Evening star., 1933-05-07
ROOSEVELT SPEECH
|PLEASES BUSINESS
Members of U. S. Chamber
Reassured by Utterances
Of President.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

Business men of importance from all
over the land have been here last week
getting a slant on the Roosevelt ad-
President Roosevelt at the Thursday
night banquet Of the United States
Chamber Of Commerce and Secretaries
Roper and Wallace at their day ses-
stons. They came away with the def
mite impression that the bark Of the
Roosevelt regime is worse than its bite
and that there Is no serious intention
here to ruin the country either with
printing press money or State So
cialism."
Impression Made.
The President made a profound I'M
preston with his brief speech It had
a world Of meaning in it. Some Of it
went clear over the heads Of his lis
teners, judging by some Of the COM
ments afterward. but there were many
who caught the significance of the
little anecdote at the end Of the pre-
pared address.
Mr.. Roosevelt asked the business
men-and there were heads of most
all Of the important corporations seat
ed before him-to be sure the wage
level did not lag behind commodity
prices when the upward swing starts In
earnest. But while he begged the busi-
ness executives to do all lin their pow
er" to raise wages. he promised them
not exactly in exchange, though it
sounded that way to some-an i'm
munity from the operations of the anti
trust laws
When the President pointed out that
there were minorities in many industries
who would not conform to trade prac-
uce codes drafted by ma aiorities and who
would probably not agree TO curtail-
ment Of production, he added a warn
ing that the Government would help
enforce majority rule. This was not
lost on any hearers, especially later on
when the President used the word got"
50 often to illustrate his point, and
wound up his speech by spelling out
what he called a new international
word, GOT"
Word Got" Emphasized.
Although Mr.. Roosevelt did not say
so explicitly, he conveyed the meaning
that minorities and "die-hards" in the
business world have just got" to come
along with the procession.
Comments Of the business leaders
varied. Most all OF them said the
President had a remarkable personality
and that he delivered his speech effcc-
lively. Some were disappointed that he
did not say what he would do about
the powers Of imitation he is shortly to
&c given by Congress. Others thought
the appeal to raise wages was dema-
goguery intended to satisfy labor.
But the concensus of those who were
familiar with the efforts Of the college
professor and radical group in the last
70 "a
gwen industry chance at self-regula-
ton and that even though it might in
volve some readjustment it was much
better formula than 30-hour work week
bills or Government ownership Of key
industries. Unquestionably they were
pleased by the willingness of the Presi-
dent to take business out OF the strait
jacket imposed by the old Sherman
laws and his readiness to fit all in
dustry to the new conditions of recon-
struction.
Roper Attracts Attention.
Secretary Of Commerce Ropers sug-
gestion Of presidential council of
business men, to be chosen by business
ITSELF attracted much attention, for
business men feel such an advisory body
to pass upon all the various schemes
to regulate industry would be helpful
to both the Government and business,
1t would be understood. of course, that
| the council would be purely advisory
and the administration would be free
to accept or reject its suggestions.
The desire Of the Roosevelt admin
istration to win the confidence Of busi-
ness was expressed In many ways this
week and there are signs that many
OF the business leaders think the effort
was successful
tCopyright, 1933)