Evening star., 1934-07-08
BY OWEN L. SCOTT.

ton cruise President Roosevelt ex-
pressed to newspaper men the hope
that they would have no Washington
news to write about this Summer.
His remark was preceded by q sug-
gestion to the Governments leading
executives that vacation would do
them good. Mr.. Roosevelt obviously
wants the Capital TO be q quiet place
for the next two or three months, at
least.
What does this slowing Of pace
mean? Is 1t, as some are saying, q
sign that the Roosevelt revolution"
Is ended and that from now on the
principal effort will be to consolidate
ground already covered? Or Is 1t
just breathing spell until after the
Fall elections, when q new dose of
revolutionary reform win be offered
to the country?
The best answer obtainable in
Washington Is that a little of all Of
these ingredients are to be mixed in.
Mr.. Roosevelt wants to give the pub
lie rest after the hectic experiences
Of the past year. Also, he desires to
use the slack months of the Summer
to smooth out kinks in the new deal
policy and to bring q shift in its di-
rection- Then. after the people have
expressed themselves in November, II
indorsing the present program, he will
be ready to administer another dose
of reform.
Right now the picture is of unique
sort of revolution-if it Is q revolu-
ton that has been happening. Its
guiding personality, the President, is
outside the country, to stay away a
month. Many Of its leaders either
are heading for Europe or are out
of Washington on vacations. The
country appears tranquil, with no one
even thinking about whether the
Army is loyal to its chief or whether
tie Navy may be plotting q coup
d'etat.
If the United States is enjoying
dictatorship it certainly is of a new
variety. Unlike a Mussolini, or a
Hitler, or a Stalin-whose heads lie
uneasy-President Roosevelt today Is
carefree, out on the high seas He is
worried over no plots and over no
problems of loyalty that cannot easily
be solved without a firing squad. No
private army or private secret police
force is needed to keep the President in
office. Rather. Mr.. Roosevelt serenely
awaits q popular election in which
the people can say whether or not
they like his policies.
No one of responsibility is suggest
ing that the November elections be
called off or that the powers of the
new Congress be curbed. The Su-
preme Court is away on a vacation
and is coming back in the Fall to say
whether or not many phases of the
new deal can continue.
1t is strange contrast with coun-
tries where revolution has held sway.
Yet the man picked by Mr.. Roose-
welt to I'LL the most responsible execu-
tive position in the Government,
while he Is away, Is the man who has
most talked Of the new deal as a Sec
ond American revolution. That man
is Donald Richberg, until this week
general counsel Of the N. r. A. Now
Mr.. Richberg has been named by the
President as director of the new I.
z. C. Industrial, Emergency Com
mittee), charged with solving prob
lens of industrial recovery. He also
has been named executive secretary
Of the Executive Council, which Is
made up of members of the cabinet
and heads of the new alphabetical
agencies. In addition, Mr.. Richberg
is to be executive director of the Ma
tional Emergency Council, which is
supposed to coordinate new deal ac-
tivities out in the field. That is q
large and responsible order for one
man.
Mr.. Richberg has talked frankly of
revolution. But he thinks that what
the United States Is seeing is q differ
ent kind of revolution-one that il
bringing democratic organization to
industry and agriculture as well as to
Government. While talking of revo-
luton. he has been engineering new
deal policies 50 that they can have
a better chance Of weathering the
Supreme Court. MFR. Richberg be-
neves the court Is going to accept
the revolution he thinks has occurred
The Agricultural Adjustment Ad-
ministration under Henry wallace
/, Secretary Of Agriculture, and Chester
C. Davis, administrator. will continue
along the lines laid down.
But in the past these farm relievers
have been chasing q rainbow. Every
time they managed to get farm prices
higher, the prices of the things bought
by farmers were found to have gone
up Just about as much. This was
due In part to the N. r. A. code plans
| which permitted industry to control
prices.
Now the Recovery Administration 4
gradually Withdrawing support from
under an artificial price level In indus
J try. It Is scrapping policies that have
given about 100 industries. many Of
them important, n chance to place q