Evening star., 1935-05-15

Things are different now. The price
factor is somewhat uncertain, or at
least not encouraging. Europe is not
buying. There are between 10000, 600
and 13 ZOO, 900 unemployed who have
been out Of work, not few months
but q few years. Business psychology
Is certainly not optimistic, II you be-
lieve what you hear from the United
States Chamber of Commerce. Expert
ments are under way in the New Deal,
the conclusions Of which are not yet
definitely established. And We are
entering upon a presidential campaign
which may be as hot as any in recent
years.
These factors are not insurmount-
able. Some may be dissipated when
Congress adjourns. Others may await
the outcome Of next years elections.
At any rate, they furnish the back
ground explanation Of why the econo-
mists have been notably silent regard
ing the Dawes prophecies. What they
really believe is that we will continue
to improve gradually until all factors
are favorable and then q boom will
start.
Publicity Broke Down.
The New Deal publicity system is
well oiled, as every one knows. 1t
does not often break down, but 1t
did the other day on the bonus. For
q time newsmen here thought that
Governor Eccles of Federal Reserve and
Jesse Jones of the r. F. c. had joined
with Father Coughlin, ct al. in turning
the heat on the White House for the
Patman bill. The Jones break hap
pened this way:
Jones arranged to make a speech
down South, but had no time to pre-
pare 1t in advance. He wrote 1t on
the train going down, wiring it back
to his office here to give to the press
BY the time 1t arrived here, Jones was
already making the speech, which con-
tended there was not so much initiating
in the bonus anyway.
Gopernor Eccles is not supposed
to be responsible to the White
House for his remarks. He tell into
the same herSey as Jones appdr-
emily because he lacked an efficient
public relations counsel to 1Uarn
him against the piles of speaking
out OF turn.
That defect is being rectified. Shortly
before his blunder, arrangements were
made for the Federal Reserve Board
to employ one Of the most intelligent
Washington newsmen as an executive
assistant.
Much just and unjust criticism has
been leveled against the New Deal
press agentry, but one overlooked
angle of the situation appears to be
that some Of these ofiicials should not
be permitted to 60 out alone.
Wage Rate to Be Paid.
The most closely guarded secret at
relief headquarters is what wage rate
Is going to be paid. You may recall
that the Senate fought for weeks about
it and then passed the buck. Since
then the relief crowd thought several
times 1t had the solution, but each
time the solution was torn up. A leak
on one Of these early tentative deci-
sions has caused the outfit to be wary.
The only thing certain now is that
no fat wage scale will be paid for
the Nation as whole. The proposed
$50 q month average will mean moth
ing because most workers will get
either more or less. Scales will be
adjusted generally so they will be
slightly lower than prevailing wages
in most localities. They will be ad-
justed also as to different kinds of
work. For instance, a plumber in
New York will get more than a ditch
digger in q rural town. Furthermore,
relief employment will be staggered
so as not to conflict with wages paid
by private industry.