Evening star., 1934-03-04
Allen Nevins

Allen Nevins
Continued From First Page.)
and what does it involve for the fu-
ture Of the entire Nation?
The new deal In America has meant,
essentially. something as clearly need
ed by this country in 1888 as peace
and an equitable land system were
needed by Russia in 1918, and in
ternal order by the Italians in 1928.
What Is It? In a phrase, the substi-
tuition Of a cooperative type of So
cietJ for the old naked individualism.
This implies q great deal. It means
fairer distribution Of prosperity and
opportunity; less greed. less con-
fusion, less waste of the national
heritage, less of that savage compe-
tition which tramples the weak un-
derfoot; more planning and foresight.
1t means government controlling busi-
ness, not business controlling govern
ment.
An Outgr0wn System.
This is the vision which the admin
lstration, confessedly not without
errors, has tried to hold up and real
LIE. The old postwar individualism
had its healthy and vigorous side,
rightly extolled by lovers of the more
rugged virtues. But it belonged to q
more primitive age; to the day of a
half-conquered continent and looser
society. The Nation had outgrown it.
Our frontier BACKGROUND had been
left far behind. The basic conditions
OF our national life required radical
change, and the depression illuminated
that fact as sudden plague illum-
mates a country's deficiencies in pub
lie health, or war its inadequacies
In manpower and equipment.
Actually there are no revolutions in
American life-there are only evolu-
tlons. But there are times when, II
the gathering elements Of change are
long pent up they suddenly burst
through the barriers and rush out with
the impact of flood. That happened
In 1893. Under Theodore Roosevelt
governmental restriction OF business
ruthlessness- than government
tai control of business-had been car
ried past the angry opposition of the
Hannas and Aldriches. In Wilson's
first administration the same restric-
tive and constructive tendencies had
been placed above property values-in
the seamen's act and child labor leg
islation; steps had been taken to help
industry plan its future-in the Clay
ton act, the Federal Trade Commits
sion: the Government had helped
banking and finance put its house in
order-in the Federal Reserve act;
greed had been checked-in the Un-
derwood tariff: the administration had
encouraged those forces distributive OF
wealth.
Necessarily, all this was halted by
the war. Quite unnecessarily, much
of it was kept at a halt later by the
combination Of postwar lassitude and
postwar plethora. History will yet dc
justice to President Hoover's fine in
tentions, his gallant fight in various
directions to further national we'll
being on the broadest scale. But
there remained too much truth in the
statement that Frank I. Cobb. editor
Of the World, had made in Har-
per's Magazine in 1923:
American democracy is now a stag
nant democracy. The great world
stream of popular government has
swept past it. leaving it isolated
Woodrow Wilson's apt quotation from
Lewis Carroll should never be for
gotten. Unless government runs nearly
as fast as 1t can all the time, 1t drops
behind the unresting ever-accelerat-
ing forces Of economic and social
change. 1t had dropped far behind by
1892.
The Economic Struggle.
Historically. much may be said fol
the contention that the dominant
force in our political history for 9
hundred years (setting aside the two
decades in which the slavery struggle
rose to climax has been the rival
ry Of jealous groups over the alloca-
ton of our surplus wealth by the Fed
eral and State governments. The
stakes. In lands, tariffs, franchises and
contracts. subsidies and tax exemp-
tions, have been huge. No other ma
ton has ever had such an economic
surplus to divide. Consequently. the
struggle has often been crude. With.
In IS years We have seen special in.
terests-as in the seizure of oil lands
under Harding and the crowding Of
tariff beneficiaries around the Ford
ney-McCumber and Smoot- -Hawley
committee rooms-strive shamelessly
to get all four feet into the trough.
When Mr.. Roosevelt came in he ap.
parently had two possible courses. He
could stand aside. as Grant did aftel
the panic Of 1873 and Cleveland aftel
the panic Of 1893, and let the careen.
ing vehicle right itself; he could ac-
cept Mr.. Coolidge's much applauded
view that "the business Of America i.
business" and the Government mus
not interfere with it. Or he could in.
tervene actively to control and police
economic affairs. 1t is only in thu
too-long- conservative United State:
that the decisiveness with which hi
thrust laissez faire aside could occa.
sion surprise. BY so doing he simply
brings the United States abreast of the
other industrial nations, which have
long since abandoned the Manchester
tenets.
We have been told repeatedly of late
that the history of the last year shows
the administration pursuing two dis
parate and to some extent conflicting
aims-to restore prosperity and to ini-
tiate program of social and economic
reform. But a more careful review ol
the IL months shows that 1t has
actually been following three great
policies. They are Cd to restore q
moderate and normal prosperity-not
the flush and frenzied times Of 1928
1929. but average good times: co tc
achieve an economic stability which
will safeguard the community from
future repetitions of our recent dis
aster, and (3) to initiate broad re.
forms in the distribution Of wealth
opportunity and leisure.
1t would have been easy enough tc
bring back prosperity of q sort. Ths
business cycle had commenced its up
ward swing during the Summer o1
1882. But what kind of prosperity
was returning? We had major panics
in 1887, 1857. 1873. 1893 and 1907