
cial reorganizations. This authority
is asked for one year, though provision
is made for extension of the period
by the President.
The President also recommended
placing railway holding companies un-
der the jurisdiction of the interstate
commerce commission, repeal of the
recapture clause of the transportation
act whereby half of excess earnings
go to the government, liberalizing the
basis of rate making and modifying
valuation requirements. During the
period of emergency control the rail-
roads would be immune from prosecu-
ton for violation of the antitrust
laws.
Plans were laid to hurry the meas
ure through congress, and there
seemed to be little opposition among
either Republicans or Democrats.
MIR. ROOSEVELT, addressing the
lV1 Chamber of Commerce of the
United States at its annual dinner,
sought to dissipate the fears of bust
ness men that he was trying to bring
about a bureaucratic control of indus
try, intimating that this would not
come about if industry granted three
requests which he set forth. These
were that wages should go no lower
and should rise just as fast as indus
try improves; that business should
help the government to end cut-throat
competition and unfair practices, and
that leaders should work for national
recovery, not for the selfish gain Of a
single industry or trade.
THROUGH the house accepted the
l. imitation rider to the farm bill, 1t
did not agree to the senates amend
ment authorizing the secretary of ag-
riculture to set arbitrary prices for
basic agricultural commodities and
penalize sales below such prices, and
final enactment of the measure was
thus delayed. This difference of opin-
ion also led the farmers convention
in L)es Moines to order farm holiday
beginning May Is. the producers being
instructed to keep their products off
the market during the period of the
strike in order to starye the nation
Into complying with their demands.
Eggs. vegetables and milk are includ-