The Washington times., 1936-09-23
NRA END SAVED
NATION, SAYS
ECONOMIST
By NJ. F. DACEY

BY M. F. DACEY
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo,
Sept. % Q.N.SO.-The American
standard Of living eventually
would have been materially low.
cred If the NRA had been allowed
to continue in operation.
The real beginning Of recovery
in this nation, q recovery in spite
of faulty economic planning by
the National Administration, came
when the Supreme Court decision
outlawed the NRA-an organiza-
ton that created general regi-
mentation and uncertainty regard
ing the rules Of competition.
These were the conclusions to-
day Of DIR. Charles F. Roos, noted
economist, in q book he has writ
ten for the Cowles Commission
for Research in Economics here.
The book will be published by the
Principia Press, a not-for profit
organization for scholars.
In explaining apparent gains in
some industries, DR.. Roos writes
Obviously, the chief imme-
date effect Of the NRA program
was that some producers and
distributors were enabled to
repIenish badly depleted work
ing capital at the expense Of the
consumer, including Govern
ment and business enterprises.
The extent Of benefit varied
from industry to industry. If, in
the process, sufficient conf
dence in the future could have
been generated, a credit expan.
sion to increase production or
even new investments adding to
productive capacity and greater
general wellbeing, could have
followed. But the latter has not
occurred under the New Deal"
THREATENED SECURITY
DR.. Roos praises some efforts Of
the Administration, but his final
conclusions are that serious eco
nomic conditions would have re-
suited If the NRA had been per-
mitted to prevail.
DR.. RooS was chief Of the re.
search section Of the NRA from
July, 1898, to September, 1884. He
went to NRA from London, Eng
land, where he had been engaged
in writing a book on dynamic eco.
nomics on a fellowship of the Gug-
genheim Foundation. He had pre-
viouSly held a professorship at Cor
nell University and high office in
various scientific societies.
DR.. RooS' book sounds a warn
ing that couples the Federal cor
poration tax with the failure Of
numerous Administration economic
plans, including the outlawed NRA,
He writes:
"First, planners should con-
slider fully themselves the rami.
ficatiOnS Of their proposals, and,
second, they should encourage
the widest possible debate on the
issues involved, lest the cure it
self transcend in pain the dis
ease.
BUSINESS HALTERED
at is the failure Of the New
Deal to recognize this principle,
from the far reaching but con-
Trajectory NRA, rushed through
Congress almost without debate,
to the Presidents cry against the
Supreme Court when its inevi.
table decision destroyed the or.
EanizatiOn, that has kept buSi-
ness in a churn, prevented en-
plOyment and consequently re-
tarded American development.
"The NRA in practically all
its phases was characterized by
. lack of definite policy and Of
the proper understanding of OBJ
jectiveS, and was doomed to fail
ure from the moment the PreSi.
dent divorced it from the Admin
istratiOn Of Public Works.
"The act was borrowed from
long agitated movements, both
bOOd and bad, and hastily
thrown together in q behOmOth
of contradictions.
HAPHAZARD METHOD
"The NRA contributed a hap
hazard method Of code writing
involving the bargaining Of two
ErOups-induStry and labOr-for
the purse of a third-the con-
sumer. Confusion was the in
evitable consequence Of such un.
directed bargaining.
Gas q result, despite laudable
reform efforts to abolish child
labor, to eliminate intoIerabIe
upfair trade practices, to make
competition fu n ctiOn more
smoothly through open prices,
and, most important, to promote
discussion of economic issues,
the NRA must, as . whole, be re-
garded as a sincere but falla-
CiOuSly miSdirected effort to al.
1eviate depression.
"SpOnsOhship Of the NRA by
the United States Chamber Of