Evening star., 1936-05-19

States rights, perhaps because he
knows that not one American in ten
thousand has ever read the Constitu-
ton to remember it. He feels that
the American people, as a people, are
less interested in conserving some
thing that has hoary associations
than they are in getting for them
selves q better existence. And, with
this in mind, he centers his attack
at the most vulnerable point In the
whole administration program and
at the essential point. But in doing
SO he shows that the New Deal pro-
gram has developed logically out Of
the financial, business and trades
union practices Of this Nation from
Grant to Hoover. It Is these prac-
tices which he advocates changing
the practice and theory of high
prices. the corollary Of which s
scarcity economy. Mr.. Flanders. like
Mr.. Roosevelt, Is for the abundant
life, but he doesn't see US getting it
under present tendencies. He sees the
abundant life in the continual ex-
pansion Of goods and services Of
improving quality at increasingly low
er prices, by the application Of more
and more labor and more and more
technology. He believes that the
thesis set forth in the Presidents
last speech in New York, that this
will mean more permanent unemploy-
ment. Is absolutely fallacious. He
xuri,Id lika fn eaa tha Natior. nho ., a.r
the idea Of security, except for mini
mum security for the most dependent
part of the population; he sees hope
not In greater rigidity but greater
fiexibility; in more competition, not
in less. He believes that the Fed
eral Government must extend its
powers and its social responsibilities
over those exercised previous to 1888.
but retreat from some, but not all,
Of the extensions made since then. He
is specific where they should be ex-
tended and where contracted.
Capacity for Consumption.
Mr.. Flanders is not JefIersonian,
because Jefferson was essentially an
agrarian, and he does not see the
future Of America in terms Of general
agrarianism. On the contrary, he Is
convinced that agricultural produc-
tion will suffer permanent curtail-
ment in the face of the economic
nationalism Of other countries; he
sees that agriculture has an inelas-
tic market, as compared to industry,
for while there Is a definite limit to
the amount Of food stufYs, the chief
product of agriculture, which q popu-
lation can consume, there Is no limit
to its capacity for the consumption
of industrial products. except that
Of its pocketbook. as goods and serv-
ices are constantly improved and new
ones added. He believes that the
main solution for the farm problem
lies In the acceleration of industry,
which will draw men from the farms,
replacing the present tendency to in
crease the farm population, but he
would like to see the connection kept
between the worker and the land. by
the decentralization of manufactur-
ing.
He is not Hamiltonian. He Is
anti-monopolist and anti-speculative
finance capitalism. Perhaps. in his
social philosophy, he Is nearest to
the second Adams.
His program would demand new
disciplines-or the resumption of old
ones-on the part Of all groups Of
the population. But it is an affirma-
tive philosophy. 1t is Fascist,
anti-collectivist. anti-speculative, ex-
cept in the realm Of genuine produc-
ton OF goods and services, where he
believes risk is an essential Of prog
ress. Like the great Spanish liberal,
Ortega, he believes that with all its
faults. most Of them remediable, mod
ern technology plus private enter
prise and liberal democracy have
q larger number Of peo-
pie at q higher standard Of living
than any other system which has
ever existed In the history Of the |
world. and that one can only build |
on this fact.
1t Is because this book seems to me |
the most reasonable and clear state
ment Of the viewpoint of an intel
ligent tndustrialist which has come
10 my desk-in q welter of pamphlets
and programs-that intend to de-
vote another column to it. The Re-
publican party might well accept it
,otally. They can go farther and
are worse.
And probably will.
Copyright. 1885. New York Tribune Inc
Com mmencement Sneaker Chosen.