Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1934-05-10

n
from the things that
marked them as the New Deal" a
year ago. 1t can be doubted no longer
that he is veering away to some ex-
tent from the experimentation that
constituted the program advanced by
the myriads of professors with whom
he surrounded himself at the start of
his administration. Professors are not
carrying the water on their shoulders
that they did awhile ago, and it has
been noted that Mr.. Roosevelt is less
and less willing to leap before he
looks.
Upon the cut of the fabric at this
time, believe the consensus to be
that Mr.. Roosevelt is turning to a
more stable, as distinguished from a
theoretical, foundation for the future.
The developments have been predicat-
ed apparently on swing In public SEN
timent. Obviously, without public SEN
timent behind any plan, there will be
sundry, it is said the President is
seeking to establish confidence. Most
of all, and finally, it seems he has ar
rived at the necessity for winning con-
fidence of business people, big and lit
tie, so that distinct changes can be
expected through the summer when
congress is not here to worry him.
Doubtless, the trend towards the
conservative instead of the more radi-
cal course he followed earlier, is due
to the fact that the bulk of the people
now feel they have right to state
objections. Surely, objections are be-
Ing stated to a greater extent than at
any time since he took office. In 9TH
er words, the theories of the professors
have proved bad in spots, and any ma
ton of ambitious people eventually
will tire of preachments. The danger
is that the pendulum will swing too
far, and that the good and practicable
things of the New Deal may be washed
out by wave of conservatism and re-
action.
There are numerous things to which
attention may be called in demonstrate
ing that Mr.. Roosevelt is not going to
experiment too much in the future.
His fat-footed stand against national
izatiOn Of silver is one. His determi-
nation to tinker no further with the
currency Is another. A third indica-
ton is the Presidents decision to see
that the capital goods or durable goods
industry can have some relief, and an
other intimation is the way congress
has acted about the legislation to con-
troll the security exchanges. The Pres
ident could have made congress put
teeth in the stock exchange bill if he
wanted to do so. But he has held off.
Likewise, he has taken a position
against payment of deposits in closed
banks by use of inflationary schemes.
! All of these things are the vehicles of
those who would go far on the radical
courses.
Mr.. Roosevelt has not stressed NRA
expansion as his radical followers
thought he was going to press it.
Those who conceived NRA still do not
admit that NRA has ground down the
little businesses in the interest Of the
big ones, but Mr.. Roosevelt apparently
sees 1t. He is represented in high
places as hoping that the NRA board
of review will show up the weaknesses
of the codes so that notifications can
be made where necessary. Many of the
"NRA crowd" as they have come to
be known here, are disgruntled about
it. They think that NRA, like the
king, can do no wrong. Being a keen
student and master psychologist, Mr..
Roosevelt sees those things and he has
taken hold Of them apparently before
they have become so bad as to DESTROY
whatever benfits that may accrue.
What is the cause for the change
In the scenery? There are two rea-
sons of which hear
Too discussion most fire.
IdeoIisfic quently. Many of the
plans were too ideal
istic for use universally among prac-
tical people, and, the second, there is
a tendency to write "Thou shalt not"
into too much legislation and regula-
ton for carrying out the recovery pro-
gram.
The American people, as l Judge
them, will obey orders that change
their lives around for just so long.
Then, they blow up in big way.
For an example of what l mean, the
congress recently passed the so-called
Bankhead bill that will limit the pro-
duction Of cotton in the United States
to ten million bales annually. 1t is
compulsory. Unless a cotton farmer
agrees to reduce his acreage and COM
ply with the other terms of the law.
thou shalt not" market what is
grown without the payment of a heavy
tax. a tax so burdensome as to remove
any possibility of profit. Mr.. Roose.
welt signed the bill and gave it his
blessing, but | heard any number of
newspaper correspondents and obsery-
ers remark when they read his state
ment that he was saying merely that
he hoped" ii would be of some value
Surely, he did not predict its success
All through the various recovery
laws and regulations, one finds so
many Thou shalt nots" that one of
the eastern metropolitan newspapers