Evening star., 1933-09-03
BY WILLIAM HARD.
The old town is full of ideas-and

The old town is full of ideas-and it
needs to be. Everybody is asking
What will it all lead to neXt?"
The answers are numerous and some
Of them we'll thought out. For in
stance
The National Recovery Administra-
ton push toward collective bargain
ing and unionization may lead pres
emily to the erection in Washington Of
tribunals for the regularizing OF trade
union practices. The reason is already
being elaborated by employers who have
signed N. r. A. codes. They argue as
fellows:
We have now been obliged to deal
with unions. We also have been obliged
in many instances to subject ourselves
to rules of fair competition among our
selves in our industry. We are now con-
siderably regulated by the Government.
We cannot pay our employees less than
SO much money and We cannot work
them more than SO many hours. Very
well. now. on top of that. We encounter
a lot Of trade union rules established
by the organizations of our employees.
We contend that those rules should be
examined for their reaSonableness by
some public authority If our behavior
is to be regulated. the behavior Of the
unions should be regulated, too
Such is the argument and it finds
some support in labor quarters. There
=, are labor leaders who think that If the
present wave of unionization is to be
made permanent, it must take a course
that is satisfactory from the public
point of view. They think further that
a sanctioning of trade union regula
tions by a public authority would give
these regulations standing, fixity that
they could not otherwise have The
guess may be hazarded accordingly that
trade union practices as well as indus
trial business practices and agri-
cultural production and distribution
practices may presently be added to the
responsibilities of the Federal Govern
ment
Another possible development which
is the subject here of much speculation
is the extension of large governmental
loans to employers for the purpose OF
expanding employment under N. r. A.
auspices. 1t becomes clearly apparent
that the N. r. A. codes in themselves
will not produce by any means all of
the Unemployment necessary for COM
plete industrial recovery.
1t also becomes clearly apparent that
even the quantity of Unemployment
achieved under the present N. R. A.
codes is a considerable financial burden
to many business firms This is evi-
denced in part by the decline in bank
loans to such firms. They are not bet
ter risks than they were before. They
are worse risks.
Attention is thereupon directed once
n tho financial schemes QSSnriQtPd
with the names of Malcolm Churchhill
Rorty. the eminent engineer. and Fred
K Kent, the distinguished banker. Both
of these gentlemen have long advocated
the financing of business for the ex-
pansion of production and of pay rolls.
Their methods seem to differ. but the
end sought is the same. 1t is the broad
ening of purchasing power and the ac-
celeration of recovery through the re-
sumption of production on the basis of
credit extended to manufacturers.
This general idea seems now to have
been taken up in a special form by one
of Washington's most effective pro-
moters of ideaS-namely Mr.. Oswald
Schuette. He is believed to be advocat-
ing the pouring Of one billion dollars
of governmental money a month for
three months into the resources of busi-
ness firms for the precise purpose OF
the Unemployment of workers.
Again the guess may be haZarded that
some sort of move in this direction by
the Government is likely if private bank
loans to business firms do not soon rise
rapidly in volume The Government is
already financing production agricul-
ture on large scale. Almost million
and a half of farmers have borrowed
money from the Government for the
financing of the planting and growing
of their crops. It is at any rate not
unthinkable that the Government may
soon be financing industrial as we'll as
agricultural enterprise
It Is at this point-as indeed, how
ever, also, at almost all other points
that the monetary inflationists walk
again on the stage. They think that
the loans to business firms for re-em-
ployment should be in what their critics
call stage money" They argue that
by making these loans in governmental
fiat money there would be two benefi-
cent outcomes achieved at one and the
same time. First, people would be re-
employed. Second, through currency
expansion prices would be raised.
The gentlemen who take this view
are not easily discouraged and are not
unable to reach the Presidents ear even
if they are for the time being unable
to convince his mind. They are espe-
cially strong in their assertion Of the
total practical failure OF the sort OF in
flation produced by Federal Reserve Sys-
tenn purchases Of Government Securi-
ties. That method has filled the banks
with potential credit. but it has not
transformed that credit into actual
loans. Thereupon the "left-wing" in
flationists, If one may give them that
name. argue that imitation must now
take the form of governmental issues
of currency itself.
Several hundred bright ideas for car
rying forward the great work Of national
recovery are likewise rampant in Wash
ington and they do not fail to touch
the troublesome question of interna-