The Washington times., 1933-10-30
JOHNSON TALKS
To SELL j. s.
On NRA
Recovery Program Crisis Is
Blamed on SIowness OF Works,
Agricultural Activities
Ry GEORGE r. HOLMES
international News service

VntPTnatl0nAI Nc"S
Faced with something ike
crisis in the whole far-flung re-
covery program, President Roose-
velt and his advisers were consld'
ering step today to coordinate ana
speed up the various governmental
activities, and thus meet the ava
lanche of criticism that has been
directed at Washington IN the
past few weeks.
Criticism of the NRA and its
companion organizations in the
recovery program has come
chiefly from the agricultural belt.
where farmers have been con.
fronted with increasing costs Of
the things they must buy While
unable to obtain commensurate
prices for the things they sell:
from the little fellows" hard hit
by the operation of the NRA
codes, and from various other
quarters dissatisfied with the
progress attained under the new
deal.
Coast Coast Tour
To combat this unrest, Gen.
Hugh S. Johnson, Administrator
of the NRA, probably will take
the stump within a week to sell"
the program to the country
johnson is contemplating a
whirlwind aerial tour across the
continent to the Pacific Coast,
with probably a dozen speeches,
to explain and defend the NRA.
He will be accompanied by Ed
ward F. McGrady, chief labor ad'
wiser to NRA.
At the same time, there Is
growing sentiment in Adminlstra-
ton quarters for regrouping OF
all Federal activities having to 10
with national recovery probably
under a single head, responsible
only to the President.
General johnson feels the NRA
has been unjustly blamed for
the activities, or lack of progress,
of the AAA agricultural Adjust
ment Administration the PWA
public Works Administrator,
and the various other Govern
ment units.
Wallace, Peek Raped
Repeatedly he has emphasized
that the NRA has to do only
with industrial recovery, and has
nothing to do with conditions in
the farm belt, where things have
become so bad that a strike" is
now in progress.
NRA officials privately charge
that the AAA, under Secretary Of
Agriculture Wallace and Geor.s
N. Peek. it's chief administrator,
has failed to keep pace with NRA.
This. they assert, is the un.
derlying reason for most of the
agrarian complaints against the
NRA.
And they complain, too, that
in the public mind there is a
disposition to blame every short
coming in the whole recovery
program upon the NRA, whereas
1t deals only with employment
and industrial policies.
1t is to correct this "misappre.
hension" that General Johnson
is contemplating his speaking
tour.
The Ford Situation
No definite itinerary has yet
been worked out, but speeches
are planned in Des Moines,
Omaha. Chicago, St. Paul or Min.
neapolis, Denver, and Pacific
coast cities.
1t is recognized by the Admins
tration that sooner or later the
constitutionality of the recovery
legislation may be challenged in
the United States Supreme Court.
Things are moving in that direc-
ton.
Henry Ford, whose refusal to
embrace the Blue Eagle has led to
retaliation by Government depart
ments refusing to buy his prod.
ucts. may be the agency of this
court test.
The expectation in Administra-
ton circles is general that Ford
will "bell the cat" either directly
or through some of his 5000
dealers scattered throughout the
country.
Beck'S Viewpoint
James M. Beck, former Solicitor
General and an acknowledged
constitutional authority, already is
out with a condemnatory opinion
that the whole National Industrial
Recovery Act is unconstitutional.