The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1933-03-17
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National Topics Interpreted "a fTYT71fTI&
by William Bruckart AIa<ITmT
National Topics Interpreted
by William Bruckar1

l COuSIeSS ID starting ou Will hohS
| millions of people
What Can figuratively pound
Congress Dor ing on its doors and
demanding that 1t
do something or other about the bank
ing situation and the economic panic.
Demands are being made that 1t Fix
things up"
The demands and appeals, the argu-
ments and the advice that is being laid
on the threshold Of every office door
In the Capitol carry every known
scheme, tried and untried, for dealing
with the disturbance in the delicate
balance of our economic and financial
machinery. Freak legislation pana-
ceas, curealls and patent remedies that
would put quack doctor to shame
are offered. Few of them appear to
have been thought through as to the
ultimate result, and gather from the
private conversations of senators and
representatives that they are becoming
| just little bit hardened and callOused
| about them.
That people everywhere are suffer-
ing is known. That the people have
right to demand that their government
do what it can is not to be denied.
But, seeing the problem from the view
point of Washington, your observer is
inclined to pause and ask what can
congress do? How can congress Xix
things up? What sort Of magic can
/ DraciInnf Dnncavnlt ayon1nxy thQt will
start the country back to conditions
that will provide employment for the
unemployed, food for the hungry, mar
kets for the products of the factory
and farm and stability for banks?
The last congress and the last adj
ministration tried to solve the prob
lem, and accomplished nothing. No
sooner had the Seventy-second con-
gress expired than we heard assertions
from those who saw their pet legis-
lation die that things would have been
better if only their particular bills
had been enacted. But the saner
heads among them know and admit
that enactment of all of the freak
bills in the world would not change
human nature nor amend the age-old
| law of supply and demand.
Whether President Roosevelt is de-
veloping an economic program that
will restore the confidence of the coun-
try in it's established institutions and
traditions, time alone will tell. 1t will
be slow process. A sitting down of
views of many of those upon whom
responsibility rests seems to indicate
that it may have strength because it is
slow in the making. The effects of
anything sensational are generally not
lasting, it is agreed.
well as Democrats have told me, there
is some ground for
Starts With belief that the mere
Wide Support change of control Of
the government may
result in some revival of confidence.
Look at the thing this way: Mr.
Roosevelt convinced good many hun
dred thousand persons throughout the
| country in his campaign that he could
do better job of running the govern
ment than Mr.. Hoover had done. In
convincing them. he developed their
confidence in him. It is considered,
therefore, that Mr.. Roosevelt is start
ing out with wide support. 1t is
claimed that the people will believe in
him and in his policies at least until
the error of his way is shown. In
| other words, according to the argu-
ment as it is advanced from this
standpoint, the bulk of the people will
be trying to help themselves when
! they respond to the appeal of their
| President
There has been an all-gone feeling,
a feeling of exhaustion, evident in the
months since the November election.
To put it In another form, many per-
sons showed their lack of backbone by
asking: what's the use? 1t is held
among many government officials that
this condition was directly responsible
for further declines in general condi-
| TONS
So the hope is, as I see it, not so
much in what congress can do but in
| whether Mr. Roosevelt can conserve
or increase the confidence he built
among the people. If he succeeds.
things will slowly straighten them
| selves out If he makes some bad mis-
takes, or If congress gets out of con-
! troll, many here believe we may as
well permit the depression to wear
itself out. Depressions have done
that in years gone by. History gives
no basis to expect that the present
disturbance will be any different in
that respect.
The President undoubtedly has
started off in the right direction In
holding confidence by the selection Of
his cabinet members. He picked a
group which is generally conceded to
be well balanced between conserva-
tiyes and liberals. That fact is made
| the more apparent from conversations
which one hears among the conserva-
tives and the liberals of the Presi-
| dents party in congress. The con-
servatives claim there are more con-
servatives In the cabinet than there
are liberals and the liberals claim
| they hold majority. Even some of
the breast-beating radicals lay claim
to Roosevelt recognition Of their
| philosophy in the official family. Such
cabinet, therefore, must be de-
scribed as well balanced. and on the
same basis 1t is to be assumed all Of
| those factions will stick with the Pres
| ident for awhile.
In the meantime, however, there is
| that sickening CRY of the suffering !: