Evening star., 1935-03-07
BY GARDNER JACKSON.

even sketched in broad outline. Is an
aspect of the New Deal quite widely
admitted now by Young New Dealers
and by some in high places.
The extreme difficulty of mapping .
course even in the most general terms
which can encompass the complexity
of changing factors is granted. The
young idealists doubt whether any
ground is being gained, and are afraid
their direction may be opposite to that
in which they hoped to go when they
joined the New Deal team.
Prophecies are widespread here
that the President will soon call sig
mails for run around left end, after
having tried right end and the right
side of the line for several months
especially since the Senate took what
is interpreted as q dash toward the
first vote on the prevailing wage"
amendment to the work-relief bill.
But such play will not quiet the
mlsgivings of many Young New Deal
ers. They want to see the plays
sketched for some definite goal
The background of this play-by-
play sort Of planlessness, in an admin
iStration which has constantly talked
planning but in which there is vast
amount of overlapping of function and
working at cross purposes, is perhaps
one explanation of the jitters which
affiict some high New Deal officials.
Further, it may help to explain why
there is developing in the various New
Deal departments a rigorous type Of
censorship. A story from one depart
ment may prove to be bad news for
another, and vice versa. In fact, such
situations have not been infrequent.
Press Release Mix-ups.
One Of the early press releases we
| issued from the consumers counsel
office in Agricultural Adjustment Ad-
mlnlstration Is an example. After
Washington department store heads
had testified that the processing tax
was negligible item in the increased
prices of cotton goods, We suggested
that it was not within the province Of
the A. A. A. to investigate nanufac-
turing spreads. That We merely
stated, was within the possible func-
tions of the N. r. A. under the cotton
| textile code.
1t was not surprising that consumer
activities were almost completely wet
blanketed at the N. R. A. from the
beginning. especially so far as publicity
went. and that, in the end. the same
fate was visited upon the Consumers
| Counsel at the. A. A. A. And the
public can scarcely expect much action
from the Consumers Division, with its
county consumer councils. under
Donald r. Richberg at the National
Emergency CouncilEunless consumers
throughout the country set up q united
howl about the rapidly rising cost of
living. For the consumer activities of
the New Deal-a pleasant advertise
ment, mentioned by the President in
one Of his messages to Congress and
by Mrs. Roosevelt two or three times
are. after all. efforts primarily in be-
half of the public interest and thereby
! step upon too many toes
Publication of the Consumers Guide
at the A. A. A. every two weeks has
meant biweekly struggles for Mary
Taylor, the editor. with Alfred D.
Stedman, former newspaper man, now
assistant administrator of A. A. A. and
director of the Division of Information.
Some of his censorship has reached
hilarious heights. as for example when
he refused to allow Miss Taylor to
publish in the Guide a statement by
Mrs. Roosevelt favoring consumer
grade Labelling and standards for can
ned goods Also, when he declined
to permit publication in the Guide of
excerpts from Secretary Wallace's 1888
annual report concerning abuses in
the milk industry and possible methods
Of handling them.
WaIlace's Speech.
Sometimes material published in
press releases of an earlier day rises to
haunt officials and illumines the
whirligig kind of politics they pursue.
Pointedly illustrating such material is
the label, distributors masquerading
in overalls," which Mr. Stedman had
Secretary Wallace pin on Charles
Holman and other heads Of bargaining
dairy co-operatives whom the A. A. A.
about year ago accused Of playing
hand -in-glove with the distributors to
cheat the consumer and the farmer,
and whom they now call fine fellows.
In fact, the A. A. A. plans virtually
to turn the entire dairy policy over
to the "masqueraders."
Another such piece Of material was
the speech of Secretary Wallace at
Madison, Wis. last year in which he
cited the large profits made by milk
distributors in various metropolitan
cities throughout the depression. as
revealed in governmental audits of
their own figures. This speech fol-
lowed the ousting of the dairy section
chief. Clyde L. King, and institution
of the revised milk policy. In ousting
King. Administrator Chester c. Davis
of the A. A. A. blamed Frederic C.
Howe, consumers counsel. for that
speech of Mr.. Wallace. He said the
A. A. A. had not been able to nego-
tiate with the distributors since. Ac-
tually, Mr.. Stedman wrote it.
Reversal Difficulties.
Some people may wonder whether
N1l kJICuuldll Aldo Ol11Nulty AhlAAAi6
phrases to suit each reversal of
policy, or any qualms about doing so.
Or, for that matter, whether any of
the other Government department
press agents-of whom there is an un-
precedented number-don't get dizzy
turning out their floods of material,
which they insist is not propaganda
at all. but purely factual.
The censorship also takes the form
of suppression of many reports-such
as the recent report of an investiga-
ton conducted by an A. A. A. legal
staff member into conditions among
the share-croppers and tenant farm
ers of the South, as a result of the
A. A A. cotton reduction program, and
the report of conditions among the
Florida citrus workers following an
investigation made last year by the
A. A. A., N. r. A. and Department Of
Labor.
An amusing and Illuminating Incl
dent of such suppression occurred