Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-07-05
DOOM OF ROPER
COUNCIL IN SIGHT
Dissension and Timidity
Seen Behind designations
and Decreased Activity.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE,

tant as formal link between PreSl-
dent Roosevelt and American business,
has broken down.
Slowly. one by one, prominent men,
bers have resigned. five of them in the
last fortnight. and now it apears that
unless the council is completely re-
organized it will vanish as just one
more of the numerous boards and
commissions created under the camou-
flage of cooperation" between bust
ness and government.
The reason the Roper council has
diminished in influence is simple
one. Its title was the Business and
Advisory Council of the Department
of Commerce" but various members
of it discovered after nearly year of
intensive effort that hardly anybody
wanted their advice and that the man
at whom most of the advice was di-
rected namely, the President, took it
least of all.
The fault was not entirely the
Presidents. 1t was partly that of the
business men themselves, too many of
whom prefer to cater to the admins
tration for political or expediency rea-
sons rather than to express their con-
victions forcefully This produced dis
sension and timidity. But the pri-
mary mistake was the creation of an
institution with which the President
himself was never in real sympathy
Having lambasted business men as re-
dictionary or Unfortunately selfish, in
his now famous speech at Green Bay,
Wis, last year. it was surprising that
any business men could be found to
Eerve on presidential or departmental
council
Serious Work Wasted.
But in the interests of harmony. in
the belief that business men should
follow along and cooperate" the
Roper council took themselves seri-
ously enough to have long meetings
and exhaustive discussions which re-
suited in carefully prepared reports
for the eyes of President Roosevelt.
But he pigeonholed them all, and to
this day nobody in the Roper council
can truthfully say that the President
ever adopted any of the more impor-
tant recommendations.
The business men discovered that
Mr.. Roosevelt was glad enough to
have a body of councillors that he
could use to offset the Chamber of
Commerce, so as to give the impress
sion that the latter organization was
misrepresentation of American bust
ness, whereas his own group was truly
representative. But these tactics cost
him the support of many OF the
members of the Roper council, who
thought it was unfair, in view of the
fact that the Roper council reports
we're at variance with Mr.. Roosevelt S
views on different items of legislation
and no publicity was ever given to
that situation by the White House.
Were it not for the leaking out of
different Roper council reports, bust
ness men generally would have be-
lieved that the Roper council was
entirely in agreement with Mr.. Roose-
welt and that the Chamber Of Com
merce was not. Actually an examina-
ton of the chambers resolutions and
a rather close identity of view on
fundamentals.
There probably will be other men
appointed to the Roper council at
the meeting to be held next Wednes-
day, but they will be of the rubber
stamp variety, calculated to go
along" with the President Few self
respecting business men will attempt
tc represent American business on
the Roper council in the future, in
view of the record and in view of the
treatment already given to the men,
bers Of the council by the administra-
ton.
Question Of Need.
1t is a serious question whether
business and advisory council should
be set up.
The real need is for frank inter-
change of views between business men
and the members of the Senate and
House, who are really responsible for
legislation. incidentally, such changes
in the direction of economic sanity
sS have been attained in admins
tration bills are the result Of advice
gwen by practical men Of affairs in
their talks with and reports to mem
bers of Congress, rather than in any
communications to the Chief Execu-
tive.
The Roper council has outlived its
usefulness, if indeed 1t ever had any.
That fact is well recognized now by
the leaders of American industry and
business. Those few men remaining
on it who are really outstanding are
doing SO because they have more to
lose than gain by resigning and thus
offending the administration. But at
heart they have dropped the notion
that the council can get anywhere as
an agency for recovery.
The Scant attendance at the
monthly meetings, the series of res
ignations and the general disappoint-
ment and establishment over Mr..
Roosevelts attitude toward business
all point to the fact that, even if a
skeleton organization is maintained,
the days of attempted constructive
criticism" or Cooperation" and all
the other efforts covering two years
of outer harmony but inner conflict
between business and Government are
about at an end.