Evening star., 1934-08-12

fSonNBteNG FTytH FaAt FaAFi
IL extended Only 70 Improvement iu
the condition OF the unhappy victims
Of the swest-shop wages and hours in
ewiable In depression. Any material
shortening of hours In sbe midst Of
depression would certainly raise costs
Any material increases IN wages be-
forr revival Of demand would cer-
tainiy mean further unemployment
There was never. ~ any point. any
suggestion Of a reasoned economic
program.
This explains the bedlsm that has
developed In operation. the n r. A.
became the fabled i1eadless forsenlsn
Of all economic programs. The most
unbelievable things were introduced
into IL The Presidents re-employ-
rarnt agreement. the Blue Eagle. price
fixing the Government boycott. the
huy-now campaign. the frenZied cam
paign TO coerce employment--none Of
these was in the Law Read the Law
and then consider that Il was ruled
last Summer that q church employing
three persons had to come under the
statute
Those who have regarded the
~ r. A. as the iron regimentation Of
n ruthless dictator should study its
recent whirllng -deryish performances
IN reference 70 price fixing. the service
industries. the labor issue. Government
contracts. Henry Ford and the Harri-
man mills. The N r A. looks much
lace tfka a fssva :, ,.fea1 Eirfafor ,t,r.,,-
ing a relentless course toward fixed
goal and much more like Eliza cross
ing the Ice, with the bloodhounds close
behind.
Theory Confused.
And so with the A. A. A., the
G. w. A. and the p. w. A.. hastily
conceived projects based upon con-
fused theories about production. prices
and depression, each an individual
patchwork device AS whole, they
represent no reasoned, deiberated
economic philosophy whatever. The
A. A. A. was a combination of unsuc-
ceSsful expedients and rejected pro-
posalk of previous years II is essen
tally the application of a theory of
domestic overproduction to a world
market condition. The cotton restric-
ton Law was merely an extension Of
the original error If the A. A. A.
had not. very fortunately. been me-
chanically unworkable, 1t would have
been, in combination with the
drought. a national disaster. II the
unco-ordinated and unrelated expert
ments of the last year are economic
planning, so is blind-man's-buff.
The truth is that economic planning
of the ruthless type is not possible
in this country. It calls for a dictator,
and our political system does not per-
NIT an economic dictator With all
allowance for the economic ignorance
of the masses and the feeble repre-
sentative capacity Of Congress, we do
have representative democracy.
The system by which the Legislature
Rppropriates, the executive admins
ters and the Judiciary interprets is
clumsy and creaky mechanism, but
II has the virtues Of its vices. Die
tatorial planning calls for the sur
render OF the legislative branch and
the intimidation Of the Judiciary
and these things are not possible.
May Be Nullified.
The reason does not lie in any in
herent virtue OF democracy. @The
high-sounding phrases of political
philosophers do not explain this siiu-
alton. The reason is craSsly ma
terisl one. Radical planning means
vital injury or extinction to large in
terests. Every major economic inter-
est In this country has strong repre-
sentation in Congress. visible or in
visible. Further. every such interest
can in one way or another bring pow
erful pressure to bear on the Execu-
tive. Finally, the judiciary, guided
by the Constitution. is obligated to
protect established interests. The