The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1914-1938, 1936-01-02
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thing it does or says has no more
force than a zephyr. Yet thousands
Of dollars are being paid its work
ers on the first and fifteenth of every
month-and there is no sign that
these payments will be ended soon.
For another example let us go
back to the war days. In order to
successfully prosecute Americas
part in the World war, the govern
ment took over and operated the
railroads. a gigantic organization
was built up here i'm Washington
and representatives of the railroad
administration were scattered far
and wide throughout the country.
Commitments were made that con-
tinue even to this day. Credit in
the form of government loans was
extended to the rail lines and sew
eral hundred million dollars of that
amount remains uncollected to this
day. And withal, after Is years
we still have a railroad adminiStra-
ton operating in Washington at
government expense.
Another wartime agency about
which little is heard but which still
is in existence is the War Finance
corporation. 1t fioated bonds and
made loans to private interests and
those commitments have forced re-
tention of a skeleton organization
that probably must be continued
for several years yet before the job
of liquidation is complete.
We have had evidence lately of
how efforts are initiated to main
tain these agen-
Thumbs DoDn cies even when
on MIRA they are legally
dead. Recently in
Washington there was held a much
ballyhooed meeting to which some
three thousand Representatives of,
business interests were invited. 1t
was called by George L. Berry, the
top man in what is left of the MIRA
structure. The purpose was to find
out what business wanted in the
way of a revived NRA. Business
did not want MIRA revived and the
meeting turned out to be genuine
flop. There was nothing like three
thousand representatives in attend
ance and the meeting itself gave a
good many persons the impression
of being staged for the benefit of
the American Federation of Labor,
to which the old MIRA catered.
= Mr.. Berry, until lately the head of
one of the large union labor organi-
cations, did not convince business
that it needed more governmental
interference. Indeed, If business
went away convinced Of anything
beyond the fact that Mr.. Berry's
meeting was a flop, it left Washing
ton with a deep feeling that it did
not want MIRA in any form nor did
1t want any other governmental
agency messing around with its eff
forts to get back on its feet.
The circumstance illustrates bet
ter than anything know how para
site agencies In the government
seek to perpetuate themselves. One
must realize In considering such a
condition that all of those employees
obviously want to keep their jobs.
In the case of the attempted re-
vival of NRA, the, political factor is
important. Mr.. Roosevelt said, 1t
will be remembered, that when NRA
was organized it must be regarded
as something of an experiment and
that If the experiment failed to
work he would be admitting defeat
for one of his earlier pet projects
right in the face of a Presidential
campaign. Politicians do not like
to make admissions Of this kind.
1t will be recalled as well that
after the Supreme court held the
business codes of
Business MIRA to be uncon-
FIGHTS Back stitutional and the
business codes
were the vitals of the MIRA struc-
ture, there was much pressure ex-
erted on congress from the White
House for reconstruction of some
sort of a program to succeed NRA.
Business did not want 1t any more
then than it does now and it fought
back while the legislation was pend
ing. The result was that congress
passed law permitting lines of
commerce and industry to organize
and frame their own voluntary
codes.
Jurisdiction of these codes was
placed i'm the Federal Trade COM
mission. That agency was supposed
to work in cooperation with busi-
ness and to exercise a judicial func:
ton In determining when the codes
were properly within existing laws
against monopoly.
The Trade commission in the last
year has blossomed forth as q
rather sound agency in its consulta-
tions with business and, believe,
merits the respect which business
generally has for 1t. But with all
of that respect and the knowledge
that the Trade commission tries TO
be fair, only five lines of industry
have presented codes of fair prac-