The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1934-03-16

iidClS udu COLuc dlOHS, MI. poOSCNSil,
in the opinion of many competent OBJ
servers. would have weathered the
storm. Probably he would have been
the gamer. because few people are
willing to condone croOkedness.
! mentioned confusion as one Of the
main topics of conversation in WASH
ington. That is q
Much correct stat g.
rf ment. AT no time in
long acquaintance
with official affairs have l seen cir
cumstances in the nations capital In
which the moves have been so swift
that even trained observers have their
difficulties in keeping up. Actually, by
the time one gets thorough knowi-
edge OF changes resulting from one
move, another, or several, has taken
place. They have come, accurately
speaking, from all over town." for the
numerous agencies. administrators,
bureaus, departments and so forth are
scattered that widely.
Here is an illustration Of how things
change: from the various sources Of
Information which the administration
has set up, the correspondents were
led to believe that the Civil Works
administration plan of relief was go
ing along all hunky dory. Then, rath-
er suddenly, there came the happening
which l predicted some months ago,
namely, a lot of petty graft. Next,
Mr.. Hopkins, the administrator, made
a rather clean breast of the thing, say
ing, in effect, that the CWA had
Topped.
But few OF the correspondents were
prepared for the sudden announcement
from the President that a substitute
plan had been evolved The President
had been planning to eliminate CWA
relief with the return Of warmer
weather. Something had happened,
however, with which the correspond
ents were not made acquainted. This
was development of a conclusion that
industry, despite the NRA and other
New Deal plans, was not absorbing
workers as rapidly as had been ex-
pected Hence, the President decided
to continue the CWA program, but in
a different form.
1t ought to be said here that indus
try has not been entirely to blame.
Industry is recovering. OF that, there
can be no doubt. But the progress has
been just as slow as progress that
takes place when a human being re-
covers from long illness. Some of
the economists in the government have
been frank enough to tell me that they
had been too optimistic; they were
justified in their belief that recovery
was under way, and it Is happening,
but their guess had been wrong as to
speed.
Mr.. Roosevelt outlined in his an
nouncement a program of relief for:
first, distressed FAM
Relief lilies In rural areas;
prorro,, stranded f a m I Ii e
and populations in
communities where industries have
died, such as in worked-out coal mine
areas, and for unemployed populations
in large cities. From this outline, it
would appear that there had been a
great change in the method of dealing
out relief, compared with the present
system. As far as | can get facts on
this new program, however, there is
actually little difference. 1t may serve
to create a feeling of new progress,
and it may serve to get rid Of some Of
the appointees whose work has not
been satisfactory, without causing po-
Iitical strife, but l believe the end
sought will be no different than the
CWA plan.
While this has been worked out,
there have been new rulings galore
respecting the Agricultural Adjust
ment administration contracts with
farmers, relating to cotton, wheat,
corn and hogs; new policy also re-
speeding treatment of the dairy indus
try, and a new setup for handling for
eign trade. The treasury, with its
vast gold hoard has had to work out
details slowly, but there are myriads
of those details. And on top of these,
there has come a ruckus In congress
where 435 representatives and 30-odd
senators are up for reelection this fall.
There is more than a sprinkling of
these who want to restore part of the
veterans compensation that was taken
away last year by the economy act.
Then, there are the soldiers bonus adj
vocates. A year ago. Mr.. Roosevelt
could have said a whispered mo" on
any of these, and his wish would have
been an irrevocable order. 1t is diff
ferent now, however. and the breach
between the President and congress is
getting no better very fast.
Lastly, and to make more confusion.
General Johnson. of NRA, asked all
the critics to come in and have their
say. He invited them to "shoot the
works" Scores Of them came, and
were prepared to tell the general what
was needed in the revised NRA. But
General Johnson didn't tell the critics
when he invited them to Washington,
that he was going to tell them he had
worked out a new plan without con-
sulting them. Nor did he let them
know he was prepared to grab all of
the newspaper headlines for himself
by making speech of an hour and
half at the opening OF the conference.
| sat in that meeting to report my
impressions for you, and 1 must say
that the rumblings Of discomfort with
General Johnson's action were much
more impressive than the crack
r.