The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1935-02-28
Copyright by the Baltimore Sun and
reprinted in The Republican by
special permission.

| reprinted III Inc hepuDllcan by
special permission.
Washington, Feb. 25.
Perhaps Mr.. Roosevelt, so often de-
scribed as the master politician of
his time" by some shrewd, bold move
may miraculously straighten out the
situation that has developed in Wash
ington.
1t may be that he can center behind
him a public sentiment that will senG
opposing Senators scurrying for cover
Or, by turning on the full strength OF
| his personal charm" he may persuade
them to "be good" These have so con
sistently prevailed against the sober
judgment of the country in the pas
two years that it is not yet safe to say
they may not prove effective. How
ever, it is no exaggeration to say that
as things stand now they are in a
mess.
For the sake of reality and to pre-
serve a sense of proportion, it seems
worth while to look the facts about
Mr.. Roosevelt in the face. There are
signs now that some of them are be-
ginning to sink in. For example,
there are the basic facts that after
two years Mr.. Roosevelt has increased
the national debt from twenty-five
to thirty-three billions; that the accu-
mulated deficit, two billion when he
came in, is now nearer eleven; that
100000 people are now living on
relief; that there are more men out of
work than year ago; that the strain
of the Federal relief and public-worlls
policies have brought most of the
cities and states to the verge Of
/ bankruptcy.
Those are not controversial or par
tisan statements. They are admitted
facts, too obvious to be argued. They
are desperately real, but they would
not be so appalling if the recovery
schemes launched by Mr.. Roosevelt
were in healthy shape, with promise to
pull US out eventually and justify
their enormous cost. But they are not.
No one contends they are. There is
not one-literally not one-of the
major experiments which is not sick
so sick that even the average voter
could recognize the fact were his at
tention not diverted by the new and
yet more dazzling scheme with which
it is proposed to replace them.
| *#*
Take a look at them-the AAA
seething with friction and split by
FRACTIONAL strife, with its head, Mr..
Wallace, obviously distressed and dis
heartened, forced to go in a direction
he publicly proclaimed as dangerous.
After two years of AAA, the country
| for the first time is importing food in
stead of exporting; the cost of living
has mounted for everybody, the farm
er still cries for more and the con-
sumner is just beginning to feel the
pinch. Take the NRA, a failure, SO
branded by it's originators and spon-
sors, in a condition of incredible con
fusion, without sense of direction, as
unenforceable as the Volstead Act,
and with neither public nor political
support, the chief reason for its con-
tinuance being the 1000 jobholders
who have established therin a vested
interest.
The PWA has been indicated by
friends of the New Deal as "worsa
than a failure" while Mr.. Roosevelt
and Mr.. Hopkins alike have declared
the Federal relief scheme under which
we have been operating is no longer
| tolerable The Federal Housing Com
mission, which was to revive the heavy
industries and insure recovery, is in
a state of inertia, despite the employ
ment of seventeen men in its "public
relations" bureau, at a total salary of
$4,000, and twelve in its publicity
section, with total salaries of $45,9G0.
&**
Only those who, for some reason,
will not face the facts, or who, for
some reason, are incapable of taking
an unprecedented view, will deny the
above statements. They are true, and
ever clear-headed man in Washington
knows them to be true. Actually, the
1895 program itself is the best evi-
dence of their truth. In it Mr.. Roose-
welt proposes to continue NRA anC
AAA despite the condition of both, but
to supercede the rest of the New Deal
by vast new works-relief program