Evening star., 1934-03-11

tional industrial recovery act and the work.
ings under it of the National Recovery Admin
istration during its first months Primarily.
the act is a piece of enabling legislation
Giving the President unprecedented peace
time powers, it requires nothing of him. It
grew Immediately from the desperate business
emergency, but the pattern for it had been
established by the Interstate Commerce Com
mission various public utility commissions, the
Federal Trade Commission and wartime corpo-
rate bodies. After outlining the provisions of
the act, the authors discuss its legal and eco
nomic implications. Initiated a vigorous
remedy for the depression, it has a more far
reaching significance, as implying "a partial
loss of faith in the individualistic organization
of economic activity" and as potential means
of changing the control Of industry Under
lying it is an economic philosophy of collective
action.
Part II of this analysis. intended for the
general reader, deals with the activities of the
N R. A. under the act. The meetings of code
representatives in Washington has of late sug-
gested the meetings of rival clans in the zenith
days of the Scottish Highlanders. We read
about code conferences and wonder what is
happening. what is the method of procedure,
what is the inside story. The "A B c" tells
very lucidly what agencies are doing the work
the Recovery Administration proper, other
newly created Government agencies, extra
Government agencies, od-line Government
agencies-the relation of the agencies to each
other and their various lines of action One
of the most enlightening chapters is the
code making process. Another treats of the ad-
mnistration and enforcement of codes-a
difficult matter than making them. Some
300 codes has been set up at the time when
this book was completed. Voluntary compli-
is the aim of the Recovery Administrator
In conclusion, the authors summarize accom-
plishments but with true scientific caution
refrain from prophecy. 1T should therefore,
be reiterated the concluding thought in this
preliminary analysis that the more far-reaching
results of the law and its administration still
lie ahead" In valuable appendices a number
of public documents and samples of codes are
presented. The Brookings Institution has
also recently published Price Control Devices
in N. R. A. Codes" by George Terborgh.
WHAT IS MONEY? BY Victor S Clark
Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.
MONEY is both "yardstick by which to
w measure value" and a medium of ex-
change II is surprising that, with two such
important functions affecting daily life money
is SO little understood by the average person,
who takes little interest in it except when he
is without it finds it decreasing in value in
his pocket This book by DR.. Clark, consultant
interested reader. not the expert; for the
who wants to know all the forms his dollar
may take what has happened to dollars in
the past. what is happening to his dollar now
not the economist who contrives the COM
modify or the compensated dollar.
DR. Clark first discusses the different forms
of money-metallic money, bills of exchange,
bank money and government paper money
and explains most clearly the basis of the
value of each and their relation to each other
and to business transactions. incidentally,
often illustration he cites episodes in the
history of money, such as the effect none
tary markets of gold discoveries in California
about 1850 and the disastrous effects of the
Sherman silver purchase act $500, repealed
in 1898. The World War produced two i'm
portant monetary changes-the disappearance
from circulation of gold coin and the Grip
pling of international exchange. The silver
question, the gold standard managed money
and imitation unheatedly examined in four
brief. concise chapters. In the final chapter,
"Admontion and Benediction," DR.. Clark con-
cludes: "RicardoS maxim is as true today
it in 1916. If the state is to prosper,
money must be anchored to a stable standard
and its supply must be controlled by the auto
matte processes of trade and not by the die
tates of government"
DR.. Clark writes in style neither arid nor
pedagogic, but envened by epgram and
simile Credit is for finance he says, what
faith is for religion" The attitude of the
public toward the disappearance of gold coins
from circulation is thus described: people
did not wish to them go and probably
regarded the substitutes that supplanted them
with the qualified approval we bestow upon
the beautiful teeth associated with advancing
years. something not real but servceable."
Few statistical tables mar the pages, for 'sta-
tistics, like women, should shine by the virtues
of truth and modesty.' That is why we use
so few of them in this book" The chapter