Evening star., 1935-06-09
BY OWEN l.. SCOTT.

President Roosevelt is taking his
own advice and making his own de-
cisions on the future New Deal course.
Old advisers, events show. did not do
so we'll Theirs was a perfect score
in misjudging the Constitution as in
terpreted by the Supreme Court.
The Presidents first determination,
apparently, is to afford opponents of
the administration an opportunity to
prove their point. They have argued
for months that industry waited only
for a removal of Government re-
straints to surge forward in a recovery
that would absorb millions of unem-
ployed. Natural forces of recovery
were pictured as pent up, trying to
assert themselves.
President Roosevelt obviously was
in no position to admit that N. R. A.
had failed. So he was unable to DEM
onstrate effectively whether or not
his opponents were right. But now
the Supreme Court has afforded him
an opportunity. He has decided TO
take it, If Congress permits. by re-
leasing industry from the threat OF
Government interference or planning
for a few months.
II Mr.. Roosevelt wishes to do so.
he now is in a position to guide the
New Deal on an entirely different
tack. He has been taking the first
steps toward economic planning. Mr..
Hoover describes these steps as lead
ing to the European form of govern
ment."
But economists say these are steps
that must be taken by any nation
that decides to turn in on itself and
90 nationalistic. When that hap
pens. the government is forced to do
things that formerly were accom-
plished by competition in world mar
kets. 1t adjusts its money, its indus
try. it's agriculture. its banking. The
central government becomes all
powerful
The New Deal started along that
path. but actually its controls have
not worked so well. The time had
come, before the Supreme Court
killed the Blue Eagle. when the Fed
eral Government either had to
strengthen these controls or gradually
abandon them. Plans were laid for
strengthening.
Now, however, President Roosevelt
readily could turn back to the ortho-
dox methods of recovery that pre-
vailed in past depressions. He could,
If he wished, apply the Hoover method.
AS matter of fact. if code controls
now are dropped. as Mr.. Roosevelt says
they are to be over the next nine
months, then the country will have a
glimpse of the way that laiSSeZ-faire
would work to achieve recovery. ac-
cording to a pre-New Deal pattern.
The President has at hand some
weapons to stimulate the functioning
of orthodox economy, and he could
try to obtain others from Congress.
Antitrust laws already are on the
statute books and are back in force.
Presumably they will function again,
and IL Mr.. Roosevelt wanted to hurry
up the working of competition he
could instruct Attorney General Cum
mings to get busy with prosecutions
where industries now try to continue
the sort of cooperation that applied
under N. R. A. Senator Wheeler has
a plan before Congress to tax corpora
tions according to their size. That
plan would fit into new pattern.
Then the President has power to
speed up reciprocal trade agreements,
which involve lowered tariffs. The
dollar now is fairly we'll stabilized and
this country could take the lead in
seeking to bring stability to currencies
of the world This would mean a new
World Economic Conference. England.
however, is insistent that war debts
be adjusted before talk starts on
money, so Congress would need to
make up it's mind to cancel good
part of those obligations.
A recent Supreme Court decision ap-
proved one drastic form OF bankruptcy
reorganization for railroads and
showed it's willingness to accept this
broadened means of adjusting debts.
This would give Congress an opening
to permit quicker defiation. which is
necessary under the laiSsez-faire re-
covery program.
r
The question is whether the people
of the country want to return to the
orthodox method of achieving world
economic balance through deflation
and competition, or whether they pre-
fer to apply some of the European
control methods worked out in other
countries that are strongly national
istic.
President Roosevelt believes they will
have an opportunity to make up their