Evening star., 1933-11-26

|
to workers or consumers. In taking
this stand the Consumers Board raised
the flag of public interest to its mast
and gave notice of an intention TO &c
down fighting, if worst came to worst.
I have every confidence that 1t will not
come to this in N. r. A. under the
leadership of Gen. johnson: I do not,
! therefore, share the fears which seem
to underlie the statement. But it ought
to give every good citizen a feeling Of
confidence that his Government pro-
vides opportunity for such rigorous in
/ telligence to function. Without these
/ consumers groups N. r. A. and A. A. A
might much more easily become ve-
hicles for mutual exploitation by in
| terests with very private fish to fry.
| Without them the Presidents intention
/ to better the lot of common men might
| become wholly empty hope.
What Might Have Been.
The rather subordinate position of
| the consumers representa- tives in A. A.
A. and N R. A. and the disfavor in
which they are held by many people
within as well as without the organ
| ization underlineS the function which
| they perform. The tendency to think
of them as busybodies and obstruc-
tionists among those who think things
! might be done faster and with gentier
handling of orthodox interests. raises
! the question of ways for their closer
integration to the processes of code
and agreement making. Mostly they
are expected to be only critics, and
! critics are never popular with people
who are trying to get things done even
If there is nothing sinister which it is
desired to keen hidden
One trouble with the present situa-
ton is that the Governments conSid-
Grafton starts with a document pro-
posed by the industry itself. any
change in it after it is taken in charge.
is extraordinarily difficult to make. The
burden of proof lies on the wrong side
| The industry ought to have to eStab-
liSh beyond doubt that the public in
terest will be bettered by the instru-
| ment. Curiously enough however, as
! things have worked out, what the in
dustry proposes is assumed to be right
unless some one takes the trouble to
| point out something wrong with Ii.
This the consumers group does effeG-
| lively; but their actions are invariably
resented in the places where it would
be expected that they would find
gratitude.
10 Initiate recovery.
No one who is somewhat less than
naive expects an employer manager
group to come to the Government
bearing gifts for the public And
if some such impulse should animate /.
business man 1t would soon enough be
stified by his lawyers AS a matter of
procedure. therefore: it seems to me. it
| might be better if the Government
originated the proposal for each IN
dustry. After all, the purpose here is
to initiate recovery and to begin recon-
struction. The assumption Of these re-
sponsibilitieS ought to be carried
through by appropriate implementation.
Nothing could have been more helpless
and pathetic than these very business
organizations in the face of trial and
difficulty Their system broke down
completely and it was freely confessed
that they did not know what to do
| That governmental representatives
should now be looking to them for the
initiative Of changes within their sys-
TENS is asking the blind to lead u.s.
AS a matter of strategy. it is arguable
that the Government ought to have
taken the line in the first place which
is now proposed by Mr. Swope. This
would have kept the Government out
{
have taken quite different regulatory
line to insure reconstruction. 1t could
have extended public ownership rather
widely, thus training a personnel for
further extension when business choke /
again because it could not swallow all it
was willing to bite off, and demon
Strating once for all the superiority of
a Government civil service over a
! private one, or the reverse, as the case
might be.
Larger Issue Dealt With.
This. however, is all water over the
dam. Gen. johnson has chosen to set
up his economic forum and this con-
stitutes a commitment to policy which
Mr.. Swope was perhaps too close to for
posal was sufficient answer to the queS-
tion OF its feasibility. There is evi-
Gently no desire to have the Govern
| interest again to the mercies of busi-
ness. This being 50, prOcedural ques-
tions will doubtless be raised from time
Whether e any weT group 'n Wfl1 have so ocan con
sistent a record for rightness to point
to, or so able group assembled, as the
consumers representatives. They will
have established a legitimate claim to
more responsibility in the initiation of
proposals for industrial control than
has yet been given them.
1t is, of course. a much larger issue
which is being dealt with here than
appears on the surface. The whole
question of the way in which the Gov-
ernment ought to go about the busi-
ness of making this a better world in
which to live cannot be regarded as
settled I suppose this is one of those
questions which is never settled. But
it has been raised in so inSistent
form by recent happenings-the de-
preston. unemployment the breakdown
in world trade. the dispossession of
debtors, and all the other phenomena
associated with the crisis-that we are
particularly sensitized at the moment.
Longer Time Required.
Our turning our backs on laissez-
faire may just possibly have been pre-
mature. 1t certainly did not seem so
last Spring. The breakdown was so
complete that an end seemed to have
come at last to the nineteenth century
| and we seemed to recognize the reali-
ties of public needs in an age OF highly
developed technique. But with the re-
turn of a degee of prosperity and the
| opportunities which again offer OF COM
petitive advantages, it no longer seems
likely that industry will go far in
immolating itself for the public good
The resistance which is offered to any
kind of public control grows, also, as
time goes on. On the whole the process
of reconstruction looks now as though
it might require far longer time than
appeared necessary while ago.
The requirements are of the nature
of adaptation to new technique, how
ever, which cannot be banished from
the economic scene. We shall have tC
come to program which is in harmony
with it. This requires much greater
degree of central policy and purpose
in the industrial organization than we
could have had without the codes They
are, therefore, an advance in the direc-
ton we are compelled to follow. But
| meantime during the process of learn