Evening star., 1934-05-21
IGNORED accurate
Data, Says N.R.A.
Counsel.


N. R.A.:
The general observations and de-
tailed recommendation Of the Re-
view Board, following a haphazard,
one sided investigation, would be in
comprehensive without an under
standing that the board was simply
seeking to justify a preconceived
opposition to the fundamental the
ories and purposes Of the national in
dustrial recovery act. This is plainly
revealed in two statements OF the
board, which are In hopeless conflict
with each other.
On page "a OBJ the board pro-
claims:
"All competition Is savage. wolfish
and relentless; and can be nothing
else. One may as well dream OF max
ing war lady-like as Of making COM
petition fair"
On page 81 the board proclaims:
"A return to the antitrust laws
for the purpose Of restoring COM
petition we believe to be one of the
great needs of the times"
Advocates Struggle.
Thus the board fatty advocates
that a modern, civilized nation should
abandon any effort to promote fair
business practices and should re
turn" to a savage, wolfish" struggle
for individual survival
Then the board Immediately repudi-
ates its own expressed convictions in
the following utterly inconsistent
recommendation:
I'VE believe the competitive system
Is compatible with regulation as to
hours and wages"
The board does not explain how
hours and wages-that is, labor
costs-can be regulated without there
by regulating competition. The board
ignores, or is ignorant, of the ele-
mentary economic fact that II 1t were
possible to regulate land presumably
TO increase labor costs) while main
tanning otherwise savage, wolfsh"
competition, large enterprises, f1nan-
cially able to lower costs by increas-
ing machine production and to under
sell competitors in savage price wars
regardless of cost, would drive all
small enterprises" out Of business
and obtain monopolistic controls of
production.
Past Is Example.
The business records Of the last so
years show clearly what would hap
pen If the nonsensical program rec
commended by the board could be
made effective. The board also fails
to suggest how hours and wages can
be regulated by valid Federal law ex-
cept through codes of fair competi-
tion.
The explanation Of the contradic-
tory nature of the boards conclusions
may be found in its selection of q
noted Socialist, who advocates COM
plete Government control of business,
to write a report for philosophic an
archists who apparently oppose any
Government control Of anybody, in
Guiding criminals.
The result is report which on one
page recommends return to the law
Of the jungle and on the next page
recommends that business be sub
jected to more detailed Government
control.
Ignored Accuracy"
A careful examination of the rec
ord of the hearings shows that in or
der to arrive at its previously deter
mined verdict, the board took and re-
ported any testimony t h a t would
serve its prejudice without regard to
the competence or bias of the witness
or the palpable falsity Of his state
ments: and declined to avail itself of
abundant sources Of accurate infor-
nation which were open to its inves-
tigation.
The detailed analyses of the argu-
rientative conclusions and briefs"
filed by the board. which are at
tached hereto, justify sweeping con-
demnation of the methods and men,
tai processes whereby the board ar
rived at It's unsupported and insup-
portable conclusions.
Examples Cited.
A few examples of the manner in
which the board accumulated misin-
formation in order to arrive at false
findings of fact will be presented.
Electrical Manufacturing The board
gave no notice to the N. r. A. and
made no request for information al
though every complaint presented had
been covered during months of ex-
tensive work upon this code. After
three days Of fruitless hearings the
board was forced to its conclusion
that any "monopolistic conditions in
this industry do not result from the
code, but from the control of pat
ents and other long standing factors" I"
The board then recommended ad-
ditional members for the code au-
thority-a matter brought up by N.
r. A. two months before the hearing
and agreed to by the industry.
Footwear Division Rubber Manu-
featuring: The board heard the COM
plant of four companies that were
opposed to the code and found they
were small enterprises" which were
being oppressed" One Of these is
the fourth largest in this division
of the industry and another is the
Goodyear Rubber Co., which has
small volume Of production In this
particular line, but Is q very large
enterprise in the field OF rubber
manufacture.
Low Wages Charged.
Another one Of the four small"
companies employs nearly 1000 per-
sons, pays low wages and sells most
OF its output to q mail order house
thus underselling independent mer-
chants. These small concerns" had
all refused to sign the Presidents
Unemployment agreement.
The board reports that the d.
visional authority is composed Of
three men representative Of and hav-
ing interests in the large COM
panies''-which simply Is not true.
The three members of the authority
represent one large, one medium and
one small company.
The further findings Of the board
include q large number Of similar
misstatements Of fact, detailed In the
attached review Of this report, which
merit the comment of the deputy