Evening star., 1934-09-30
BUSINESS DENIED
RULE 0VERN. RIA.
'1eft Wingers", Seen Still
in Control Of Recovery
Agency.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

American business, which is sup
posed to be the chief subject of the
N. r. A. and the whole problem OF
recovery, has been given one repre-
sentative on the all-important Indus
trial Emergency Committee, which Is
to consist of six members.
Not one Of the other five members
ever had any experience as the head
OF a business or industry, or the re-
sponsibility for management or financ-
ing Of enterprise.
Yet this committee has been placed
in charge Of all questions Of policy
to Government supervision Of
industry or Government control or
Government regulation as 1t has been
or may be worked out under q system
of industrial codes.
Instead of one-man rule under Gen.
johnson, the policy committee Of six
has been substituted. Instead Of f1nd-
ing Secretary of Commerce Roper on
the committee because Of his broad
connection with domestic and foreign
business and because of his associa-
ton with the National Industrial Re-
members chosen on the committee are
Secretaries Perkins Of the Labor De-
partment and Ickes Of the Interior
Department.
"Unimportant Board"
It is true that a board known as the
National Industrial. Recovery Board,
consisting of fve members, two OF
whom are business men, has been
chosen, but it is really relatively un-
important in the picture and might
as we'll have been called q bureau or
division, because it has no power or
authority to make policies and simply
must carry out instructions Of policy
given to it by the supreme body known
as the Industrial Emergency Com
mittee.
Donald r. Richberg, who is to be
director Of that committee, has as
sured the press that the committee
is really advisory to the President and
that all authority really proceeds from
President Roosevelt alone. AS a prac-
tical matter, this was true when Gen.
Johnson was running the N. r. A., but
Mr.. Roosevelt didn't like to operate
these various Government agencies
himself, preferring to rely on his
lieutenants.
Along with Richberg, therefore, on
the Industrial Emergency Committee
will be the two cabinet members
Secretaries Ickes and Perkins-and
Farm Administrator Chester Davis
and Relief Administrator Hopkins and
one lone business man-Clay Will
liams, tobacco manufacturer of Win
ston-Salem, N. c.
Richberg Dominates
It would appear that Richberg
would be the dominating figure on be-
half of the administration, and will
be the man through whom Roose-
welt will learn OF what is going on
in the Industrial Emergency Cont
mittee. 1t will be interesting to see
how many opportunities the single
business member of the COMMITTEES
will have for personal conference with
the President. Judging by the word
ing Of the announcement, Roosevelt's S
contact will be with Richberg.
So. after nearly three months OF
discussion Of q plan to reorganize
N. r. A. and give business an oppor-
tunity to work in partnership with
the Government, the final proclama-
ton Of the administrators plan
shows that business has been given
one vote out Of six and the other five
members are for the most part we'd
ded to the economic philosophy ex-
pressed time and again by the left
wingers IN the administration, which
is that business needs consider able
Government regulation and control.
Depends on Methods.
The whole plan. however, depends
again. as the N. r. A. did a year
ago, on the method and manner OF
its execution. The original concept
of the N. r. A. represented brilliant
advance over the old order of things
1t was splendid to establish minimum
wages and shorten hours of work
but the actual working out Of the
N. r. A. was cluttered up with clum-
siness and injustice which mas bat
tered down what otherwise might
have been q real achievement. The
question is whether, under the new
set-up, the same mistakes will bt
made. Richberg is an able and astute
official with a decided leaning toward
labor because of Ms long experience
as general counsel of the Railroad
Brotherhoods, but he has had some
contact in the last year with the ac-
tual operations of the steel industry
and he probably knows by now that
governmental theory and practice are
two separate things.
The problem now is, how well car
the tasks be administered and what
economic policies will be handed
down for business by the newly Gre
ated Industrial Emergency Commit.
tee?
(copyright. 1934l