The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1936-11-26
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Era or than anything we
Good Feeling have had since
early in 1929. 1t is
being promoted with a great deal
OF enthusiasm and present results
as well as indications justify the
promotion work that is going on
in the New Deal press agent circles.
This era of good feeling is quite
an interesting thing from another
angle, namely, politics. 1t is being
used by the politicians again to es-
tablish President Roosevelt in the
same situation as he found himself
at the beginning of his first term in
the White House. I am afraid he
is being built up again as super
man and, in politics, a superman
or his position is hard to maintain in
the public mind.
Business also is indulging in this
era of good feeling. Business al
ways puts its best foot forward, just
as lovers do. It wants to develop a
spirit of good will on the part of the
public and it wants to show its finan-
cial hackers how things are coming
along all hunky-dory. There is moth
ing wrong in the attitude. 1t is per-
fectly logical and Humankind it is
very interesting to see this wave of
healthy feeling grow.
The important, as well as the in
teresting, thing about this era of
good feeling is that to the expert
students it shows gradual, if not
conclusive, decline in depression
conditions. 1t proves that things
are on the up grade-not that they
are at the top yet, but that a mo-
mentum is being established which
may carry the economic recovery
to the top if the federal govern
ment settles down and treats bust
ness with fairness.
AS I said above, New Deal press
agents are promoting this business
recovery for all that it is worth.
Naturally, they are attributing it to
the reelection of Mr.. Roosevelt as
the basic factor in this upward
surge of business. They are cap
italizing it to the fullest because by
so capitalizing It, the political
party in power gets its due share of
credit. There is no doubt that they
will continue on this course because
everyone likes to read or hear about
business conditions, resto-
ration of dividend payments, in
creasing volume of traffic, any and
all things that show the nation is
slowly but surely getting back on
its economic feet.
While the New Dealers are shout
ing from the housetops how Presi-
dent Roosevelt has accomplished all
of these things, there comes dis
cordant note from business itself.
Business leaders, just like politi-
clans, want credit for whatever is
accomplished, whether they are re-
sponsible or someone else. They do
not care any more than politicians
whether the credit properly is
theirs. 1t is simply an exposition
of the vain, glorious trait that seems
to exist in nearly everyone.
Business is seeking to show that
it is pulling itself together, open
~, ing new factories,
whose raising wages, in
the Credit spite of New Deal
policies with the
handicaps that some of those poll
cies include. So, business is seek
ing to counterbalance the politicians
a nd the politicians, speaking
through New Deal press statements,
are trying to fortify their own posi-
ton as saviors of the country. Nei-
Their one is correct. Without doing
too much debunking, I believe it
ought to be said that President
and his associates have
executed some government policies
that have been helpful to the bust
ness structure. With equal frank
ness, it ought to be said that bust
ness leaders have taken the bull by
the horns and have proceeded to
help materially in putting commerce
and industry back on the right track
again. Neither one ought to take
too much credit. Some credit is
due each but neither one nor both
together is entitled to claim all of
the credit for the recovery of bust
ness that is now underway.
The answer to the upward swing
G. business lies chiefly in the fact
that the depression has worn itself
out. 1t would have worn itself out
just the same whether the admin
istration was New Deal or Repub-
Gcan. 1t would have accomplished
just as much in the way of ex-
banded buying power and increased
production whether Mr.. Roosevelt
was reelected or whether he had
been defeated and Governor Landon
of Kansas had been elected at the
end of the recent national cam
paign.
/ am reminded by this discussion
of remark that the late Eugene
Black made while he was governor
of the Federal Reserve board. On
that occasion I asked him whether
there were signs of the end of the
His reply was, mot
yet" He added, however, that the
depression would destroy itself as
every other depression in history
had done and that when this point
of exhaustion had been reached,
commerce and industry would take
an upward swing. Then, he added
with reference to some of the eco
nomic students of the administra-
ton in power: "It will wear itself
out and good times will come back