Evening star., 1935-01-07
WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.

Politicians and business leaders are
waiting to digest today's budget mes
sage before deciding definitely whether
the Roosevelt new order Of things
is trending right or left. Meantime,
scrutiny of the Presidents earlier
message produces fair unanimity of
view that he has chosen middle-of-
the-road course. While his relief and
social security programs are frankly
humanitarian and liberal, they are
not diagnosed as radical. On the
contrary, they are found to contain
plenty of points to reassure conserva-
tives. Foremost among such indica-
tionS is the statement that work re-
lief will be financed within sound
Government credit" This has the
earmarks of an Contamination pledge
Affirmation of the Presidents belief in
the profit motive, the guarantee that
relief-work wages will not be higher
than those prevailing in private en-
ployment, and promise of a minimum
of Government competition with COM
mercial and banking enterpriSe-all
these things are welcomed as signs
that Mr.. Roosevelt Is not steering the
ship of state to the left.
4 X X x
Most criticisms of the Presidents
program thus far voiced assail its
"vagueneSs" and "indefiniteness." F..
D. r. all along emphasized that his
report on the state of the Union would
be confined to a broad outline of
policies and objectives" Congress
will soon be surfeited with brass tacks
from the White House. Message
after message projecting specific pro-
posalS will be forthcoming in more
or less incessant stream. They will
be brief and concrete. AS far as pos
sible, it is the desire of the President
and the Democratic leadership that
one proposition shall be out of the
way before another is tackled. None
of the major measures suggested by
Mr.. Roosevelt in his message to Con-
gress has SO far evoked hints of not
able opposition. There will be scraps
over details and some attempts to go
farther in matters like relief, public
works and social security. But with
the underlying purposes of the ad-
ministration program there is VOL
ume of agreement and approval that
forecasts relatively easy shedding for
it all along the line. Comment Is uni
versal that 1t represents the most
human" set of legislative plans ever
submitted to any Congress in the
Nations history.
Louis ]. Alber, veteran lecture i'm
preSario, who is now directing the
speaking and radio activities of the
Federal Housing Administration after
having served Gen. johnson in
similar capacity at N. r. A., has per-
suaded one of the big broadcasting
chains to place on a Nationwide
network a fourth weekly F. H. A.
program glorifying the virtues of the
New Deal housing scheme. 1t will
be the first Government-ins
feature to 60 on the air under COM
mercial sponsorship, as it has been
sold for a period of 26 weeks to one
of the country's leading manufac-
turers of electrical appliances. The
program will be entitled What Home
Means to Me-" and will be opened
on Sunday afternoon, January 13,
from the John Howard Payne house
at East Hampton, Long Island, where
Home Sweet Home" was composed
more than a century ago. Mr.. Alber
says that the purpose Of the new
housing broadcast is to make radio
listeners more aware of the true
value of the home, more home con-
scious and less inclined to indulge in
the too prevalent cynical conception
that home is just a place to hang
ones hat when there's nowhere else
to CO."
As the bonus fight will eventually
be decided in the Senate, interest
attaches to some Of the recent sena-