Evening star., 1935-09-21
JOHNSON OFFERS
!: =" NEW DEAL PLAN
Pledges Continued Loyalty
to Roosevelt in Effort to
End "Mistakes."
BY the Associated Press

A five-point program which he said
would eliminate mistakes" of the
New Deal is proposed by Hugh s.
johnson.
Preparing to make some speeches
as a friendly, but vigorous critic of the
administration, the former Recovery
Administrator. who is now director
of the Federal Works program in
New York City, emphasized there was
no break between him and the White
House.
ST. Pledging "unswerving loyalty to
President Roosevelt and declaring his
aim was to be of service, he made
these suggestions in an interview yes
terday:
Il. The Government ought to do
no work that isn't essential, useful
and properly planned. In time OF
crisis~we might keep 100000 people
employed on such projects at cost
of around $4,000 .oOO,o 900 a year. But
the present w P A P. w A. pro-
gram is wholly impracticable. If
you try to start lot of work to en-
ploy 100000 people on engineering
projects, many of them will require
over a year to complete and take
billions more than the sum now
available. If they aren't completed,
every city in the country will be
SCARED with useless, unfinished struc-
lures.
Necessity of Relief.
.. Relief-call it the dole if you
like-should be provided where cities
and States aren't able to bear the
burden alone.
8. "A new N. r. A. certainly should
be enacted Shortening hours of labor
is the only real remedy for the pool
of more than 100000 unemployed
which still exists Rigid legislation
the problem. The new N. R. A. ought
10 contain compulsory provisions for
shortening hours and fixing minimum
wages in consultation with industry.
1t ought to make provision also for
purely voluntary trade practice agree
ments.
4. Customs receipts which Congress
has made available for the purpose
should be used to SubSidize exports of
goods manufactured from farm prod
ucts. Secretary Wallace has gotten in
a funk about his processing taxes and
is using some of this tcustoms receipts)
money to make benefit payments to
cotton growers. The legislation is
being proStituted so that it will in
tensify the very condition it was in
tended to remedy.
5. AT least some feeble attempt
should be made to coordinate ad-
ministration agencies. They are rum
ming all over the lot"
To Retire October IS.
Concluding the list, the general
roared:
Why, damn it, if the administra-
ton would do these things, nothing
on earth could stop it,
Johnson is planning to retire Oc-
tober Is as works progress admins
traitor for New York. He said he was
going to discuss his suggestions pub
licly because think it may do some
good"
AS between Hooverism - which
means special privilege - and the
fundamental principles of President
Roosevelt. there is no choice" he said
He will speak October at the San
Diego lCalif) Exposition. Other
speaking engagements will take him to
the Northwest, the Pacific Coast, the
Southwest and the Southeast.
In his interview yesterday Johnson
pooh-poohed talk of amending the
Constitution so as to guarantee the
permanence of New Deal laws. He
asserted no amendment was necessary
for the purpose.
IF the N. r. A. case had been pre-
sented properly to the Supreme Court
in the first place." he said, that
maladroit decision never would have
been rendered
Instead of presenting the facts and
demanding that the case be decided
in the light of the emergency con-
fronting us rather than on the basis
of precedent, we learn that the Gov
ernment has no power to regulate the
killing of chicken in Brooklyn.
Properly presented, that case would
have shown that such things as N. r. A.
are amply justified under the Constitu-
ton. The court should be given a
chance to render an opinion on the
facts under The commerce clause of
the Constitution"
Criticizing the American Liberty
League for its recent statement assert
ing that certain laws passed at the re-
cent Congress were unconstitutional,
johnson made a gesture of contempt
rs he said:
ITS simply a test between those
So lawyers who've prostitnted them
selves and the principles for which the
New Deal stands. The Liberty League
Is just an excuse for Democrats to vote
for Republican"