Evening star., 1935-05-29
Business as Usual.

Senator George yesterday uttered a
helpful admonition to the Congress
and to the country. Il do not think, -
said the Georgia Senator, this Is an
hour for great excitement. The strik-
ing down of the N. R. A. in its entirety
will not destroy America, nor will it
greatly disturb the business of the
country. After a few days I am not
at all sure that the country will not
brea the easier
1t would be a great stretch of i'm
agination to say that America would
have been destroyed had there never
been the N f. A AS Senator George
has said. there is no reason to believe
that the elimination of this system of
governmental control of business will
result in a collapse. For many years
business, not Government, governed
business in this country. And for
many years organized labor, not Gov
ernment. fought the battles of labor
for advancement. In the opinion of
Senator George there is no difficulty
in allowing business to function again
in the sphere of business The diff
Guilty. as he said. has been in at
tempting to stretch the plain pro-
visions of the Constitution so as to
permit the hand of the Federal Gov
ernment to reach into every hamlet
and home and so disturb the citizen,
because he did not know what to
expect tomorrow.
There is reason to believe that in
dustry and labor can cooperate and
can settle their differences. To place
the heavy hand of Government on one
side or the other is bound in the long
run to result in injustice and to break
down the morale of one or the other
In the transition period now under
way from a system of control through
the codes of fair competition made
compulsory by Government, business
and industry must show common
sense and must deal justly with their
employees. To do otherwise is to invite
not only strikes but to strike down
business itself. In just the proportion
that the purchasing power and en-
ployment of labor is lessened will busi-
ness itself deteriorate.
Fortunately there are plenty of signs
to show that business and industry in
tend to play the game fairly and
squarely. Business leaders in all parts
of the country are responding to the
demand that they do not sacrifice
the advances which have been made
in the past two years. The New
Dealer who beats the air and visu-
alizes disaster for labor will accom-
plish little beyond inf1aming labor at
time when labor should be as calm
in its dealing with the problems con-
fronting the country as should in
dustry. This is not, as Senator George
has said, IAN hour for great excite
ment."
Unfair trade practices are as des-
picable today as they we're before the
Supreme Court handed down its de-
cision on NJ r. A., as despicable as
they we're before N. r. A. was set up.
N. r. A. struck at some of these trade
practices. although it did not wholly
eliminate them. 1t has been charged.
indeed, that through the control of
business by the big fellows" under
the codes. practices have been in
dulged in which we're very unfair to
small competitors. No one rightly
wishes to see sweat shop hours of
labor or to see children employed in
mills and factories.
Under whatever system may exist
"chiselers" will be found. Business it.
self, long before the N. R. A., sought
to deal with them. 1t will do so under
modified N. R. A. set-up. if such is
planned, with voluntary codes. Or
1t will do so if there is no continua-
tion of the N. r. A.