The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-07-05
Liberal Viewpoint
BY DIR. HARRY ELMER BARNES
This is the last of series of articles on thu
New Deal


This is the last of a series of articles on the
New Deal
YESTERDAY I paid tribute to the unique
L character Of the accomplishments Of Mr.
Roosevelt during the sixteen months Of his ad
mnistration. But any assessment Of his admin
istration which will conand respect or accord
with the facts must be something more than a
honey-pouring rite
There are some vital points in which the New
Deal does not measure up TO the reasonable eX-
pectations of even highly sympathetic observers
To these We now must pass in the final article
of this series.
To many the one insuperable obstacle to the
reha btation of American capitalism is the do
rninion of finance capitalism, by failing to ma
tionalize the banks last year, Mr.. Roosevelt lost
his unique opportunity to wipe out this mecace
with a single broad stroke.
Many and informed commentators believe
that this critical mistake foredooned the rest Of
his program to failure and that all his lesser
expedients are like manicuring as a remedy for
a cancer left in the body polite.
7 LIKEWISE. even though the government
l. appropriations to increase purchasing power
have reached an impressive total, this total is
not anywhere near enough. Moreover, the
money has been appropriated too slowly and
spent in such small dribbles as to fail to provide
the one great boost necessary to get us out OF
the ditch of the depression.
The efforts which Mr.. Roosevelt has made to
bring about a planned economy through the
NFA and the AAA both adopt very frankly the
principles of the old scarcity economy. The out
look wholly is out Of harmony with the char
acter of the modern chronological era in the
United States and with the richness Of our nat
ural resources. 1t is, moreover, completely out
of step with Mr.. Roosevelt's own basic declara
ton that the new era of capitalism must be an
age of consumers capitalism The producer
hoe fret IN Ia ct
been favored under the New Deal.
Then there are not a few striking contradic-
tons in the New Deal itself.
While General Johnson with tears in his
voice urges industries to keep their prices down,
Professor Warren works for a monetary policy
designed to raise prices. Through the AAA we
pay farmers to withdraw arabic land from cult
walton, while through the CCC and the IVA we
reclaim more land for cultivation.
THROUGH the Pecora investigation We
l. dscredted our great financial leaders and
then sent them back to control the American
economic order While eXhorting private en-
ployers to be generous and pay high wages the
government itself is unprecedentedly niggarly
in paying its own employees Long having shown
signs of nervousness as to the possible attitude
of the supreme court toward the New Deal, the
administration now fails to take advantage of
evident and unexpected liberalism on the part
of the court.
While Mr. Roosevelt certainly had saved us
from something far worse than the bank holiday
and the Hooverian chaos it must in candor be
admitted that no decisive turning of the corner
can yet be recorded.
An increase of 81 per cent in wage payments
in the first year of his administration was eaten
up by a 9.3 per cent increase in living costs.
The usual answer to this made by Mr. ROose-
veIt's "thick-and-thin" supporters is that Rome
wasn't built in day. To which the obvious an
swer is that the Romans had 700 years to build
the Roman city and Mr. Roosevelt won't have
much more than 700 days in which to prove that
he is going to make good his promises to produce
a new era of American Well-being.