Evening star., 1934-06-29
The New Deal.

President Roosevelt, ADDRESSING lne
American people last night. asked
them individually whether they had
benefited under the new deal program,
had paid too high price for these
gains, and had lost any of the freedom
of action guaranteed them under the
Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
81 have no question in my mind as
to what your answer will be-" said the
President. The record is written in
the experiences of your own personal
lives"
The President, of course, is con-
fident that the American people as
individuals and as Nation have
benefited under the new deal The
proof of the pudding is in the eating
When the people go TO the polls next
November they will vote their indi-
yidual feelings in the matter Of the
new deal.
The address of the President to the
people made no mention OF partisan
politics. Indeed. he laid stress upon
the unusually non partisan manner
in which the Congress has dealt with
the administrations legislative pro-
gram. There was no mention OF
Democrat or Republican. The distinc-
ton drawn by the President was be-
twen the new dealer and the old
dealer. And as the foremost cham
pion OF the new deal, the President
in a talk easily understandable laid
the new deal before the people for
their individual consideration. Not a
word was said by him regarding the
coming elections for Congress. But
no word was necessary. He advanced
the cause of the few deal, which is 10
be the primary issue in the campaign.
He undertook to show the people
where they had materially and socially
benefited under the new deal. And
he asked them, quite fairly, whether
they considered that the price they
had paid for the benefits had been
too high. He denied fatty that there
was a breaking down of individual
liberty under the new deal.
The Presidents address was at once
a defense of his program and chal-
lenge to its critics. 1t will serve as
a pattern for the Democratic orators
who will go into action in the con-
gressional campaign. and for those
progressive Republicans, like Norris OF
Nebraska and johnson Of California,
who will also campaign for the new
deal.
Undeniably many men and women
and children in this country are bet
ter off today than they were fifteen
months ago. More of them have
work, many of them are better paid,
and those who are on the relief lists
receive more aid. Many of the new
laws have been salutary, particularly
those which strike at the loOSeneSs
which prevailed in the banking sys-
TEN, which guarantee the safety of
the peoples earnings in the banks,
which attempt to curtail racketeering
and crime. But the new deal is dis
oF, IN, of oa
N R. A. and the A. A. A, the laws
passed to aid industry and agriculture
and to stablish-although it was not
so stated-a new social order.
These measures are still, after a
years operation, in the experimental
stage. The N. r. A. has several things
to its credit, including the virtual
abolition of child labor and the in
crease of minimum wages. But there
is growing feeling in the country
that it is reacting to the interest of
monopoly and against the small buSi-
ness man. Under the A. A. A. huge
SUlIlS VI IldNC bNOi PuiA ONV w
the farmers, but the farmers still
grumble because the prices of their
commodities have not advanced as
they think they should. Furthermore,
the farmers dislike, in many instances,
the limits set upon their productive
capacity.
The laws enacted at the session just
closed have undertaken thu ough the
taxing power of the Government to
control absolutely the production OF
cotton and tobacco by the individual
farmer. They are compulsory. There
is no question that they lessen free
dom of action by the individual. II
such laws are enacted to cover other
crops, liberty of action will be further
curtailed. Under the codes set up in
compliance with the N. r. A. liberty
of action by the individual Is limited
There cannot be the slightest doubt
of that. The worker may not work as
long and for as much or as little as
he pleases. The employer may not
exercise his own Judgment regarding
wages and hours of labor. These cur
tailments OF liberty, the new dealers
contend, are in the interest of the
great mass of the people. That is
their defense. But it does not wipe
out the fact that freedom of action
has been restricted.
Payment in dollars and cents OF
the bill for the new deal has not yet
been begun. That will come later in
taxes. Every one will agree with
President Roosevelt that it was neces-
sary to succor the starving and the
destitute; that it was necessary to