Evening star., 1936-04-15
Appeal to Youth.

President RooSevelt's homily on youth
and his promised aid to the young peo-
pie of the country, delivered in Balti-
more, we're vague. His most concrete
suggestion was that something might be
done to limit the working years of men
and women at both ends" If the Presi-
dent had his way, boys and girls would
stay in school until they were eighteen
and men and women would quit work at
sixty-five. Not only would this make
for a better educated citizenry, but 1t
would provide more jobs for those be-
tween eighteen and sixty-five years OF
age. Under the Constitution of the United
States, as it is now interpreted by the
Supreme Court, the Federal Government
is powerless to enact law preventing
either child labor or the labor OF the
aged. If anything along the lines pro-
posed by the President is to be done it
must be accomplished by action OF the
individual States.
The President made it clear, however,
that he is not willing to abide by such
construction of the fundamental law OF
the land. His promise to the youth OF
America was to go forward with the
New Deal ideals. The era of the pioneer
in America is not ended, he said. It is
merely changed from the geographical
pioneer to the social" pioneer. Indeed,
he said, the period of social pioneering
Is only at its beginning" Great meas
ures, he said, will be needed ito bring
under proper control the forces of mod
ern society"
The appeal of the President for
"youth," for better chance for the
young men and the young women of
the land, strikes responsive chord. And
vet the reforms undertaken by the RooSe-
yelt administration during the last three
years, and the huge spending program
indulged in by the same administration,
have not so far solved the problem.
either for the youth of America or for
the older workers. There is arising,
therefore, a doubt as to the efficacy OF
the Roosevelt policies. Will the President
be able to persuade the youthful voters to
continue to support him, in the light OF
what has happened, or has failed to
happen?
The President described in his address
the objectives of youth. AS given by the
President, they are not new. What young
man, since the beginning of the United
States, has not desired an opportunity to
make an honest living? What young
man has not wished for reasonable
chance to improve his condition in life?
And what young man has not sought
practical assurance against want and
suffering in old age? What young man
has not yearned to participate in the
finer things of life?
With something of sneer in his voice,
the President referred to the 1923 kind
of prosperity" Such prosperity, he said,
was not good enough in the days before
the depression, and is not good enough
today. How many Americans would be
willing to swap today the New Deal
for the conditions which existed In this
country prior to the depression? That
is one of the questions which the elec-
torate, young and old, will answer, per-
haps, in the November election. In
1882, when President Roosevelt was
elected, the people were willing to gam
BILE for better conditions. They had
been through terrible years. They may
be willing to gamble again for a return
to the prosperity to which the President
now refers so lightly.
The threat which the President holds
out to American industry is that if in
dustry will not follow the New Deal
experiments industry must stand aside
and let the Federal Government do the
Job. Many Americans today are asking
that the New Dealers stand aside and
give industry q chance to go ahead
without the constant threat of more
regulation and more Government COM
petition.