The Washington times., 1935-12-11
CENTRAL RUL f
NOT WANTED,
SAYSHANEY
BY LEWIS HANEY
professor of Economies, New
York University

NEW YORK, Dec. 1.-THE
main point made by Mr.. RooSe-
velt in his campaign speech at
Chicago is that he stands for the
organized power of the nation" "
BY this he means that he
stands for centralizing economic
control at Washington. OF course,
this means breaking down the
power of the States.
He asserts that separate and
sovereign states will never be able
to balance the agricultural life
of a nation"-Whatever that may
mean. We may therefore sup
pose that he desires to destroy
State government in all important
respects.
This idea of Mr.. RooSevelt's is
contrary to the Constitution, and
to the ideas of those who founded
our government.
1t is contrary to currently eX-
pressed opinion of our Supreme
Court. Only the other day that
body decided that Congress can
not destroy an institution holding
State charter. in this case
State building and loan aSSocia-
ton. That would be, said the
Court. "a treSpaSS upon the
State and an encroachment
upon the reserved powers of the
States"
But above all, it is opposed
to the common sense of a
majority of the American people.
Some of us may not have thought
the thing out, but our ideas are
about as follows:
We don't want our private
affairs to be controlled by some
remote political power.
We don't want our economic
life, as it exists in one section
of the country, to be subjected
to political power exercised by
other sections of the country
We don't want politicians run
ming our business. and least of
all do we want Federal politicians
at Washington trying to run our
local business.
This is why most of us will
not agree with Mr.. Roosevelt's
attempt to enlarge what he calls
"the organized power of the
nation" over our economic life.
We are willing to have the
Federal Government protect us
against discriminatory actions by
people in other States. We are
willing to have it give us
uniform currency. We are glad
to have it chase crooks across
State lines. But there we draw
the line.
We don't want Federal politi-
clans telling us as laborers what
is a fair wage" in New York,
Detroit. Atlanta and San Fran
cisco We don't want Wallace
ana Tugwell telling us how much
cotton to plant in Georgia and
Texas, how many pigs to kill in
Illinois and Iowa, and how many
potatoes to sell in Idaho and
Maine.
The great fact is that people
are different and sections of the
country are different No bunch
of Washington politicians, even if
they were selected for their eff
ciency. can know what is best for
each person and each section.
Fun thermore they would neces-
sarily have to enforce general
regulations, dealing with us in
great masses. They would, in
other words, have to regiment us.
AS matter of fact. such at
tempts come down to this: they
make the economic or business at-
fairs of the people in one section
subject to political control DOM
mated by some other section or
sections.
Look what the silver Senators"
have done to our Treasury and to
our trade with China. Why
shouio the dairy farmers be the
goat of the tariff arrangements
with Canada?
And don't forget that this
notion of the organized power
Of the nation" means political
organization. 1t means political
dictator. 1t means politics in busi-
ness.
When Mr.. Roosevelt talks about
"our Government" he means his
administration" AS he made
his speech, Mr.. Farley sat behind
him. "Organized power" means
political organization. If Harding
and Dougherty were there, it
would mean their power. At
present it means Roosevelt, Hop
kins and Farley.
The Importance of States in our
system of government Is that they
give us a chance to try different
methods according to our different
environments and different ideas.
They are an important bulWark
of American democracy.
They have Mr.. Roosevelt's COR
ganized power of the nation" in
Russia and in Italy.
Just think that over.
Metal Market