Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-09-06
ROOsevelt-HOward Letters
Text of Presidents Statement That Breathing
Spell Has Every Decidedly" Arrived for
american Industry.
american Industry.
BY the Associated Press.

HYDE PARK, N. Y, September
6.-The text of the exchange of
letters between President Roose-
vet and Roy w. Howard, news
paper publisher, follows.
Mr.. Howard, in a letter dated
August 26, 1885. wrote:
My Dear Mr.. President:
AS an independent editor keenly
interested in the detectives of the
New Deal, ! have been seeking
reasons for the doubts and un-
certainties of those business men
who are skeptics, critics and out
right opponents of your program
at a time when there is no COM
mensurate dissatisfaction being
evidenced by others of the cleo
torate.
I do not accept it as a fact that
the interests Of what we broadly
term business necessarily are in
conflict with mass interests.
expect to continue in support
of your stated Interpretation OF
American liberalism - notwith-
standing my dissent and disagree
ment as to some detils and some
theories. Therefore, it is in a
friendly and, I hope, constructive,
spirit that attempt a few OBJ
servations and opinions which !
believe timely and pertinent.
These represent, believe, a COM
posite of the most frequently ex-
pressed criticisms of your admins
tration.
Business Not Merely
Hostile, but Frightened.
That certain elements of business
have been growing more hostile to
your administration is fact too
obvious to be clasSed as news. So
long as this hostility emanated
from financial racketeers, public
exploiters and the sinister forces
spawned by special privilege, 1t was
of slight Importance. No crook
loves a cop. But any experienced
reporter will tell you that through
out the country many business men
who once gave you sincere sup
port are now, not merely hostile,
they are frightened.
Many Of these men whose pa
triotism and sense of public service
will compare with that Of any men
in political life. have become con.
WINGED and sincerely believe:
That you fathered q tax bill that
aims at revenge rather than rev.
enue-revenge on business;
That the administration has
side-stepped broadening the tax
base to the extent necessary to
approximate the needs of the sit
uation;
That there can be no real re-
covery until the fears of business
have been aIlayed through the
granting Of q breathing spell to
industry, and recess from further
experimentation until the country
can recover its losses.
I know you have repeatedly
stated your position on sections of
the Nations problems. but as an
editor I know also the necessity
for repetition and reiteration.
There is need to undo the damage
that has been done by misinter-
prefers of the New Deal.
I know that you feel as I do
that with all its faults, and the
abuses it has developed, our sys-
tenn has in the past enabled us to
achieve greater mass progress than
has been attained by any other
system on earth.
Smoke out the sinister forces
seeking to delude the public into
believing that an orderly moderni-
zation of a system we want to pre-
serve is revolution in disguise.
Cordially and sincerely yours,
(signed) ROY w. HOWARD.
President Recognizes Duty
To Inform Honest Critics.
The President. under date OF
September 2, 1885. replied:
NV dear Mr.. Howard:
I appreciate the tone and pur-
pose of your letter, and fairness
impels me to note with no little
sympathy and understanding the
facts which you record, based on
your observations as q reporter Of
opinion throughout the United
States.
can well realize, moreover, that
the many legislative details and
processes incident to the long and
arduous session of the Congress
should have had the unavoidable
effect of promoting some confu-
sion in many peoples minds.
I think we can safely disregard
the skeptics of whom you speak.
Skeptics were present when Noah
said it was going to rain and they
refused to go into the ark.
We can also disregard those who
are actuated by spirit Of political
partisanship or by willingness to
gain or retain personal profit at
the expense of, and detriment to,
their neighbors.
Then there were those who told
us to do nothing. We had heard
of the do-nothing policy before
and from the same sources and in
many cases from the same indi-
viduals. We heard it when Theo-
dore Roosevelt and Woodrow Will
son proposed reforms.
The country. has learned how to
measure that kind of opposition.
But there are critics who are hon.
est and non partisan and who are
willing to discuss and to learn.
believe we owe, therefore, a posi-
tive duty to clarity our purposes,
to describe our methods and to re-
iterate our ideals.
Such Qualification Is greatly
aided by the efforts of those public
spirited newspapers which serve
the public well by a true portrayal
of the facts and a unbiased print
ing of the news.
Confident That Doubts and
Apprehension viii Vanish.
However, experience is the best
teacher and results are the best
evidence. AS the essential outline
of what has. been done rises into