Evening star., 1934-02-21
N.R.A. CLEARS WAY
TO HEAR CRITICISM
Johnson's Speech Expected
to Attract Thousands
of Witnesses.
Dy the Associated Press.

has sought from industry spread out
like the keyboard of a piano"
Hugh s. Johnson, administrator, did
the inviting in this fashion in ma
tionally carried address last night.
AS a result of his open request that
anyone with legitimate complaint
or suggestion about anything in N.
r. A." mail it or bring it to Wash
ington, officials today looked for per-
haps tons of letters and thousands OF
personal appearances.
The whole idea, johnson explained,
Is to root out abuses wherever they
appear"
A public hearing is to start next
Tuesday to prepare the way for an
other conference March that will
gather representatives of 500 indus
tries already under codes or about to
be. The hearing will be broadcast.
ANY fair minded critic presenting
facts rather than conjecture-any
earnest complaint-any man with
constructive uggeStlon-Should speak
at this critical hour" said johnson.
Admitting frankly that in some OF
the codes there are many discrep-
ancies, mistakes and outright blund-
ers to be corrected" he contended the
important thing is that 100000
people have been put to work, that
$4,000 100000 has been added to
their purchasing power"
As one step in its new campaign,
the N r. A. has enlisted again the
thousands of committeeman who
waged the Blue Eagle campaign in
every city last August. Their new
task is to focus local criticism or sug-
gestions on the administration.
N. r. A. State directors and out
standing business organizations like
wise are urging attendance or repre-
sentation at the meetings here, de-
signed to chart the final course for
the recovery organization.
Johnson described last nights ad-
dress as the most important issuing
from N. R. A, since the Blue Eagle
drive.
While calling for criticism how
ever, the administrator at the same
time lashed back at professional
criticism" that he asserted has often
"degenerated into scurrilous and per-
sonal appraiSementS of officials"
Finds No Precedent.
I'VE think there is no precedent
for neither OF these meetings" john
son said in referring to the forth
coming conferences. He elaborated
follows:
'First-No great governmental ad-
mlnistration ever voluntarily exposed
itself to general public review and
Second-Neither here nor in any
other country has it ever been pos
sible to hold a responsible and rep
resentative industrial and economic
congress-not merely Of commenta-
tors-but of the controlling units Of
practically the whole of industry and
commerce in the United States act
ing in partnership with and under
the ultimate control of government
itself.
The Roosevelt administration has
attempted economic planning for
concert of industrial and labor action
under governmental sanction and
control to better the condition of our
people. There is no use in planning
without an organization for action.
At September !, 1888. there was no
such organization. In the interven-
ing six months, practically the whole
economic structure of the United
States by its own voluntary action,
has put itself through codes OF fair
competition into a loose and hastily
formed organization
Explains Object.
"what is the object of all this?
1T has several very definite and
necessary objects.
Before N. I. R. A. our cluster of
private institutions was a leaderleSS
mob which by March, 1888, had de-
generated into economic anarchy. To
bring organization and order out of
this chaos required haste. You could
not do it by sitting in study turning
the leaves of book for precedentS
and guides.
There were neither precedents nor
guides. You had to act and you had
to fight. You had to make major
,organizational effort reaching every
part of this country within few
weeks, and you had to do it with
D governmental organization which, on
June 16, 1888, did not exist and has
now grown to more than 1,500 people.
"Under these conditions, of course,
there are things in some codes that
ought not to be there and things are
out Of some codes that ought to be
there. Some of the codes do not gee
with other codes and there are many
discrepancies, mistakes and outright
plumbers to be corrected.
New Jobs Cited.
"Serious as some of these things
are, the really important thing is not
that such is the case. The important
thing is that 100000 people have
been put to work, that $3,000,oO0, 900
has been added to their purchasing
mower
"The important thing is that in
dustry of this Nation is now organized
and ready to act to produce any result
that seems practicable and just,
whereas before this great effort, in
dustry was just collection of millions
OF separate units. There is the differ
ence in effectiveness that there Is be-
tween a handful of loose sand and
brick-bat. The ultimate aim is to
have the industrial control organiza-
ton spread out like the keyboard of
piano whereon by concert of action
economic harmony can at last be had.
I'VE are not yet at any such ideal
but we have gone far enough to see
the final result and to know that it
is now time to clean up the job thus
far completed. It is also time to see
what this new alignment of industry,
labor and Government can do to bet
ter the lot-not only of the comman
man, but of the whole economic body
of the United States. For we are all
in the same boat.
Responsibilities Listed.
an. r. A. has a triple duty.
"It is to see that industry does not
hornswaggle labor; that labor does
not bullyrag industry; that neither
separately, nor both in concert. shall
exn1oit ths consuming public Thus