Evening star., 1934-12-23
INDUSTRY SHELVES
CRITICAL VIEW Of
RECOVERY DRIVE
Reconciliation of Divergent
Groups Regarded as
National Need.
1886 ELECTION LIKELY
TO AFFECT LEGISLATION
Necessity Of Maintaining Busi-
ness Revival Expected to Be
Stressed in Coming Session.
BY CHARLES F. SPEARE.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK, December 22.-In the
preamble to the 11-point plan which
the industrial leaders of the Nation
adopted at their conference at White
Sulphur Springs this week was this
striking and significant paragraph:
I'm making this survey the confer
ence has been actuated solely by the
desire to direct attention to the diff
cultieS business has encountered in the
path of recovery and the conditions Of
which it necessarily must take cog
nizance. 1t has done this with the
full realization that the task is one
which calls for unselfish cooperation
of all, and that the Government, in
exercising the proper responsibilities
Of leadership, is entitled to their
whole-hearted support. It has, there
fore, approached its task with the con-
viction that patience and tolerance
are requisite to the reconciliation of
divergent views and the concentration
of national effort upon the one great
purpoSe-the revival of the normal
processes of industry and trade"
A preliminary statement by the
chairman of the conference had ex-
pressed the new attitude of Industrial
lists in these words: THE lack of
definite purpose among business men
has resulted in sort Of aimless critic
ism Of administration policies, which
was useless from the start" 1t also
recognizes the fact that the November
election had given to every responsible
group in the United States a mandate
to cooperate with President Roosevelt
for economic recovery.
New Viewpoint Stressed.
The most important development
this week, therefore, is the evidence in
many industrial quarters that men
who have stood aloof and have been
critical of administration policies have
begun to realize their self-preservation
depends on the degree to which they
align themselves with reasonable ef-
forts on the part of Washington to
turn the rusting wheels of industry.
They admit the need of new orr
entation on their part concerning
present-day conditions, both economic
and social. At the same time they
do not abandon their battle for sound
Government finance, for careful ex-
penditures for relief and for the ad-
ministration of private business so
that employer and employe shall have
equal rights In the distribution Of
profits.
Recovery is as important to the
administration in maintaining its
political prestige as it is to industry.
This fact may be expected to appear
in the early debates in the forthcom-
ing session Of Congress and in the
messages which President Roosevelt
sends to it next month. The national
election of 1886 is likely to fashion
the pattern of much of the legislation
in the first quarter of the new year.
Business Extends Gains.
Specifically, the record of business
this week shows an extension of the
upward trend which began in october.
The present level of industrial activ-
ity is back to that Of July. Iron and
steel production is up 21a points, the
highest in five months, and electric
power output shows an increase Of
712 per cent over a year ago.
Retail sales indicate the largest
Christmas trade since 1929. Gains in
representative cities throughout the
country, to December Is, were: New
York, II per cent; Chicago, II per
cent; Boston, z per cent; Philadelphia,
IL per cent; Pittsburgh, 71a per cent;
Cincinnati, 19 per cent; Detroit, about
10 v,or rant. Dichp,oY7d ond Wa Shipc.
ton, IA and 141z per cent, respectively;
Dallas, over 20 per cent; Los Angeles,
ii per cent; San Francisco, 16 per
cent; Baltimore, 13 per cent, and
Denver, 16 per cent. Some Of these
percentages have been improved in
the last week.
(Copyright, 1884 by North American
Newspaper Alliance Inc)