Evening star., 1933-07-23

RECOVERY IS HELD
us. EMERGENCY
Gen. Johnson Regards De-
preston IN Sense of In
vadins Army.
BY MARX SULLIVAN.

by MARX SULLIVAN.
The essential spirit of the national
recovery administration is that 1t shall
be . Nationwide movement including
emotional fervor. self dedication and
self-sacrince Of the same sort that at
tended the wartime Liberty Loan
drives. Gen. Johnson regards the de-
preston as an enemy in the same sense
Is an invading army. In that picture,
We must all stand together or all fall
separately.
In the spirit Of the national recovery
administration headquarters, one feels
that argument about the merit of the
plan, criticism of 1t, failure to give
complete assent to 1t. has the nature
Of lack Of complete loyalty In war time.
Gen. johnson u one Of the clearest-
minded and most just-minded men on
the American scene. He would be the
flrst to permit and admit argument
IS an academic matter. For the pres
ent. however, We are at war and war is
war. One gathers from the attitude Of
some ut national recovery administra-
ton headquarters that Newspaper writ
ers as much rs all others should con-
tribute to the common spirit of get
behind and push. Probably this Is
Just. This path out of depression has
been chosen by those having the re-
sponsibility. II it fails, the assump-
ton Is. the whole effort at recovery
fails and we are back in the pit.
picture Of the situation which Is
Unconditional would say not that some
oppose the national recovery admins
tration movement but some think 1t un-
necessary. A school of thought not
great In quantity but earnest and high
ly placed thinks we are on the way
to recovery through natural forces, and
that the national recovery administra-
ton movement Is not needed. Prac-
tically none say 1t will do any harm,
and even many Of its critics say 1t may
help.
Wartime Drives"
The plan. as to fully -tenths of
1t. Is . faithful copying of war time
drives" 1t includes features of the
Liberty Loan campaigns. the four min
ute men and Mr.. Hoover's food admin
istration. Many individuals who con-
Quoted the wartime drives are con-
Quoting the present one. Since the
wartime drives succeeded, it is argued
this one must succeed.
Some critics assert there are funda.
mental differences. One difference is
that the present Is not war time. To
this friends of the movement reply
that II this isn't war time it ought
to be.
Another difference Is that this meas
ure deals with labor all over the coun-
try in Q way that was not attempted
IN war time. In the war, labor ques-
tions were handled by arbitration. In
the N. r. A., rates of wages, hours.
and some other conditions are decreed
by Washington. Prediction Is made
by some that IS Q sheer matter of
administration this IS extremely diff
flcult. It Is easy to see how details
are going to pile up in Washington.
Nevertheless the policy Of the N. r.
A. is to keep all essential matters cen
trali1ed in Washington. 1t is fun
damental policy not to delegate any
essential power to anybody outside OF
nous accumulation Of detail here.
Interesting Illustration.
One day last week in an Eastern
city, q clerk read in the local news
paper that there Is to be q minimum
wage and maximum hours for white
collar" workers after August l. The
clerk, according to the story coming
from him, suggested to his employer
that the raise might as well be made
before August comes. Thereupon
the employer instantaneously became
an unemployer. The disemployed one
wrote the episode all out in Q tele-
gram which, judging by its length,
of his minimum weekly pay. The tele-
graphic complaint was duly put up
to" Gen. johnson personally. The
smiling equanimity with which he re-
ceived it is the best reliance for hope
that the whole NJ r. A. movement
may be made to work.
Gen. johnson really Is an ehicient
administrator. Nevertheless there Is
something certainly q little appalling,
perhaps q little absurd, about the
quantity Of detail that is going to be
dumped on Washington. It runs coun-
ter to every theory about decentrali-
zation. Practically every worker and
every employer in the country Is go
ing to feel that wage questions are to
be referred to Washington. Not mere
ly matters coming within the mini
mum wage rule. According to the
N. r. A. code. literally all workers are
Affected. Whenever q minimum wage
is adopted, all workers In the upper
brackets must continue to receive as
much above the minimum as they re-
ceiyed above the old one. Application
of these differentials Is going to be
intricate Is well as add to the cost
Of doing business.