Evening star., 1934-04-22
"Brain Truster" Tells U. S.
Editors New Deal Is Re-
turn to Democracy.
EUGENE MEYER RAPS
"YOUNG THEORISTS"
Declares Pre-Roosevelt Legisla-
tion Worked Out by Loyal Amer
leans After Careful Thought.

ReXford G.. Tugwell, Assistant Sec
retary of Agriculture, and sometimes
termed the mo. / man of the Brain
Trust" last night described the new
deal as a return to democracy.
Speaking at a dinner at the Willard
which brought to close the twelfth
annual meeting of the American So
ciety of Newspapers Editors, Tugwell,
whose name figured prominently in
the recent Writ revolution" inquiry,
replied to critics by describing himself
as a convinced believer in the demo-
cratic process"
To the recurring assertion that the
Roosevelt administration is drifting
toward dictatorship, he replied:
The sovereignty of the American
people is the real source Of this ad-
ministration's power; there is not
man among you who does not recog-
nize this, though there are some who
appear to resent it.
Drift Halted.
81 for one do not wish to supplant
this sovereignty with another kind
whose theory is that for some groups
and interests there should be i'm
munity from the political control.
That way lies economic oligarchy. 1t
involves the creation of autocratic
institutions which are alien to the
American spirit. We were drifting
toward them in the postwar years;
our present return to democracy con-
stitutes, believe. their final repudia-
tion in this Nation"
From a newcomer into the news
paper field, who occupied high place
in both the Wilson and Hoover ad-
came, however, a diff
fering note.
Eugene Meyer, governor of the
Federal Reserve Board under Presi-
dent Hoover and a member OF the
War Industries Board under President
Wilson, who now is publisher of the
Post, said the country's
most immediate danger" lay lin the
of the young intellectuals
who are now apparently directing the
policy of the administration
New President Elected.
Prior to the dinner, which was at
tended by more than half a hundred
editors from over the country and
their guests, with William Allen
White, the sage of Emporia." as
the board of directors
met at the National Press Club,
where the society's sessions were held.
and elected Grove Patterson of the
Toledo Blade as president. He Sue
ceeds Paul Bellamy of the Cleveland
Plain Dealer.
Earlier the directors had been
charged with another duty-that of
deciding the attitude of the organiza-
ton toward the recently formed
Guild. This move was de-
cided after long debate and met with
the charge from one of the editors
A. E. Mccullough of the Lancaster
(Pa) Intelligencer-Jou that the
society was gum -shoeing" on the
issue.
Method Held NameIess.
In his speech, Tugwell character
lied the efforts to control farm pro-
duction by the Agricultural Adjust
ment Administration as "a demo-
cratic process revised to meet the
of a world economic sys-
tem." adding that it was not a meth
cd 'tor which any doctrinal name is
The inability to define such a proc
ess in any known words or catch
phrases "infuriates many people," he
said. observing that they insist that
it be called socialism, fascism or
Il sympathize with this impulse
because it is a highly academic one
and, as you know, am a professor,
he said. But I can't agree that ma
tional policies ought to be shaped
with reference to any dogma just so
that detractors can conveniently at
tach a label to them and find a
library full of ready-made criticisms"
False Labels Used"
"Some of the less discriminating
Tugwell said, have not hesi-
tated to use labels, even though they
might be obviously inappropriate"
The assertion that American farm
ers and business men are being "regi-
mented" under methods now employed
Continued on Page 4, Column l.)