Evening star., 1934-10-01

Recently the most notaplc pupilo
questions that have concerned us all
have to do with industry and labor,
and with respect to these certain de-
velopments have taken place which
I consider of Importance. I am
happy to report that after years OF
eliminating in the col
LAPSE of the Spring OF 1888. we are
bringing order out of the old chaos
with a greater certainty OF the en-
ployment of labor at a reasonable
wage and of more business at a fair
profit. These governmental and IN
dustrial developments hold promise
of new achievements for the Nation.
Men may differ as to the particu-
lar form of governmental activity
with respect to industry and bust
ness, but nearly all are agreed that
private enterprise in times such as
these cannot be left without assist
ance and without reasonable sate-
guards lest it destroy not only itself,
but also our processes OF civilization.
The underlying necessity for such &C
tivitv is indeed as strong now as 1t
was wears ago when Elihu Root said
the following very significant words:
Instead of the give and take OF
free individual contract, the tremen-
dous power of organization has COM
bined great aggregations OF capital in
enormous industrial establishments
working through vast agencies OF COM
merce and employing great masses OF
men in movements of production and
Transportation and trade, so great in
the mass that each individual con-
cerned in them is quite helpless by
himself. The relations between the
employer and the employed, between
the owners Of aggregated capital and
the units Of organized labor, between
the small producer. the small trader,
the consumer. and the great trans
porting and manufacturing and dis
tributing agencies, all present new
questions for the solution OF which the
old reliance upon the free action OF
individual wills appears quite made
quate. And in many directions the
intervention Of that organized control
which we call government seems nee
essary to produce the same result OF
Justice and right conduct which OBJ
tanned through the attrition OF In
dividuals before the new conditions
arose
Early Problems.
1T was in this spirit thus described
by Secretary Root that we approached
our task of reviving private enterprise
in March, 1888. Our first problem was,
of course, the banking situation, be-
cause, as you know, the banks had
collapsed. Some banks could not be
saved, but the great majority Of them.
either through their own resources or
with Government aid, have been re-
stored to complete public confidence.
This has given safety to millions of de-
positors in these banks. Closely fol-
lowing this great constructive effort
We have, through various Federal
agencies, saved debtors and creditors
alike in many other fields Of enter
prise such as loans on farm mortgages
and home mortgages, loans to the rail-
roads and insurance companies and,
finally, help for home owners and in
dustry itself.
In all of these efforts the Govern
ment has come to the assistance Of
business and with the full expectation
that the money used to assist these
enterprises will eventually be repaid.
I believe it will be-
The second step we have taken in
the restoration of normal business en-
terprise has been to clean up thor
oughly unwholesome conditions in the
field of investment. In this We have
had assistance from many bankers
and business men, most Of whom
recognize the past evils in the bank
ing system. in the sale of securities.
in the deliberate encouragement of
stock gambling in the sale Of un-
sound mortgages and in many other
ways in which the public lost billions
of dollars. They saw that without
changes in the policies and methods
of investment there could be no recov-
cry of public confidence in the secur-
ity of savings. The country now en-
joys the safety of bank savings under
the new banking laws, the careful
checking of new securities under the
securities act and the curtailment of
rank stock speculation through the
securities exchange act. I sincerely
hope that as a result people will be
discouraged in unhappy efforts to get
rich quick by speculating in securities.
The average person almost always
loses. Only very small minority of
the people of this country believe in
gambling as q substitute for the old
philosophy of Benjamin Franklin that
the way to wealth is through work.
Recovery Organization.
"In meeting the problems Of indus
trial recovery the chief agency of the
Government has been the National Re-
covery Administration. Under its
guidance trades and industries COW
ering over go per cent of all industrial
employees have adopted codes of fair
competition, which have been ap-
proved by the President. Under these
codes, in the industries covered, child
labor has been eliminated. The work
day and the work week have been
shortened. Minimum wages have been
established and other wages adjusted
toward rising standard OF living.
The emergency purpose of the N. r. A.
was to put men to work, and since
its creation more than 4,OOO,O 900 per-
sons have been re-employed, in great
part through the cooperation of
American business, brought about un-
der the codes.
Benefits Of the industrial recovery
program have come, not only to labor
in the form of new iQhs in relief from