Evening star., 1935-09-01
Economic Planning
and Politics
By OtUen L. Scott.

planning A few more victories for their
| side and President Roosevelts idea Of
| controlled recovery will all be on the
| rocks. .
One piece of New Deal planning ma
| chinery after another has met trouble.
| N. r. A. codes broke under faulty admin
| istration before the courts finally killed
| them. Money tinkering fell of its own
weight Pump-priming was passed by
when it failed to prime pumps Relief,
C. w. A. and now work-relief have
threatened to founder on politics. Doing
something for silver" Is providing thou
sands of tons of that metal for taxpay-
ers-becauSe politicians want it so-but
to what use nobody quite knows.
Only Henry Wallace, with his machine
for planning in agriculture. has been
able until now to stand out against
the trend. He has results to show for
his plans in the way of enlarged farm
| income.
But the Secretary of Agriculture and
Chester Davis, administrator Of the A..
A. A., after their latest forays with poll
ticians are ready to admit that the lot
of the economic planner in democracy
is far from a jolly one. In fact, recent
experience in Washington raises grave
question whether the two can go to-
gether.
Essentially the question becomes:
'Who is to do the planning? Where
is power to lie to make decisions affect
ing the lives of millions of citizens? Will
supposedly disinterested economists do
the deciding? Or can politicians be
trusted to make the decisions? II eco
nomics is to be the deciding factor, how
can politics be excluded when votes
really carry the final word?"
Mr.. Wallace and his advisers decide
that Government pricefixing in cotton.
if continued on the old basis, threatens
a serious loss of markets for that basic
crop of the South, and threatens tax
payers with a huge loss. They order
change.
Southern Senators decide that the old
kind of price-f1xing is pleasant and
profitable to their constituents. They
moan because their advice was not
taken.
So adjournment Of Congress was de-
layed while new scheme, satisfactory
to the Senators. was worked out. Yet,
in the very process of satisfying South
ern Senators, wheat belt Senators were
affronted and will have more to say
next year. They want the planners
to do as much for wheat as they have
done for cotton.
Or take the case of Dr. ReXford Guy
Tugwell, who now is head of the Re-
settlement Administration with about
$500, 900 900 to spend.
DR.. TugWell has the task of putting
back on their feet several hundred thou
sand destitute farmers. He loans them
money. buys them live stock, helps them
acquire land, aids in the financing of
equipment. 1t all is very fine for the
farmer who gets a lucky number
But somebody has to pick that farmer.
The intention is for the planners to do
the picking. Only. when the choice is
made the destitute. farmer who has been
chosen is likely to find himself in a
better position economically than his
neighbors. who may have struggled
through the depression as rugged indi-
vidualists.
The same sort of problem confronts
Harry Hopkins and his four -billion-dol-
lar work relief program
Uncle Sam is giving away Jobs. But
there aren't enough of these jobs for
all. So they are being confined to
persons who already are on public relief
rolls and who convince the Government
that they are "employable."
Thus there are advantages attached to
a position on the registry of relief cases.
DR.. Tugwell favors people who are "on
relief" and so does Mr.. Hopkins. Self
reliant individuals, who have taken
every recourse to stay away from public
help, find themselves at disadvantage.
Politicians back home after their stay
in Congress. are finding that this situ-
alton is loaded with political dynamite.
Planners are picking individuals to
enjoy Federal favors, and those who are
not picked, as well as those who are
not asking Federal favors, are found
to be increasingly resentful. This situa-
tion rapidly is shaping up for handling
by practical politicians.
Somewhat similar troubles are con-
fronting the Home Owners Loan Corp.
and the Farm Credit Administration.
Thousands of borrowers are discovered
to be defaulting on their payments to
the Government. many of them delib-
erately. The Government has to decide
which borrowers should have their
homes taken away, and which should
get another chance.
y *
But the encroaching of politics into
the domain of planning-even in the
face of strong opposition from the plan
ners-can be seen in the New Deal farm
program.
Hardly had the intricate A. A. A.
machinery for seeking to balance farm
and city income been set up before poll
ticians started making forays.
In the Fall of 1888 Southern Senators
had obtained price-fxing loans for cot
ton. Northwest Governors were less sue
ceSSful at that time and lost their plea
for general price-fixing for agricultural
products.
The taste of higher cotton prices ap-
pealed to the South. But fear developed
that vast new areas would be brought
into production unless some way could
be devised to provide the old growers
with monopoly of the market. Out
of that fear, and against the wishes of
Mr.. Wallace and Mr.. Davis, came the
Government plan for compulsory mar
keting control in cotton. That plan is
known as the Bankhead act and involves
a prohibitive tax on all cotton not in
cluded in a quota given. to an area
previously in production.
When cotton was taken care of in that
way, tobacco wanted and got much the
same thing. Then sugar came along
and was taken care Of While this was