Evening star., 1934-02-09
BY RALPH w. PAGE.

States has been taken and USED Dy
American business as medium ana
a power to reorganiZe all industry on
Q national scale.
Its authority has been used by the
industrialistS to enforce the rules OF
conduct and practice they conceive 10
be fair and most successful. and TO
compel a minority to conform. Thls
Is not a theory. 1t is the only pos
sible conclusion from my numberless
conversations with the participants.
Take those in the petroleum battle
This oil business, including every in
dividual oil we'll in the United States
is now operated like military board
Ing school. BY whom? Why, by the
chosen representatives of all the in
dustry, with the Secretary of the In
terror as its head master.
Small Group Stirs Fight.
Every month the owner of each well
Is told just how much he may pro-
duce. The actual result in few
months has been to double and more
the price of crude oil. and to save
thousands from bankruptcy. Conse-
ouently it Is accurate to say that 90
per cent of all individuals concerned
owners. managers, leSseeS of land ano
employes, are content with this new
government Of their lives. Well then
Mhv so much talk, argument, hulla-
baloo?
The answer in this case. as in most
others, is the outcry of the per cent
whom the whole scheme was invented
70 coerce. The individualSt who
wants to cooperate with no man anc
take orders from no man. The small
independent operator who wants tc
bootleg his output. The man who finds
discipline harmful or irksome to him.
self. He may complain of bureaucracy
or call upon the Constitution or blame
It upon the radicals or whom he
pleases. The actual truth is that he
is angry with the members OF his oWr
industry and nobody else. Most OF
the disgruntled industrialists l talked
with stated readily that this was the
case. The code, they said, was alb
solu.ely essential. But the fools had
framed it up wrong.
I will take typical situation IN the
economic life of community A
large section of Georgia depends for
its income and the welfare of all its
people, bankers, landlords, owners,
superintendents, Workmen, school
teachers, Anarchists. Republicans,
Democrats or demagogues, upon the
returns from a great acreage planted
in peach trees For years now they
have been on the brink of starvation
and revolt in a welter of busted banks,
empty stores and painless houses
Everybody knows why 1t is because
In spite OF endless meetings associa-
tions and unanimous opinion they
have been unable to prevent the SHIP
ment of wormy and small fruit which
kill the market, and unable also to
get a central control Of distribution
This entire population is eager and
ready to adopt control under collec-
tive regulation and inspection.
Codes Depend on Personnel.
At a glance it is evident that in this
case this procedure is no temporary
affair. They want it forever. Their
desire has nothing whatever to do with
their economic or political theories,
preiudices or desires. 1t Is the only
way. Being agriculturists, they need
as vet pay no price to social justice
in the vav of consideration for wage
earners, But they would readily DO
80 If it were required. To have 10
divide their profits with tractor riders
and harvesters might appear an OUT
rageous slap at their prerogatives as
free princes in an autocratlc world,
but none would appear to say they
would prefer no profits at all.
There Is no point in recountlng the
detailed results of the many codes.
Each one works or not in proportion
to the ability and intelligence OF It's
personnel. The Government can't
make them work. There is neither
virtue nor vice, as such, in a code. 1t
is simply a new power to enforce SELL
government upon a business. This
Government may be wise or 1t may
be destructive. Like all democracles,
It Is subject to constant change and
constant battles, both as to policy and
control.
The worst results appear to have
been achieved by the dyerS and clean
ers and the restaurants. 1t would ap-
pear from what I've been told that
the committee put prices higher than
the trade could command. This, prob
ably, will often happen. Restaurant
keepers seem by some perversity gen.
erically in favor OF running themselves
by price wars. They prefer them.
II what l have reported were the
whole matter there would be nothing
really to discuss. The reason the
N. R. A. is looming as a political ques-
ton and is the crux of so many heated
debates is because along with the
franchise which it gives to industry to
organize on its own terms it requires
the management to adopt schedule
Of hours and minimum wages for
workmen laid down to begin with,
and an agreement to let their employees
combine to bargain on their own ac-
count in any way they choose.
Socio- Emotional Subject.
The obvious purpose of both these
startling innovations is to increase
permanently and Immediately the
share of the national income going to
men who work for wages or salaries,
and leave the road wide open to in
crease it gradually still more. This is
recognized clearly by employers and
workmen alike. In many quarters 1t
Is treated as an economic problem and
the question asked Is whether 1t is
workable, or If 1t can be done without
cripling factories or destroying this
or that.
Except in the sense that all human
affairs can be called economic, 1t is
not an economic subject. 1t is a
social and emotional matter. 1t is
Like asking whether serfdom or peon-
age or slavery or sweatshops could
be abolished. OF course it can be
done. The question is, who wants it
done, and who doesn't, and what pres
sures can they bring to bear?
If it were a direct fight between all
invested capital and management and
labor, labor would lose. The codes
would continue but the social men
ace" would be eliminated. But the
thoughts and feeling of people are
far different than they used to be.
This is particularly true of women,
and women vote, too.
(Copyright 1894 BY the North American