Evening star., 1934-06-17
(continued From First Page)

DCCduOC VI lIS IlOoU1llIl W tIlC ICCONCly
program. And on the other hand, it
Is just as decidedly condemned by
opponents of the program as spon
sorS of it.
The truth of the matter is that the
economists are in no sense responsible
for the program, which is poly
chrome quilt of many pieces cut from
the cloth OF labor interest, sectional
politics, business influence, commodity
speculation, political opportuniSm, So
cial reform and economic experiment.
In all the host of politicians, officials,
social reformers, military experts and
industrial potentates now contributing
to Government policies there Is only
tiny handful of economists. The po-
litical scientists, sociologists and law
professors-constantly confused with
the economists by the general public
and by themselves-are by the nature
of their trades distinctly not econo-
nistS.
The economists have no official
spokesmen. They do not, to use the
words of a leader of the new deal,
find it necessary to regiment" opin-
ion. Any one of them can believe
in paying gold contracts in gold
without being dubbed Tory. He can
even believe in a commodity dollar
without being cast out of the pro-
feSsion, though his colleagues NAV
hold private post-mortems on his
Judgment. This writer has no COM
mission to speak for the economists,
or any one of them except himself.
But there is a general economic
science that passes judgment on all
the measures of the recovery program.
Let us see what elementary economics
has to say about this program, as one
economist, speaking for himself alone,
sees it.
There are able men who see in the
developments of the last year a rev.
Olution that is undermining the foun-
dation of American economic life and
moving steadily toward a government
planned industry, or a Fascist dicta-
torship, or even Russian Commun-
istic tyranny. There are other men,
some of them able, who see in these
developments a grand program of re-
form that is ushering in golden era
of economic recovery, industrial peace
and social justice. In the light of
economic analysis, these two notions
are equally wrong. When the econ
omist tries to fit together the pieces
of the economic jig-saw puzzle carved
out in the last year he does find a
pattern, even though the general eff
feet is cubist, reminiscent of Picasso
or Cezanne.
There is no revolution in the pic
ture. Nor is there any economic mil
1ennium in which men can live without
work and poverty will be abolished
and all incomes will be equalized.
Taxation is the machine by which
wealth distinctions are destroyed, and
the Governments tax measures give
no evidence of intent to destroy the
rich.
In fact, there is little that is new
or novel in the entire program. In
f1ation and price-fxing and produc-
tion-restriction and wage-setting and
debt-Scaling are very familiar history,
from Sparta to Rome to Elizabethan
England to postwar Australia The
Romans tried them all. Analysis
shows that every objective of the
present program was also sought by
the Hoover administration, and about
half OF the measures of the new deal
were initiated before the present ad-
ministration took Office What is
really responsible for the fears of
revolution is the manner in which the
program has been instituted and ad-
ministered, with scant regard for
honest criticism, budgetary obliga-
tions, constitutional limitations, vest
ed interests and existing contracts.
What the picture actually shows is
a confused Government trying to
climb up three roads at once. One
road leads to relief, another to re-
form and a third to recovery. At
points the roads converge, for some
of the measures, like the N. r. A. or
the 30-hour week bill or the none
tary program, are aimed at reform
and recovery, or even all three of the
objectives The R. F. c., the C. c. c.,
the G. w. A, the F. E. r. A, the
H. o. L. G. and even the P. w. A.
are directed primarily at relief,
whether of the burdened mortgage
payer or the struggling bank or the
stricken railway or the unhappy VIC
tins of unemployment and destitu-
ton The securities act. the 1888
banking act, the stock exchange bill,
the food and drugs bill and the
Wagner bill are aimed at reform.
And the N. R. A, the A. A. A. and
the monetary program are intended
to force recovery.
1t is possible to apply the tests of
economic science to each of these
groups of measures and from brief
analysis draw a conclusion. The relief
measures are, on the whole, accept
able to economics. The r. F. c. at
tempts to aid sound enterprise en-
quilted by depression. Assuming eff
cheney in administration, such an
agency does a splendid service in re-
ducing tragic industrial and financial
mortality. The farm loan and home
loan projects and the Conservation
Corps are likewise excellent institu-
tions. The c. w. A., simply a sugar.
coated dole, was political neces-
sity after the failure of the other
projects to end depression, and the
Federal relief measures are appar-
emily necessary also.
Economists have felt some concern
lest these charity measures release
certain dangerous social forces and
breed certain unhappy social phllos-
cphies, but better these results than
that children shall 60 hungry A
government that regards every po-
litically important interest suffering
from depression as an OK in the ditch
must certainly aid that group which
of them all has suffered most and has
been least at falkland that group
Is the unemployed.
The reform measures, actual and
impending. range widely. They have
been bitterly attacked by able and
important men, and the charges range
from intolerable regimentation to re-
tardation of recovery. The economist
does not see in these measures either
economic ruin or personal oppression.
The banking act abolished interest on
checking accounts, divorced CONNER
cial banking from security promotion
and established temporary guaranty
Aor1, Jonoejto fa ho made rerYna-