The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1933-11-17
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National Topics Interpreted "a fT7YTTTTfA
by William Bruckart kJnx5I51F
National Topics Interpreted
by William Bruckart

Things Inat martereQ anu the truth VI
his thought has had no better demon
| stration than in the turn OF events
which has followed adoption of the
principle of the national recovery act.
The acts of the statesmen, in this in
stance. conducted the national govern
ment directly into the middle of pri-
vate business, enterprise and initiative
under the guise of partnership with
the government. The consequence
| flowing from those acts Is the slow,
but certain, development of new type
of permanent self-control for industry.
/ am referring, of course, to the
| proposition that has come at once to
be known as the "Swope Plan," be-
cause 1t was Gerard Swope, head of
| the giant General Electric company.
who fathered the plan If, indeed. he
| did not work out the details, and gave
| it the impetus to carry on. The Swope
name is synonymous with big business
and Industrial leadership, hence the
prestige that the Swope plan had from
| the start.
But, whether business likes 1t or not,
| and whether the bulk Of the people at
this time agree with the principle,
have found few persons in a position
| to survey the future who fail to see
| anything in the picture other than con-
| tinuation of some of the NRA prin-
ciples, and Mr.. Swope's proposal per-
petuates them. Mr.. Swope appears to
recognize that there are numerous
evils in the MIRA system now obtain
| ing and at the same time to recognize
the necessity for a thorough house
cleaning by business itself. In other
words the Swope plan contemplates
| providing business with authority to
do the things NRA was organized to
do but, in the nature of things, cannot
possibly do.
Since there are too many details to
| permit Of discussion of all of them
in these columns, permit me to sum-
marize the Swope plan as logical set
up for the control of all industry by
itself, with a national chamber of
commerce at the top. In the admins
| tration of that chamber, the federal
| government would have a part, and
that provides the necessary govern
ment supervision. The present sys
tenn of codes for this and for that, hit
and miss. enforced by men and women,
who, in some cases, have had no prac-
tical experience whatsoever, would be
superseded by trade associations for
each industry.
| There would be the necessary regu-
| latory committees in which the indus
| trial folks themselves would be in the
majority but In which the government
would participate so that it knew what
was going on. The primary RESPONSE
bility, as becomes readily apparent,
would be on the business interests and
| the government would horn in only
when human avarice or crookedness
upset policies predicated upon sound
judgment and far vision.
The program, too, would eliminate
what observers here have feared con-
stantly, namely, the building up of a
| SlSduLlC Jul III "oohihSIOhs
That is what is happening under NRA
and one cannot be blind to it even
while admitting the gains resulting
from NRA activities. When Mr.. Swope
made his announcement before the adj
visory and planning commission of the
Department of Commerce, he barely
limited at that phase. yet it was plain
he was aware of the growing tendency,
since it is history how government en-
croaches further and further unless
the people themselves call halt.
| Mr.. Swope laid his plan before the
council and the nation with the adj
| monition that:
FAVOR "If business does
Suone Plan not organize to con-
troll itself, either the
state or the federal government will"
So the program was born, and it i'm
mediately received the blessing of the
administration and expressions of
| good luck from various other sources
1t may be, and probably will be,
that enmity and petty jealousy will
stick out for changes In favor of indi-
vidual groups, but as far as I have
been able to learn the structure has
been set up and it is likely to stand
| as a principle. l mean by that, the
chances are industry will choose In
the end to accept what it may consider
| to be the lesser of two evils from it's
own standpoint; it will take either
something built up from the Swope
plan that will keep commerce and in
dustry on a decent plane, or it will
have to swallow further encroachments
from governmental bureaucracy.
| 1t is to be remembered that Presi-
dent Roosevelt has insisted that he
is not irrev0cably committed to any
Of the plans for recovery which he
has sponsored. He has described them
generally, as he said of the agricul-
tural adjustment program. that it is
experimental. a move by trial and err
ror to determine what will end the de-
preston. Consequently. it seems fair
to assume that Mr.. Roosevelt will sup
port the Swope plan quite some time
yet, even if it goes awry in the end.
The President at last has launched
out on course of aid for the so-called
heavy industries. He has determined
on this program after long delay, and
only after he had been urged to do so by
dozens of men who ought to have some
understanding of the country's eco
nomic problems. The public works
administration loan to the railroads
was the first step and others have fol-
lowed. 1t is move designed to make
capital available for expenditure by
those heavy industries in the belief