The Daily Alaska empire., 1933-10-31


 den to see whether they have sprouted Seeing no sign of life above ground he digs up the seeds to have a look at them. The amateur cook would like to eat the cake when he has mixed his dough. The bad golfer looks up to see where his shot has landed before he has hit the ball. The results are inevitably disappointing In the application of measures during this crisis most of us fall into these bad habits, and raise unnecessary difficulties and disappointments. It is the part of wisdom in human nature to have true sense of the pace of action and the timing of events.
 One of the most dangerous forms that unwisdom can take is to fix @ date and say, unless this or that is achieved by that date, all is lost. In the months preceding the World Economic Conference, for example, statesmen all over the world made a point of telling their people that they must do or die at the London barley on June twelfth. There was to be either recovery or catastrophe at a cer- tain point on the calendar. What was the result? Though there was neither catastrophe nor recovery, the unwarranted expectations brought on such corresponding dis appointment, that the whole eff fort, necessarily complex and diff ficult, of international co-opera- ton was brought to complete standstill The world has to for get what it, expected in June be- fore it can again begin to do what it can.
 The same unfortunate habit of mind has played a part in the Disarmament Conference; Because Europe was deeply disturbed last spring, men whose ardor for peace is beyond question allowed them selves to make the mistake of pro- claiming to the peoples that un- less there was no immediate treaty a great disaster would ensue. Such talk merely aggravated the situa- ton. With Europe deeply disturb ed the prospects of an immediate treaty were poorer, not better, therefore insisting upon a treaty when it was not possible to make one, tended to add to the disturb ance rather than to allay it. In a critical situation the wise man promises only what he can surely realize, anything more than that sharpens the crisis by raising false expectations.
 In our domestic affairs we have indulged heavily in calendar-wor- ship. In Washington, for example, the administration of the N. R. A. has been beset by kind of breath less anxiety that certain definite results had to be achieved on a particular day. There had to be a million men at work by Labor Day. There had to be a million more by the New Year. And if there were not, the whole thing was a failure. At least two different kinds of mischief have resulted from this feeling that the whole experiment was race against the clock inexorably ticking its way to the millennium or to disaster. | It inspired N. R. A. admins trators to attempt much more than they could effectively handle. In- stead of taking up the problem of making codes for industries in the order of their importance, achiev- ing a series of definite reforms where they were most urgently needed, the N. R. A. jumped for the blanket code and got itself en- tangled in maze of inconsequent- al matters pertaining to little in dustries and little shops, to indus tries which are relatively in good condition and left itself all toe little energy and time for consid- cred action on the industries that most needed attention. The N R. A. will, I believe, prove itself to be a great boon. But there is no doubt that real progress un- der it would have been greater il problems had not been raised fast CT than the Administration wal prepared to deal with them. The sense of urgency the feeling that the clock was ticking, has distort- ed the perspective of the N. R. A executives.
 It has also distorted the per- spective of the people. All through out the summer they were taught to believe that the Blue Eagls was the sole bringer of recovery and that it was swiftly moving bird. The expectations raised from Washington could not conceivably have been met. The result ha' been to distract attention from the very substantial progress thai has been made and to fix atten- ton upon the promises that have not been fulfilled There is i'm patience, manifesting itself in many troublesome forms, because the N 1 ID r,ror,nicad t0n much fO<