Evening star., 1933-11-26
us, FLAIR FOR RISK-TAKINC
CONTROLLING ECONOMICS
Federal Official Believes Reconstruction
Will Take Long Time During Process
of Learning Industrial Control.
BY REXFORD GUY TUGWELL.

consumer, and it will be an ever
i rarer day when he succeeds. say
that in full knowledge of the con-
sumer's long standing need for defense
against unduly high prices and inferior
quality.
The principal reason for this unhappy
state of affairs Is that there are very
few Simon-pure consumers. Most of lis
produce goods and services as well as
consume them. Sometimes our desire
for high price on the goods and Serv-
ices We produce conflicts directly with
our desire for low price. as consumers.
on the very same goods and services. 1t
is difficult to Undue a man with TIE
proper cruSading spirit when there Is the
chance that he may have to crusade
against himself.
Consequently. the only practicable
answer to the consumers need is to turn
the job over to some impartial agency
one which can view both producer and
consumer effectively and in the light
of the common good. Thus far, the
Government is the only agency which
qualities.
Common Mans Friend.
There are no better friends in Wash
ington of that imaginary man who IS
called common" than the consumers
representatives in N. R. A. and A. A. A.
The group in N. r. A. is called Con-
sumers Advisory Board: that in A. A.
A. is called Consumers Counsel; but
their functions are similar and equally
diff1cult-defense of the public interest
as over against the interest of workers,
farmers or employers. 1t is their spe-
cial duty, in other words, to point out
imminent or threatening instances in
which the pursuit of private or group
advantage may result in pubic injury.
1t is one Of the paradoXeS OF our SyS-
tenn of doing business for profit that the
good of each individual does not total
up to good for all. If each Of us were
allowed all the privileges to explicit
others which We believe to be in our
own interest the set of privileges al
lowed would be a total of rights which
would be wholly uncollectable. In such
a system. therefore, much depends on
a conflict which takes place in the open
by understood rules. In setting up the
emergency administrations which were
to have Jurisdiction over business the
present principle cf conflict was taken
into account N R. A. and A. A. A.
have been described by Gen. johnson
as "forums"-places where conflicts
could be threshed out in the open.
Aim to Protect Consumers.
It was conceived that the parties to
these continuing struggles for privilege
would be. in N. R. A. thTee-Workers
consumers. and owner managers. And
in A. A. A., the corresponding groups
had one more added-the farmers. The
three or four party conflicts which
were to take place had to have conf
petent representation There was no
difficulty about this for any group ex-
cept the consumers. The owners OF In
dustry have always maintained lobbyists
in Washington and they proceeded TO
strengthen them greatly. This was also
true of organized labor and OF the
farmers But consumers are amorphouS
and nco-ordinated. In fact, they
cannot be said to be a group at all Il,
the same sense as the others are. Yet
they have an interest in this struggle
which runs more closely with social
welfare than any other. 1t was hlgnlV
important. therefore, that able people
should be placed within each organlza-
ton to combat entertainments and to
insist continually that cosumers rights
should be protected.
The event has proven the wisdom OF
this conception. Within both organiza-
tions consumers representatives nave
stood sturdily for reduced spreads OF
prices. for closer control of business
practices and for adequate standards OF
quality. Frequently they have been
overborne rather by weight than by
logic. Yet. I suspect that when the
whole history of this experiment Is
written, the files Of these consumers
representatives will yield more Justlfl-
cation for the positions they have taken
than those of any ether group. Their
attitudes have been consistently pub
lie" that is to say governmental, II
we conceive government as active in
the general interest rather than sub
servient to any particular one.
Action on the Swope Plan.
There are many illustrations which
might be used to show the admirabl
cool but devaStatingly inciSive way in
which partisan 6e have of 0fsn fsa
more telling was the statement made
public just after the advancement by
Mr.. Swope of his plan for escaping
had its freedom from antiitrust
restrictions. The Swope plan, it will
be remembered, was referred to the
Business Advisory Council of N. R. A.
for study.
The Consumers Advisory Board
designed a committee for conference,
and in doing so set out the require
ments which it felt must be met by
such a plan:
l. There must be recognition thai
there are three parties in industry
the consumer labor and the manage
nent-owner group.
2. The Government, as representa-
tive of all three, must be in a fully
authoritative position to impose
checks and balances in order that no
one Of these parties should be placed
in "a position to dominate another.
3. w henever the management
ownership group is granted relief from
the regulating influence of competi-
ton in determining prices and other
vital terms in economic bargains, the
other parties to the bargain must be
strengthened, either through Govern
ment regulation or by giving them
equal representation in any bodies
which establish the conditions under
which transactions take place-both
conditions affecting price and affecting
quality.
Failed to Cove Protection.
This seems to me an admirable
statement of the present position ana
of what is needed to bring us out on
the right side of the present crisis.
1t makes no theoretical generalizations:
1t does not attempt to read an un-
guessable future: it merely indicates
that, under present circumstances, the
lamb of reconstruction must not be
shut up with any of the lions who
view it with such possessive eyes. But
besides being admirably timed and
accurately aimed. this particular state
ment was embarrassingly courageous. 1t
went on to say that in agreeing upon
the general requirements for an ade-
quate plan for industrial control it was
guided in part by the well-wnoWn TACT
that very frequently, when given the
dominant control of industry. the man
agement ownership group has failed to
protect successfully not only the in
ferests of the other parties in industry