Evening star., 1934-07-06
President Asks Study of
Plan by Various Admin
iStration Officials.
SOME OF B0RAH'S
POINTS RECOGNIZED
Would Perform Trade Commission
Work in Preventing Monop-
olies and Lawless Business.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

An entirely new body to take the
place of the N. r. A. and to perform
the functions of the Federal Trade
Commission in so far as prevention of
monopoly is concerned has been rec
commended to President Roosevelt by
Gen. Hugh S. johnson.
The President has asked various
officials Of his administration to study
the Johnson recommendations with
view to putting them into effect
shortly.
Nobody has had Gen. JohnSon's
opportunity to study closely the COM
plants against N. r. A. and the trou-
bleS that have arisen out of fixing
prices or establishing minimum wages
and working hours.
The general may or may not be a
part of the new picture. 1t depends
on his own wish in the matter. For
the President has confidence in the
generals recommendations and is
ready to accept them with such
changes as may be suggested by mem
bers of the cabinet who are going
over them in detail
Chance for Business.
There Is a clear recognition in
Gen. JohnSon's report of some OF the
points stressed by Senator Borah, but
there Is no desire to throw business
into chaos once more by putting the
vaguely phrased antitrust laws into
operation again.
What the new program strives to
accomplish is to prevent any and all
the abuses of monopoly which the
antitrust laws were designed to cure
and at the same time to give business
a chance to know in advance what is
and what Is not lawful
The talk therefore now is of some
high court Of commerce which can
take appeals from decisions of such
tribunals as may administer the
codes. Briefly, the aim is to revive
the purposes of the antitrust statutes
without their cumbersome admins
trative difficulties.
This trend has been apparent for
more than a decade and might have
come gradually but for the emer-
gency which required Government in
tervention in business on wide scale.
The effort now is to bring about
system in which it cannot be claimed
that business is being regimented or
that individual initiative is being
stifed, yet produce some order of
discipline in the economic world which
will prevent vicious practices from
undermining the whole works.
johnson Needs Rest.
Gen. johnson is tired and worn out.
1t would be better perhaps to say
he is burnt out, for no man has given
of his vitality and energy more un-
self1shly than the general. He needs
a long rest. In his absence doubtless
others will rise to power and will get
much of the credit that will belong TO
Hugh johnson for his sensible reor-
ganization plan. But when he does
come back to Government-as in
evitably he must-there will always be
in the Roosevelt administration
place for him.
Why, it will be asked, will not Gen.
Johnson head up the new operation?
Because he himself has recommended
the establishment of a board or COM
mission. 1t will not be a one-man
affair. And it will be quasi-judicial
rather than administrative. Gen.
johnson took up the task year ago
when it was a one-man job. He drove
through the making Of 450 codes.
He provided under the stress OF
emergency a machinery it might have
taken years to set up. Some Of the
economic doctrines of the N. r. A
have been open to criticism. There
has been confusion and plenty OF
ground for complaint. But the
framework Of a new era in business
is available for the future. Labor's
problems have been shifted now to
the new labor tribunals 1t remains
now to develop a system OF regula-
ton for industry that will on the one
hand depress monopoly, but on the
other will give legitimate business a
chance to expand and grow.
Mr.. Roosevelt has tentatively ap-
proved the johnson plan. While the
President is on his voyage, his col
leagues will continue their studies.
It would not be surprising if the first
work of Donald Richberg, co-ordina-
tor in chief, would be to collect the
views of administration officials on
the johnson plan and send them on
to President Roosevelt.
Copyright. 1934.D