Montana labor news., 1934-09-06
The Washington Scene
BY Len De Caux

-
WASHINGTON. - FP9 - The
Roosevelt administration has never
had TO face the most dangerous force
in American politics and now Wash
ington thinks that test may be upon IT
That force is the bitter laugh of the
amused and disillusioned.
1t is no fault of President Roosevelt
or any of his advisers that this sum-
mer has seen the worst drouth in
many decades if not in the history of
the nation. But the drouth came after
the administration had forced through
a program of reduction of acreage and
reduction of crops which was to bring
higher prices for the farmer (although
not for the consumer and solve the
agricultural problem. That combina-
tion-plowed-under crops and crop
killing drouth-is a scene to make the
gods laugh. Whether the heavy
footed G. o. P. will be able to take
advantage of it is another matter. The
AAA boys rush from their price
boosting job to their price-lowering job
with the hope that no one will smoker
as they scamper across the stage.
Nor is the picture in industry much
lacking in material for bitter mirth.
The Blue Eagle has been domesticated
by such big industries as steel, auto
mobile and textile and ever such small
plants as the Hartman Mills seem TO
have frightened the presidents bold
cavalry general out of his riding boots.
If an effective %cartoonist pictures the
Blue Eagle melting in an abandoned
factory, the idea may catch the peo-
pies humor and the Congressional
elections be lost, politicians fear.
How much Roosevelt policies have to
do with the fact that industry is in
the doldrums and getting in deeper is
a matter of debate. The fact remains
that business indexes show activity
well below last year, although above
the lows of 1882. Last year, it is re-
membered, administration leaders were
asking the country to await patiently
the working out of the NRA. The
country did. And here we are.
One of the important causes of the
business drop in the U. S. is the eco
nomic situation abroad. The tiny
boomlet of recovery which swept the
world for several months has col
lapsed and every observer there is
tense with the feeling of approaching
crisis. One of the Washington letters
mentions the probability of revolution
in Europe in every foreign issue War
would bring revolution, it says in one
issue. Peace and the lag in employ
ment will bring revolution, it says in
the next. 1t doesn't help the conf
dence of the presidents business ad-
visers.
1t has been a G. o. P. custom for
many years to claim the credit for
good crop weather and good business.
Then the G. 0. P. brought the great
est crisis in economic history and
Roosevelt went in with his promise of
recovery. During his first months the
recovery talk sounded good and looked
real. Now, political observers say, the
time has come when he must make
good on that falkland do it soon.
If the sag of business and the suffer-
ing in agriculture continue on into
November, the honeymoon will be def
initely over. Whether it ends in a
loud guffaw at the AAA blowing I'M
der a drouth and a Blue Eagle which
is really just a sparrow-or ends in a
roar of rage by millions of the hungry
disillusioned, only time will tell.
%%%
You don't understand these maneu-
vers about gold and silver?
Well, don't worry. Neither does
Washington. Some disrespectful souls
even doubt whether the highest Of
ficials understand any better than the
rest Of us.
OF one thing we may be sure
Prices are going to be higher. The
more business lags the greater is the
pressure for initiation. Whatever the
particular trick may be, the end is the
same. You pay more for what you
buy
In hushed voices n finds folks
asking: with the collapse in indus
try and the drouth, what will relief
cost this winter?" No n knows the
answer to that one, either. But the
figure will be so great that it will have
to profound effect on the political
future of the country.
The capital continues jittery.