The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1933-11-17
National Topics Interpreted
by William Bruckart

younger, observer uuTinS MS piCH"Oi
ship of England that
Self Control consequences flowing
for Industry from the acts OF
statesmen were the
things that mattered and the truth OF
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.
I 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 position
to survey the future who fail to see
anything in the picture other than con-
tinuation of some of the MIRA 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 MIRA was organized to
do hut. 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 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 he
superseded by trade associations for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 hut in which the government
would participate so that 1t knew what
was going on. The primary responsi
hility. as becomes readily apparent,
would be on the business interests and
| the government would horn in only
when human avarice or cr0Okedness
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
gigantic bureaucracy In Washington.
That is what is happening under NRA
and one cannot he blind to 1t even
while admitting the gains resulting
from NRA activities. When MIR. Swope
made his announcement before the adj
visory and planning commission of the
Department of Commerce. he barely
limited at that phase. vet 1t 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 a halt.
Mr.. Swope laid his plan before the
council and the nation with the ad-
mOnition that:
| FdU0r "If business does
Swone pIon 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.
It may he, and probably will he.
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 principle. ] 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 its
own standpoint; 1t will take either
something built up from the Swope
plan that will keep commerce and in
dustry on decent plane or II will
have to swallow further encroachments
from governmental bureaucracy.
II Is to be remembered that Presi
dent Roosevelt has insisted that he
Is not irrevOcably 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. thai II is
/ foI n hu Fri, nj nd ar