Evening star., 1934-09-28

months. He had several good reasons.
One was sincere personal respect for
and loyalty to the general, who did
such a good, unselfish job in the early
stages of the NJ r. A. (The President
has on several occasions stuck to his
friends long after many other people
lost patience with them)
Euen after the President made up
his mind. he tried to moUe indi-
rectly by Offering Johnson sec
onddry job in the N. r. A. reorgdnt-
cation. That iuaS done at Hyde
Park three weeks ago. To man
of Johnson's temperament the offer
tOas the same thing as delicate
imitation to resign later, but at
least it paS delicate.
Even then the break might have
been delayed beyond the November
election had johnson not made the
! speech a week ago in New York criti-
cizing the textile strikers and gliding
| indirectly at Justice Brandeis.
Those who were close to Hyde Park
said the President has rarely been so
angry as when he read that speech.
! Both he and Johnson knew the public
would believe the general was speaking
| for the administration, whereas the
Presidents real views are now known
to be directly opposite to those ex-
pressed by the general.
1t then became quite evident that
the general was too hot potato to
! handle much longer
Cagey About New Duties"
Both have been very cagey about
explaining what are the new duties
which johnson wrote he would under
! take for the present when circum-
stances permit"
The hint related to q suggestion
made by Mr.. Roosevelt in private
conference with johnson to the effect
that he would like to have johnson
act as a sort of contact man between
| the business leaders and the admins
tration. The purpose was to have
Johnson create an avenue whereby
business could easily present its
troubles to the White House.
! It is doubtful now whether the job
will materialize. Mentioning it merely
served to make the parting more
pleasant.
The ultimate end of the N. r. A.
cannot be seen by any one here
no,D. The President is cropping
toiUdrd compromise NTH the
Richberg-Perkins UieWpoint trhtch
pfH also gain the confidence OF
industry. He wants to "prdcttcdlize"
the codes.
Certain features are certain. One
is that the N. R. A. hereafter will
have little or nothing to do with labor
| That phase will be cared for by sep
arate relations boards for the largest
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. steel. autos
textile, etc. Standing over this ex-
tensive board machinery will be the
National Labor Relations Board.
Another phase considered almost
certain is the ultimate transfer Of fair
trade and code enforcement to the
Federal Trade Commission. The price
! fixing features of codes will be drop
| ped, but an effort will be made to
retain the theory of collective bar
gaining, minimum wage, maximum
hours and child labor
OIle JIllllS yOu Soll NC oulC Ol' AAAC
N. R. A. may not live as such, but
this administration is never going to
give up the effort to spread employ
ment by reducing hours.
Banker Issues Challenge.
While big business has not accom-
plished much in its challenge of the
New Deal, one little business man has
gone a long way without getting any
attention.
]. M Nichols, president of the 100
per cent liquid bank of a Chicago
suburb (Englewoo0, has written a
letter to F. D. I. C. Chairman Crowley
challenging Mr. Crowley to impose the
S100 a window fine on him for not
posting deposit insurance signs in the
windows of his bank. In fact, Mr..
Nichols asserted the deposit insurance
is "damnable piece of political trick
ery' designed to ruin sound banks like
his, by making them carry the load
for unsound banks. In the end, says
Mr.. Nichols, the Government will con-
troll all hanks nv running them all