Evening star., 1934-09-25
Fair Questions.

Chamber of Commerce are conscious
OF general state of apprehension
among the business men of the coun-
try" and much Of this apprehension,
in the chambers opinion. is due to the
enormous expenditures by the Gov
eminent. with increasing uncertainty
as to when and how the budget will be
balanced; the extension Of control by
Government bureaus over private
business. together with the growing
tendency Of Government to compete
with private business; increasing labor
disturbances and "utterances by those
who assume to speak" for the admin
istration which destroy confidence in
the security of property and invest
mentS.
AS supporters of the President and
his administration, the directors there
fore ask specific enlightenment from
the President on six points:
l. When and how is it proposed to
balance the Federal budget?
2. Is 1t the intention of the ad-
mlniStration further TO reduce the
value Of the dollar? If 50. then to
what figure and what shall be the con-
tent of the dollar SO reduced?
3. VIII the administration at the
earliest OppOrtune moment collabOrate
with the other nations in an effort to
.Nl.af . I,a
tlOnal stabIllzatlOn Of exchange?
4 VIII the efforts of the adminis-
tration be directed toward recovery by
the encouragement Of business initi-
atiVe, with minimum of Government
interference and control. and Will it
discontinue its activities in competi-
ton with private enterprise?
5. What is the administration
purpose toward agriculture?
6. Is it the policy of the admins
tration to continue the construction
and development Of public works not
now needed?
1t might require a longer time than
even the President could practically
utilize in one of his famous "freside"
talks to the American people to answer
all these questions, and none of them
can be answered categoric ally. But if
the President confined his next radio
address TO answering the first two
questions alone. with discussion of
the subject raised in the fourth, the
information thus furnished would be
of obvious value
Everybody is more or less familiar
with the increasing and large expendi-
lures by Government and of the abso
lutte necessity of balancing the budget
But the last word on the subject of
raising revenue to bring about a bal
anced budget was the comment at
Hyde Park. attributed to Senator Har-
rison, that new taxation might not be
Immediately necessary.
Such an answer of course. suggests
the imminenCe of the November cleo
tions rather than the realities Of
budget balancing. And it makes moIe
important the subject raised by the
Chamber of Commerce in its second
question. How much. in the direction
OF budget balancing and debt payment.
is the Government relying on further
dollar debaSement, by such process
adding to the profit which Secretary
Morgenthau not long ago referred to
as under lock and key in the Treas
ury's gold drawer?
At Green Bay the President added
to the uncertainties felt by business
men as to the direction of the plans
put forward as recovery eXpedients.
The uncertainty has been by no
means relieved by the utteranceS of
some of the administration spokes-
men, who apparently believe that
property rights and human rights"
are inconsistent. If not contradictory,
aims. and that the realization of the
one is impossible without destruction
of the other
The partnership Of Government and
business is, of course, the baSlcally
essential element in genuine recovery.
But there are rather definite roles for
each partner. In this case the buSi-
ness world demands, fairly enough,
a further and clearer enunciation
from Government as to the role it
intends to play. The questions raised
by the Chamber of Commerce cannot
be ignored, and the President should
take the opportunity presented to
answer them. Whether the answers
suit the interrogators is not nearly as
important as the clarity and definite
ness of the answers.