Evening star., 1934-09-28

lege professors, more Phi. DIS, more
sociological experts than even Presi-
dent Roosevelt has gathered about
him. President Hoover had spon-
sored and was giving impetus to the
most exhaustive social and economic
research that has ever been made in
the country, preparing to inaugurate
when he was reelected, recon-
struction Of our profit system under
the newer ideals Of justice. He had
this research prepared and published
in two large volumes, called Recent
Social Trends in the United States;
the Report of the Presidents Research
Committee on Social Trends"
This data and the recommendation
were specifications for a new deal
which would have irked greedy capt.
talists with their acquisitive instinct
bordering on mania, just as much
as this New Deal is irking them.
But it would have been a new deal
under Mr.. Hoover's conception of
Democratic processes.
Force vs.. Persuasion.
Readers of THE Challenge to Lib
erty" will discern that it is the use
Of force to establish the N. r. A.
which arouses Mr.. Hoover's wrath.
He rails at regimentation. Yet as
Secretary of Commerce he regimented
thousands of manufacturers into
adopting standard parts in industry
a score of standard nuts, screws, bolts,
containers and all sorts Of gadgets.
But he used persuasion, not the
ballyhoo of a wartime psychology.
Under a purely Democratic N. r. A.,
based upon reason, persuasion and
common consent, few basic indus
tries might be encouraged to unite with
certain given privileges of monopoly
as a price Of union. But before re-
ceiving them, these industries would
agree in contractual terms for value
received to forego certain rights and
submit voluntarily to Government
supervision in the matter Of wages,
capitalization, profits and prices. The
regulation of the stock exchanges
might be achieved effectively as it is
today. probably more effectively than
today's regulation. But conceivably
the attack would have to come from
another angle
All along the line, the Hoover pro-
gram, as laid out by the Presidents s
Research Committee on Social
Trends. might easily have gone 20
the same goal which the New Deal
would attain. but it would have gone
O onnt hor Hirantinr nht,;o c1v, rl,
iShing the Democratic traditions,
preserving always the liberty of the
individual in his right to protest,
holding inviolate his personal rights
OF utterance, assemblage and jury
trial as an essential part Of orderly
parliamentary government.
Earnest Warning.
Readers of The Challenge to Lib
erty" have right to feel that the ex-
pert would have had as high a place
in the Hoover administration II he
were in the White House as the ex-
pert has under the New Deal, but
obviously the expert would be the ad-
wiser and not the administrator. Re-
search would have authority. not as a
government function to direct admin
/ istration and legislation. but as the
well spring which would give demo-
cratic government its wisdom and its
strength.
The Hoover book, therefore, Is not,
as his critics would have it-and as to
an extent as the Saturday Evening
Post excerpts reveal the book-a bid
for power. 1t is rather the calm,
earnest voice of intelligent democratic
warning. Another generation reading
this book may realize that, just before
either the conflict for democracy or
the abandonment Of democracy by
America, there was a definite, passion
ate protest by at least one American
leader against the dangers of the
times.
If one reads the book-all the book,
not selected pugnacious paragraphs
in the light of a message to posterity,
it becomes what its author intended
it should be. And no one can doubt
that when the whole book has been
read by the American people, they will
see in 1t not political bid for power
or restored prestige, but an honest
mans patriotic protest against short
cuts to economic security.
tCopyright 1884 by the North American
Newspaper Alliance. Inc.b