Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1934-04-26

only course Is one of
watchful waiting. There is no alterna.
tive. Complex situations must work
out; Interior purposes must be dis
closed to slight degree, If there are
such purposes, and some scent must
be had Of the factors and influences
at work. Otherwise, appraisal Of the
potential effects usually will miss its
mark under circumstances of that
kind.
OF such a type were the charges by
DR.. William A. Writ, the school super
intendent from Gary. Ind. who as
serted that brain trusters' of the
Roosevelt administration were seeking
to overthrow our form of government
and establish a communistic or Rus
sian Soviet state in its place. Doctor
Wirt's accusations came out of the
blue sky, SO to speak. because there
was no advance notice of them. OF
course, there were thousands of per-
sons who were uneasy about the trend
of events and the plans of the New
Dealers. Apparently, however. most
of them were unwilling to make them
selves target for the unbelieving by
becoming vocal about their opinions.
So. the setting in which Washington
observers found themselves was, to
say the least, new one.
With these facts in mind, l have
awaited an exposition of Doctor Wirt's
charges before attempting to analyze
them or to fit them into other things
that have been happening to make a
complete picture. His appearance be-
fore the house committee of inquiry
left nothing to be desired in the dra-
matics. He was there, accompanied by
that famed attorney, former Senator
James A. Reed of Missouri, which was,
in itself, a surprise. And Doctor Writ
stood up against the barrage of at
tempts to discredit him! He never
fiinched; he fought back. and he was
apparently convinced of his own find
ings, a fact that gave him added
courage.
Doctor Writ wasted no words in tell
ing Of the famous party in a nearby
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Washington representative of the Rus
sian Soviet news agency "Tass" and
several satellites" of the brain trust
were at dinner with the Indiana edu-
Gator. He quoted Todd as the au-
thority for the statement that Presi-
dent Roosevelt was the "Kerensky'
Of the present revolution and that
presently Mr.. Roosevelt would be sup
planted by a "Stalin," even as oc-
CURED in Russia.
OF course, Mr.. Todd has no part in
the government, officially, and a good
many of those who scoffed at Doctor
Writ originally contended the charges
were just 'baloney." But he made
the statements under oath and their
effect now is the thing with which we
are concerned For to say that the
charges have had no effect is to make
a statement that the moon is made of
green cheese.
To those of US whose job it is to
keep finger on the pulse of public
sentiment, 1t has been
Reaction apparent for several
Sets In months that a reac-
ton against many of
the New Deal principles had set In.
]. for one, however, was unable to
gauge 1t accurately. could not tell
how deeply rooted these convictions
were. 1t required some such incident
as the Writ charges to focus attention
on the fact that there were doubters
before most Of us here could gain an
Idea Of the "oppositionist" movement
that appeared to exist. Let me say at
this point, too, that it is apparent Mr..
Roosevelt is not the only target; the
criticism seems to be more of the
ideas prompted by his brain trust adj
visers than the Presidents own re-
form or recovery principles. There is
a decided difference, one realizes, be-
tween the two, for one group in the
administration is promoting reform
and another recovery.
Here Is where the Writ testimony
becomes important in its effect. BY
making the charges, Doctor Writ d.
rected attention to the two schools Of
thought. In effect, he has called upon
the country to distinguish between re-
form and recovery programs, and has
asked the question whether we shall
sacrifice recovery in order that reform
ideas may be forced down the threats
of those who find 1t difficult to swal-
low untried theories.
There can be no doubt that several
millions Of Americans who, hereto
fore, were willing to trust Mr.. Roose-
welt to run the whole show, are now
making individual examinations of the
structure which the New Dealers have,
or propose to, set up. think it equal
~ true as well that these. examina-
tons by individuals will result in a
crystallizing Of opinions more than has
happened up to this time. They I'M
doubtedly will find some good and
some bad, some workable and some IN.
workable, items among the New Deal
plans. That ought to be a wholesome
thing for the country. History seems
to prove that a cross section Of our
national mind is nearly always correct
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