Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1934-06-07
by William Bruckart


scheme for restoring forests that have
been cutover and constitute nothing
more than waste land; it provides for
selective cutting of trees in lumber
ing operations. and it is designed to
create in the minds of all citizens
the necessity for sustaining our for
ests against the time when, at the
present rate of destruction, there
would be no more lumber. l was sur
prised when the forestry service told
me that forest land was just about
one-fourth Of the entire area in the
United States. But the forestry Off
Gals reminded me at the same time
that unless there is a serious con-
servation movement, there is only
enough timber in sight to provide lum-
Der for about thirty years more
Mr.. Roosevelt is proposing legisla-
ton, most of which will be ready
for the session of congress meeting
in January, 1885, to provide machinery
for co-ordinating the efforts of the
federal and state governments and
for gaining the cooperation Of private
land owners in. restoring growing
trees.
A good many Washington observers
are wondering how soon the federal
trade commission
Headed for and NRA are going
CIo.h to lock horns. The
two agencies are
certainly headed in the direction of a
clash. 1t is generally conceded here
that sooner or later General John
sons NRA codes that establish mon
opolies in various fields of commerce
and industry are going to be made the
subject of pithy comment from fed
eral trade commission circles. How
soon it will come, or what form the
disagreement will take, of course, can
be only matter of conjecture now.
It is necessary to recall the basis
upon which the federal trade commits
sion was created in order to get a
clear understanding of the clash that
is to be expected. First of all, the
creators of the federal trade commits
sion had in mind the idea of fed
eral agency that could be watching
big business all of the time. Where it
found unfair practices, smothering of
the little Independent units, and such
other conditions as some sharp-shoot-
ing businesses use, the commission can.
and does, cite them publicly. It goes
after the facts in public hearings and
exposes the practices. 1t also issues
orders directing the offending bust
nesses to eliminate the Objectionable
practices. If they choose to disregard
the commission orders, the matter is
turned over to prosecuting officers of
the government and tougher penal
ties may be imposed.
Now, the national recovery act and
General Johnson's codes have gone a
long way toward making the commits
sion's guardianship of little business
nil in its effect. The codes permit
monopolies, or rather, the codes pro-
vide under the recovery act that the
antitrust laws shall not apply to those
businesses signing the terms and con-
ditions of the codes. 1t is seen, there
fore, that the provisions of the fed
eral trade commission act can hardly
be enforced. That is to say, the COM
mission cannot order business to
cease doing something that General
Johnson's codes declare to be quite
all right.
Thus far, the commission has kent
reasonably quiet about the thing. It
is true, however. that it's members
have thoughts about the situation
that would make interesting reading
If they were to be expressed openly.
The commission has kicked about a
few Of the codes in a mild sort of
way. It's criticisms have been tenn
pered, it is said, by the fact that
none knows exactly how to 20 about
effecting reconciliation Of the d.
verse positions enacted into law in
the recovery act and the federal trade
commission act. Apparently, there
have been no instructions from the
White House and so the commission is
looked upon merely as drifting until
such time as an administration policy
is framed.
But somebody is going to have to
iron out the differences. They cannot
go on indefinitely. That fact is OBJ
vious. When one government agency
goes ahead and allows a thing to be
done that another government agency
has been created to prevent, it is
automatic that a collision is going
to occur between them in due course.
Few observers, and few important
leaders as we'll, are willing to attempt
a prediction as to the outcome. One
reason is that NRA is under fire from
several directions and believe 1t can
not be said to what extent the general
principles Of NRA are going to be-
come imbedded in our Industrial struc-
ture.
Government officials are becoming
more and more concerned about the
growth of smuggling and bootlegging
of liquor. A. determined effort is be-
ing made to check this Illicit trade.
but the optimism expressed by officials
charged with the responsibility does