Evening star., 1934-12-09

some in the administration.
I have spoken of a change in the
country's social structure and form
of government as one possible out
come, intended or unintended, of the
course, if accompa-
MED by prolongation of the depression.
A related but different possible con-
sequence of prolonged unorthodox
course would be imitation.
That the President does not desire
initiation Is an indisputable fact.
Indeed, one of the clear facts about
his administration, one of the points
about which he is consistent-con-
sistent in intention if not in action
is the Presidents wish to avoid in
f1ation Il use the word here as mean
ing violent inflation).
Yet everybody knows that infla-
ton may come as the result of a pro-
longed course in unorthodox manage
ment of the country's fiscal affairs.
Indeed, if the unorthodoz course is
sufficiently prolonged, imitation must
come. And when we look backward
to survey the Presidents relations
with his advisers in fiscal affairs, what
we see is disturbing. During the only
20 months of his administration Mr..
Roosevelt has chosen for advisers in
fiscal affairs four important men who
turned out to be conservative, and
who after urging the conservative
course, pretty promptly disappeared
from the scene.
Warburg Custer Recalled.
At the beginning of the admins
tration the President chose James
P. Warburg to be an adviser in fiscal
matters related to the London Eco
nomic Conference. Mr.. Warburg's ad-
vice was orthodox. and in about six
months he was out.
At the beginning Of the administra-
ton the President chose as Under
secretary of the Treasury the second
highest Office in the Treasury hier-
archy, Dean Acheson. Mr.. Acheson
was and is no moSsback conservative
he first came to Washington as pri-
vate secretary to Justice Brandeis,
for which reason and others he can
fairly be regarded as reasonably lib
eral. But Mr.. Acheson'S advice about
fiscal matters was orthodox, and with
in less than a year he, too, was out
out rather violently and on the Presi-
dents initiative-at least so it seemed
to those of us who observed.
The President chose, as his expert
adviser about international exchange
and other Treasury matters, DR.. o. M
w. Sprague, formerly adviser to the
Bank of England in similar matters,
and before that professor at Harvard
DR.. Sprague lasted about
six months, and was then out-out
with explanations which showed that
he believed the administration was
embarked on a fiscal course that was
radical and dangerous.
The President chose as director OF
,he budget, Mr.. Lewis w. Douglas.
Mr.. Douglas was a strong believer in
and energetic urger Of an orthodox
course. Particularly did he
believe in following policies which
would result in the earliest practi-
cable balancing of the budget and
therefore in the avoidance of infla-
ton. After some 18 months Mr..
Douglas resigned.
Roper and Hull Conservative.
Observers in Washington felt that
Mr.. Douglas did not get out, and
would not have got out, until such
time as he was convinced that un-
orthodox fiscal measures had been
carried to point at which they made
imitation serious possibility.
These four incidents show that in
fiscal matters it is not-decidedly it
Is not-the conservative advisers who
have most weight with the President.
1t is the same in the broader field
undertaking to classify all
the members of the cabinet, we can
say quite certainly that Secretary Of
Commerce Roper and Secretary of
State Hull are conservatives in the
sense that they would deplore, would
be somberly shocked by any departure
Of America from its traditional forms
Of social organization and Government
They are strong believers in certain
reforms, manly reforms set forth in
the Democratic platform of 1882; but
that sort of cure Of abuses in the old
system is as far as they go. Several
Of the other members of the cabinet,
perhaps majority of the cabinet as
q whole, are conservatives in the same
sense. Certainly Secretary of the Navy
Swanson is one. Outside the cabinet,
Vice President Garner is a conserva-
tive in the same sense. So is Senate
Leader Robinson of Arkansas.
On the other side, the group that
calls itself liberal-which is called
liberal if you like it but radical if you
do not-includes such men as the
of Agriculture, Prof.
Tugwell, and Mr.. Harry Hopkins, the
administrator of emergency relief.
attempting here to charac-
terize the social and economic beliefs
Of these men accurately, it is quite
safe to say they are-let us put it this
opposite of conservative.
There are others, but these are sufh-
GENTLY typical.
Numerous in Ranks.
Down the line a little ways, In the
secondary and lower ranks Of the ad-
the young men who be-
lieve in a pretty complete departure
from the old American system, who
have distaste for what they call the
profit system" or Capitalist system"
are numerous.
AS between the two groups, con-
servative and the opposite Of con-
servative, the latter have much the
greater access to the President, much
the greater influence with him. Most
of the conservatives are older men,
and the President likes to have youth
around him. Also the conservatives
are handicapped, I think, by con-
sciousness that, as respects access to
the Presidents mind, as respects the
Presidents sympathies, they are on
the weaker side. I should imagine
that Secretary of State Hull or Secre-
tary of Commerce Roper do not feel
that the President is on as intimate
terms with them, gets as much in
formal pleasure out Of seeing them, as
he does out of seeing Prof. Tugwell, for
example.
So the sum of all Is that within the
circle where much n0wer Is now