Evening star., 1935-04-29
Faith in Government.

President Roosevelt, in his first
address to the American people since
his annual message last January, dis
cussed in detail his legislative program
for the present session, his program
for relief expenditures and confidently
assured the public that recovery is
here. As to the legislative program
the President had little new to say.
The measures he advocated are those
which have been on the program for
months They are the economic Sc
curity bill, that for the extension of
the life of the N. r. A. for another
two years, that for the elimination of
unnecessary" holding companies, the
banking bill, and bill dealing with
transportation.
Generally speaking. all these meas
ures give the Government greater con-
troll over business. The President sew
eral times during his address last night
expressed the utmost confidence that
the Government can deal effectively,
efficiently and honestly with the prob
lens of business, including banking.
Long experience, he said, had taught
him that the exceptional instances Of
wrongdoing in Government are prob
ably less numerous than in almost
every other line of endeavor." There
Is danger, however, that in this praise
Of governmental honesty the fact that
more Government and more Govern
ment regulations and officials make
for more and more RECOMMENDATION of
the people, and less liberty Of action
may have been ignored.
The President promised the Ameri-
can people that the enactment of the
banking bill into law would give the
country a better control of the credit
of the Nation. That control. however,
Is to come through a governmental
agency, rather than through the Fed
eral Reserve System as it has existed
since the days of the Wilson admins
tration. The President promised the
people lower electric and gas rates
once the bill for the elimination of
unnecessary holding companies has
been passed. The economic security
bill is to supplement the relief meas
ures now in effect, to help eventually
to make unnecessary relief expendi-
lures similar to those now demanded.
Upon the need for extending the life
of the N. r. A. the President was in
sistent, laying stress on the outlawing
Of child labor, the provision for mini
mum wages and collective bargaining
for labor under the codes of fair COM
petition.
In simple phrases, easily understood,
the President described the set-up
which he has created for handling the
$4,000, 100000 work relief program.
ne pOuuocu W un1hc tilc uAI Ays
20 that the end sought by this legis-
lation, the Unemployment Of $500, 900
jobless men and women, may be an
accomplished fact before the year ends.
The desire of the New Deal for the
general good was contrasted by the
President with the individual self
interest and group selfishness," which,
he said, were previously paramount in
public thinking. He said that con-
fidence Of the country in democratic
processes and republican institutions
had been restored.
At one point in his address the
President asked the people to feel free
to criticize, so that evils may be pre-
vented from springing up in the oper-
alton Of the work relief program. He
does not want purely fault-finding
criticism or partisan criticism. The
great difficulty, however. is to deter
mine what criticism is free from fault
finding and partisanship.
What the President had to say in
regard to fundamental principles
which should govern the work relief
program bears examination. He in
sists that the projects shall be useful,
that they shall be of a nature which
will give much work for labor, that
there shall be some chance for the
Government to be repaid by the
States or municipalities, that the
funds allotted shall be promptly spent,
that the jobs must 60 to those on re-
lief rolls, and that the projects shall
be allocated to areas in proportion to
the number of workers on relief. The
President sets great store by the work
relief program. Upon this huge un-
dertaking hangs in large measure the
success or the disappointment of the