Evening star., 1935-11-24
HICH.COST ORLOW-PRICE
EVILS FACE ROOSEVELT
Election Year Dilemma May Force
Choice of Lesser, With Possible
Control Gadget.''

Thereupon Mr.. Roosevelt, on May 81,
talked to the newspaper correspond
ents for hour and 20 minutes, deplor-
ing what the court had done. His talk
went on the assumption that the death
of the blue eagle would be followed by
business chaos, that there would be
widespread cutting Of wages, and
equally widespread cutting Of prices.
While he went through the form of
dismantling N. R. A., as he was obliged
to by the Supreme Court decision, he
announced he would keep what he
called a skeleton organization. The
purpose of this was to collect and keep
statistics-statistics which, it was
hoped, would show wage-cutting and
price-cutting.
But as everybody knows now, the
| death of N. r. A. was not followed by
material Wage-cutting or price-cutting:
on the contrary, that decision of the
Supreme Court was the thing which
created business confidence, and busi-
ness has improved ever since. This is
enough to convince the country that
there was no magic (unleSs a malevo-
lent magic in the one great arm Of the
New Deal that went by the name of
N. R. A.
On the same occasion Mr.. Roosevelt
made another prediction, this one
about A. A A. I quote from a sum-
mary of what Mr.. Roosevelt said which
was printed in newspapers the fol-
lowing day, June /:
Does this IN. r. Al decision mean
that the United States Government
has no control over any national eco
nomic problem? To take a simple
example. are we going to take the
hands of the Federal Government off
the effort to adjust crops. and are We
going back TO the old thought that
every farmer is a king and can do
as he pleases? If crop control Is
abandoned, it means 36-cent wheat
and scent cotton"
Test for A. A. A.
Now We may shortly have test of
that prediction. On December the
Supreme Court is to hear argument on
q NocC SOCS " JIl6 ISdTI OF "A. "A.
A. Within a short time after the court
will decide the case-the court in re-
cent years works quite rapidly.
If the court decides that A. A. A. is
unconstitutional it will be Interesting
to observe what. if anything happens
to the prices of cotton and wheat.
think no well-informed person believes
that the prices would drop materially.
Some thoughtful persons know think
the prices of some crops would rise.
And if the prices do not fail, if we
do not see "36-cent wheat and scent
cotton" it will be pretty ruinous to the
reputation of Mr.. Roosevelt as
prophet and to the reputation of A,
A. A. as magic thing. True, Mr..
Roosevelt did not put a time limit
on his assertion. He merely said, 1T
means 36-cent wheat and scent cot
ton" Conceivably, he might take
refuge in saying that if A. A. A. is
destroyed 36-cent wheat and scent
cotton might follow after some years.
But If Mr.. Roosevelt would like to
make sporting gamble on that prop
osition there are many people in the
United States who will bet him that
America will not. in any foreseeabls
/ future time, see 36-cent wheat or S.
cent cotton, or any figures approach
/ ing those.
So if the Supreme Court should
hold A. A. A. unconstitutional, and
/ if thereafter the farmers should not see
any fall in the prices Of their crops
II, on the contrary, they see some rise
IN the prices-in that event there
would not be much magic left in A. A.
A. And with the magic gone out of both
N. K. A. and A. A. A. there would not
be much left in the New Deal at all.
The Republican Situation.
AS of today it looks as if the Re-
publican nominee for the presidency
may not be known until after the con.
vention meets. Apparently the conven-
ton will open with from to 10 can
didates having each anywhere from
so to $50 delegates out of total of
something more than 1000. There are
several more or less avowed aSpirants
and several possibilities-Gov. Landon
of Kansas. Col. Frank Knox of Illinois,
! Senator Arthur Vandenburg of Mich
igan, Senator Dickinson of Iowa. Each
of these apparently will come to the
/ convention with comparatively small
block of delegates. perhaps something
like 100 to $50 each. There may be
| two or three more. 1t does not seem
! probably that there will be a Nation
| wide contest in the primaries between
! any two main contenderS, such as has
happened sometimes in the past. It
! seems not to be the intention Of any
of the aSpirantS or their friends to
make an aggressive fight
A number of States. some of them
large, are going to send their delega-
tionS to the convention instructed for
'favorite sons" men who are not
really candidates but who enter their
names in the primaries in their re-
Spective States merely for the purpose
OF keeping the States from being COM
mitted to any of the principal con-
tenders.
Among the aspirants, just now,
there is increasing favor for Gov,
Landon Of Kansas. 1t Is not a favor
among the people, for the people
haven't yet taken much notice; 1t Is
a favor among Republican leaders and
other persons of thought and discrimi-
nation. Men who take the coming
campaign very seriously and think it
imperative that the Republicans
should have good candidate, have
been making inquiry into Gov. Lam
don's personality and record. What
they find pleases them. But at this
time it is not likely that the nominal
tton of Gov. Landon or anybody else
will be assured until after the con-
vention meets
(copyriEht. 1885. New York Tribune, Incl
Efficiency Dining Table.
Efficiency housekeeping which pre-
walls so extensively in the cities where
7 A<J J7Afa -. 4