Evening star., 1936-12-13
TREND TO FEDERALIZED
STATE HELD STRONGER
Peace and National System of Wages
and Hours Seen Chief Objectives
of President.
BY PAUL MALLON.
.HERE is no need to beat around
the dictionary for words to de.

"HERE is no need to beat around
the dictionary for words to de-
scribe the last election. In our
u own peaceful way we had q
revolution, a democratic revolution.
We set up a government vaguely COM
> parable In some degree to the strongly
centralized and nationaliZed govern
ments which have been established by
violent methods in Germany and Italy.
The comparison, of course, is not
exact. Mr.. Roosevelt was not sud-
denly transformed on the morning Of
November 4 into a Hitler or a Mus
solini, but he certainly was handed
powers approximating those of DEM
ocratic autocrat, and he became a
single centered individualistic ma
tional authority at the head of re-
public He is backed by popular
electoral opinion so powerful that
from practical standpoint he will be
able to serve the Nation with nearly
as strong a hand as any European
dictator now possesses. Congress has
become merely his agent, while the
judiciary, the third branch of govern
ment, remains as the only practical
limitation upon his authority.
This means, in my opinion, that
most ideas of Washington will have to
be revised The influence Of our DEM
ocratic revolution on politics and busi-
- ness, and especially upon individual
lives and plans of business men, will
have to be readjusted to meet new set
Of political conditions. which have be-
come irretrievably bound up with eco
nomic conditions.
Old Rules Have Passed.
The old rules of Government rela-
tionship to business the old forms Of
political mannerisms have passed. We
are not returning to the political or
economic customs which prevailed
through the long history of the coun-
try before the depression, and we
probably never will. Americans must,
therefore, face a condition, not as all
would like to have it, but as it is, and
as it is going to be for the next few
years, at least. Under this condition
the Nation is going forward into a
distinctly new era, which may be the
most interesting. and possibly the most
successful, of its story book history Of
successes.
What every one wants to know now
Is what Mr. Roosevelt is going to do
am convinced no one knows that
including Mr.. Roosevelt, but at the
same time. there are certain discern
tble trends which are distinct out
growths Of the election and which are
as sure and certain to come as next
Summers heat. The first and domi-
nant, all-controling movement stepped
up by the election is that toward the
Federalized state.
You can see that trend best in the
change Of attitude which Is quietly
developing among the professional
thinkers in charge of Mr. Roosevelts
farm program. A year ago they were
perfectly willing to have Congress pass
law turning their Federal benefit
payment plan over to the States.
That was Immediately after the Su-
preme Court decision declared the A.
A. A. amendment unconstitutional and
the President was beset by criticism
from every side.
But these same thinkers are now
coming around to the opinion that the
State machinery would be an admin
Ntrative juggernaut too large to be
ehiciently handled. They want Fed
eral control again. and they intend to
get it. do not believe they have de-
cided specifically how they intend to
go about it. but they will seek to get
around the Supreme Court A. A. A. de-
cision by some amendment extending
their administration of the soil-con-
servation act beyond 1887, the time
when they are supposed to turn it over
to the States.
Federal Conscience" Awakened.
In other words, the Federal con-
science of the New Dealers has been
awakened most by the election. They
feel sincerely that the way to accom-
plish their social and economic aims
is through direct action on a national
scale and they, therefore, will try to
build up more substantial centralized
control during their next four years.
This, believe, is the primary trend
wrought by the election.
Next. believe, the Roosevelt sweep
strengthened the confidence of the
New Dealers in their spending theory.
Their fundamental, basic policy in
combating the depression was to create
q fictitious governmental purchasing
power to carry business through and
to bestir the currents in the stagnating
money reservoirs. This tendency will
continue. do not mean to say that
the gigantic relief expenditures and
public works outlays of the past few
years will continue at their old rate.
That rate was accelerated to meet an
emergency condition of unemployment
and relief.
What will continue is the basic
theory OF heavy taxation upon people
who have money and who are making
money in order to distribute these tax
revenues to other people who are in
need OF money and will spend it as
soon as they get 1t. That is, no relief
from the current rates and policies of
taxation can be expected any time
soon. Indeed, there may be larger
taxes on the higher incomes during the
next few years.
It is not just question of revenue
with the New Deal It IS q question
Of social reorganization, a by-product
Of Huey Longs old theory of redis-
tribution Of wealth. They are bent on
fedistributing income and they are
going about it in an efficient way. The
New Dealers consider it to be advisable
and necessary, not only for social rea-
sons, but for political and economic
ones as well. They look at it this way:
It is q good thing for the Government
to take Q substantial sum away from
the successful, the well-to-do and the
very rich and give it to the needy, the
stupid and the lazy, because it raises
the standard Of living Of the lowest In.
come group. It is q measure of social