The Daily Alaska empire., 1933-12-29

Many ob CT vers. contemplating the enormous extension of govern ment control over American eco- homie life, have come to the con- clusion that we are on the road to a planned economy in the Rus sian style. Looked at superficially the immense regimentation under N. R. A and A A. A. does have some such appearance. The re- semblance is increased by what some of the active workers in these two esta blis hments have said. Nevertheless, I believe that the ap- pearances are misleading and that there is a difference between Rus sian collectivism and what is being set up in Washington which is so fundamental that to ignore it is 1 to misunderstood both.
 The difference is that the Rus sian planning is a gigantic col lective effort to increase produc- tion in a country which does not have enough of anything, whereas the American regimentation is a collective effort to curtail produc- ton in a country which believes it has too much of everything Stalin is concerned with five-year plans to grow larger crops and build more factories and turn out more goods. Secretary Wallace and General Johnson make their plans with the conviction that we must grow smaller crops and discour- age the building of new factories and turn out less goods. Russia is attempting to solve the problem of scarcity; America, at the mo- ment, is attempting to solve the problem of temporary glut.
 In studying N. R. A and A. A A. A. with a view to forecaSting their future it is important to fix clearly in mind that both have been set up, and both have received ! the support of American producers because of the general impression that prices have collapsed owing to an over production of goods. But for this belief we should not have them in anything like their present form. The long term social re- forms have been grafted upon this basic conviction among produc- CTS that there must be a collective restriction of production. There fore, important and desirable as they are, they are incidental. The | limitation of child labor and of sweating, the encouragements of collective bargaining, the codes of I fair practice to reduce commercial corruption. the effort of the A. A A. A. to do something about tha old problem of the middleman-all of these socially desirable measures have been advanced so quickly by voluntary agreement, rather than. by the slow process of legislation, because farmers and business men believe they have to produce less in order to earn more. Thus the, A. A. A. derives it's vital force from the fact that it offers to raise farm prices by paying farmers to reduce their crops; the N. R. A. derives it's vital force from the de- sire of established industries to stabilize" themselves. Its method is to encourage cooperation by relaxing the antitrust laws and. the purpose is to keep production down to the effective demand.
 If you remove from both experi- ments the idea that production has to be curtailed you remove from them their major principle. Take out of A. A. A. the subsidies to re- duce crops. and little would be | left. Take out of N R. A. the right to combine for what used to be called restraint of trade. the right directly or indirectly to fix prices at the highest net return rather than by the law of supply and demand. and little would be l left of the business mans enthusi-. asm for the experiment. Take out of the public mind, of the mind of Congress, and of the Admins | tration, the idea that we are over whelmed by our productivity and you would have the greatest diffi- culty in obtaining assent to the toll of the processing taxes or to the relaxation of the antitrust laws.
 Thus. while there are many who would in theory like to see plan ned economy that is not why we have all this planning at the mo- ment. We do not have it because of Professor Tugwell's doctrines. as suming he holds the doctrines im- puted to him. We have it because the great majority of the people. seeing the surplus stocks, the emp tv factories, the idle cars and ships, think there is over production and that we cannot recover without curing it.
 To anyone who believes, in a mood of hope or of fear Git makes no difference), that A. A. A. and N. R. A. are revolutionary changes in the organization of capitalism the question may be put: what do