Evening star., 1934-07-23
future OF n. RIA.
MAIN FALL ISSUE
Crediting Code Agency With
Recovery Is Error, OBJ
server Says.
BY MARK SULLIVAN.


troubles and most other current con-
troyersies reyolve IA What shall be
done about n r. A. Shall II be
thrown overheard whoily7 Shall II
be saved IN a modified form? II 50.
what shall the new form be7
This Is the central question In the
whole area of public affairs. II B
the central question In the congress
kional campaign. The fate Of ~. r.
A. lies completely with the Congress
that viii be elected in November. The
statute creating N. r. A. expires au-
tomatically on June is next. On that
date ~. r. A. disappears unless II 10
renewed by the Congress which VIII
be elected next November and win sit
next January.
While some crystallizins OF public
opinion about ~ r. A. Is under way,
IL is slow for several reasons. N. r.
A. il a complex institution. little un-
derstood. Many, without trying to
understand It, accept It vaguely as
having the glamour OF altruism that
has been thrown about the whole OF
the new deal Many, with equal
vagueness, give N. r. A. credit for the
whole of the business Improvement
that has come since some lo months
ago. This impression. not merely the
impression but often the direct asser-
ton, Is made over and over by high
and low In the administration. The
public mind Is saturated with this
impression.
Recovery Anyway.
The fact Is lost sight Of that there
would have been improvement even
had N. r. A. never been heard OF.
when President Roosevelt asks every
voter are you better of than you
were last year," the answer OF per-
haps four voters out Of five must pe
"yes." But the fallacy inherent In
this can be realized by putting some
other Democrat In Mr.. Roosevelts
place. Had the Democratic nominee
in 1882 been ex-Gov. Alfred z. Smith,
or Gov, Albert Ritchie, or Mr.. Newton
% Baker. or Senator Byrd Of Virginia,
or any other Democrat. and had one
Of these been elected. as any Demo-
cratic nominee would have been IN
la32-in that event. any OF these
others could perfectly well ask today
the same question that Mr.. Rooseveit
asks. and any of these would receive
the same answer, from about the
same proposition OF the people re
coyery was bound to come In America
as it has come elsewhere. ANY Presi-
dent coming into ONCE In Marcn,
1888, would have been obngeo 10 90
what MFR. Roosevelt did about the
hank closing. With the banking situ-
alton cared for, the rebound into re-
coyery was inevitable. It did not de-
pend on N. r. A.
II is safe to say that N. r. A.
would now be clearly headed for
oblivion but for two powerful groups
that cling 70 1t. The administrator
clings to 1t in the spirit OF not liking
to admit that so conspicuous q Tea
ture of the new deal must 60. With
haste. change after change is MADE
in it with the hope Of arriving at
some status that can be retained per-
manently, in form at least. In TINS
attempt to save its child the admin
istration is trying to straddle the un-
straddieable. It tries to keep N. Il.
A., every one of whose codes Is an
agreement In restraint of trade, and
therefore forbidden by the antitrust
law. At the same time the admin
istration assures Senator Borah ana
others that it will not permit viola
ton Of the antitrust law, no, not one.
Borah Main Figure.
In this effort to make the contra
dictory consistent, the admtnistra-
ton set up the Darrow Committee
and now another. The thing cannot
be done. Senator Borah has got his
teeth into one fixed principle and
clear condition: N. r. A. and the
antitrust law are absolutely irTecon-
cilable. One or the other must go.
Senator Borah viii be big figure In
this campaign.
Aside from the administration the
one other powerful group that clings
to N r. A. is a part of business.
hesitate to say big business" be-
cause that term has become an epi-
thet, Yet it is mainly the larger units
Of business that hang longingly to
N. r, A. They do not like the whole
of 1t IN its present form. But they
cling to the hope that they can get
what they want for themselves out of
N. r. A. without paying the price.
What they want for themselves is
the immunity from the antitrust act.
They hope to keep the part Of N. R. A.
which permits them to make price
control agreements and enables them
TO get rid of some of the other losses
and Inconvenience inherent in COM
petition. They hope to get this part
of N. r. A. without paying all the
price of the other parts, the conces-
Sions to labor and the regard which
N. r. A. ought TO have for the con-
eumer. but does not.
Some business leaders dream of
creating a committee of themselves
and setting this committee in the
seat now held by Gen. johnson. Any
one having even faint acquaintance
with American politics and history
knows that business cannot get what
II wants out Of N r. A. without pay