The Waterbury Democrat., 1934-01-05
Prominent Merchant
 Supports Rooseuelt
Edward A. Filene of Boston Defends the Economic
 Program Proposed By President

protect and brought them very of- ten to ruin.
 "Therc is nothing new in gov erDment decreeing tho hours which workingmcn shall work. The in~ visible government did that. What is new is that our government s again becoming visible, hnd 1t is our government again, in fact ns well hs in theory. IL is our gov ernment because 1t Is at last viH- ibiy dealing with the world in which we live"
 E'ilene said there WAS "much loose talk nt present concerning the passing of our liberties"
 "One would think" he said. l"that every American was once free to go his individual way, but that we have now come upon A time when we can not budge nn inch in any direction without Jumping up against some government regulh-
 tion. The fact Is that we are now on tho march toward freedom; md there is more liberty in tho | United States to-day than there
 has been in many decades '.
 "If production and distribution arc once organized for the greatest possible human service, the wages | of such organizers, l believe. VIII | be higher than ever. Profits, it I seems to me, nrs tho legitimate | wages of capital which is being used for human service. IL is tho accumulation Of profits into usc- less and even dangerous reservoirs Of disscrvicc against which our new civilization must guard.
 Tt is ono of the possible eycntu- | nlitics, Of course. that the profit system will Dc destroyed. But If 1 it is destroyed, 1 nm sure, IL VIII not be destroyed by communists or tcchnocrnts. It will be destroyed | by those very business men who | believe most profoundly in tho profit system and hre shouting the ioudest about individual initiative. If these men can not sec that the prcsident's recovery program is their program their way out of chaos insist instead upon some
 program In which business shall
 not be organized and coordiDhtcd to serve, the administration may be
 caught in tho logic of events and
 forced farther and farther to the
 left, even to n program which VIII
 leave private business out of it's calculations. At present, however.
 1 sec no danger of this.
 Many seem mystified because our administration in this crisis
 has sought counsel from pr0fes- sors instead of lawyers. it wns inevitable. When we want to dis cover precedents-~the established practice-~We must consult lawyers. When we must learn of things which hre not yet known, we must go to tho men of science.
 "rhere is no mystery about this whole procedure. We are simply sffeetiDg an orderly arrangement of the world in which we live, in- stead Of trying longer 10 live in that world under the laws govern ing fl world which has passed away.
 "i3usibsss is trading for profit. Government is the orderly arrange ment of human affairs. Unless this trade is a real trade. unless it is fin actual exchange of hu" man services, and unless tho trans action is profitable to all con- csrnsd. ft is not good business. On the other hand. unless the govern ment does bring order into the pro- csBscs upon which the life and welfare Of all of us depend, it can not long remain the government. ft is in that light that tho new re- l6ti0Ds of business and government must Do perceived"