Evening star., 1935-04-07
BY OWEN L. SCOTT.

PRESIDENT Roosevelt, on Ills IetuTu
from fishing, may need to decide soon
where he is taking the country. His
followers in the cabinet and in Con-
gress profess not to know. They are
pulling and hauling, instead Of driv-
ing to harness, with the result that
an unusual amount Of bewilderment
and irritation is found among lead
ers of the New Deal.
Until now the President has sue
ceeded in holding the rugged indi-
vidualists Of his regime in line by
permitting each one to go his own
way and run his own show. But sud-
denly 1t appears that this method is
not going to work. A whole carnival
of side shows is being built up, with
no main attraction to hold the atten-
ton of all The result is discord and
disintegration. A master strategist
of the type President Roosevelt has
been in the past, apparently is needed
to bring back harmony and orderly
progress.
This last week produced the strange
spectacle OF a Democratic Senator
Millard Tydings of Maryland, harshly
criticizing the policies of the admin
iStration. He charged that they were
aimless and run on hot air" Sen
ator Tydings has not been particularly
friendly to the New Deal. but in the
face of his attack. no defense was
offered by other New Dealers on the
floor Of the Senate. Instead, there
was agreement among several SEN
ators on the Democratic side of the
chamber that the country seemed to
be headed no place in particular.
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member of the cabinet, Henry Wal
lace. has touched more lightly on
much the same subject. Mr.. Wal
lace Is a student of economics. He
has reputation for being a deep
thinker. He is beginning to show
concern over the trend of events.
Secretary Wallace is saying that
the Congress and the President must
decide whether the United States is
to 60 it alone. cutting many trade
ties with the rest of the world, or
whether this country is to accept
leadership in trying to guide the
other nations back to more normal
trade. That decision he believes -
be fundamental.
Secretary Wallace, together with
Cordell Hull, Secretary of State, and
Daniel Roper. Secretary of Com
merce, favor the path of freer trade.
They believe this country would profit
by cutting down its tariffs SO that
other nations could sell more here.
With the money they obtain by SELL
ing goods to Americans they then
could buy more farm and industrial
products in these markets.
X II
But Raymond Moley. Prof Charles
Beard and DIR. Rexford Guy Tugwell
think little is to be gained by buying
products from abroad that we can
produce just about as well and just
about as cheaply at home. They
think 1t would be better for the
United States to cut loose pretty
much from the rest of the world.
Then affairs could be Strengthened
out in the home market, so that
there would be prosperity for all.
Senator Logan of Kentucky said in
the Senate that the people of this
country had decided to follow this
path of nationalism, which is so
popular in most nations just now.
But, said Mr.. Wallace, If the ma
tionalistic course is followed, I'VE
would be faced with the necessity of
RECOMMENDATION of our economic life
and of our activities in general, COM
pared with which such measures as
the agricultural adjustment act would
seem quite insignificant"
What he meant was that If there
is to be an end to the old system
of world trade, with its gold standard,
its foreign loans and its development
of backward nations, then the Fed
eral Government would have to take
hold and shift about the whole eco
nomic set-up in the United States.
A lot of people would be hurt in the
process.
Farmers who raised products for
sale abroad. particularly cotton farm
ers, would be forced into other lines
of agriculture or into the cities. Fac
tory workers, producing goods for sale
abroad, would have to turn to other
occupations. Difficult adjustments
would lie ahead.
y 4 X X
There Is another underlying battle
that Is making New Dealers irritable.
It involves the N. r. A. and the
A. A. A. The N. r. A. Is supposed
to help the business man and the in
dustrial worker. The A. A. A. is sup
posed to help the farmer.
Both accept the theory that the
way to help both the city people and
the country people is to raise prices.
And both set about raising prices by
endeavoring to make things scarce
But to make things scarce, fewer farm
goods and fewer city goods must be
produced. To cut down on produc-
ton means to use less labor. And to
use less labor means smaller employ
ment, larger unemployment.
Following out that general course,
A. ~