Evening star., 1934-07-12
Rate bv Msil-PzyabIe in Advance.
Maryla nd and virginia.
Member Of the Associated Press.
Au ReVoir,

Gen. johnson has left Washington
for a vacation, TO be combined with
the business Of public speaking in
behalf Of N. r. A. He has left TO his
assistants the task. Of corralling into
the codes the remaining small indus
tries as yet unbranded. With re-
turn OF the old vigor which was so
Characteristic OF N. r. A. activities
last Summer, when one deadline sue
ceeded another deadline. the general
wants this done in thirty days. The
uncodified industries may sign the
general code. which was completed
yesterday, or they may accept in
dividual codes ON which hearings have
been held, or they may align them
selves under codes affecting kindred
industries
But at the end OF the thirty-day
period fixed for this cleanup Of codes
the N. r. A. will enter its second
phsse-that OF administering the
codes. BY that time Gen. johnson
hopes that he can share his authority
and his responsibility with the board,
which he has asked the President to
create.
Probably none of the new dealers
who have left Washington, along with
their chief, for richly-deserved yaca-
tions Is as much in need of rest and
relaxation as the general. They have
all worked hard, but none harder than
he. And, except for the President,
none has succeeded like Gen. Johnson
in identifying his own distinct charac-
ter with the new deal. To many the
general has been the personiflcation
OF the new deal He will always be
remembered when the new deal is dis
cussed in retrospect.
1t is probable that the Gen. john
son who went around the country
splitting fire and birthstone at the cor
porals of disaster, the small men and
the chislers has played his most prom
inent role. From now on, one
suspects, there viii be less of Gen.
johnson and more of the machinery
which he did so much to build. His
teammate, Donald Richberg, has been
assigned to duties which will lessen
his activity with N. r. A. The new
board recommended by Gen. johnson,
when it is created, will take most Of
the spotlight in the work of adminis-
trstion. Gen. johnson will probably
find himself less suffocated under the
weight of an emergency task that, up
to this time, required all of his time.
The general has done a good job.
He did not go about it as many would
have gone about it, or as many would
have preferred to see him go about it.
He has been arbitrary and there have
been times when emotion, rather than
cool reflection, seemed to dictate his
words and actions. He has used the
budgeon when its use did not seem
fair or necessary. His critics prob
ably outnumber his defenders. But
there are no criteria by which to COM
pare his efforts in the first year of
N. r. A with what other men might
have done, Few men in the history
OF the country have handled such
a task. He had to establish his own
precedents. And he leaves Washing
ton with about ninety per cent of en-
ployment working under 476 codes.
1t is not farewell, of course, to Gen,
johnson. It is su revoir. but the gen.
eral who comes back to Washington at
the end OF thirty days will possibly be
changed The role he is now to I'll
no longer calls for the Interpretation
with which the country. in the past