Evening star., 1936-02-02
Nation Seen as BeWildered
Shifting Amss Policies Blamed by Economist for Confusion

Monies ere a terra incognita. What
unframed man can possibly understand
the economic truth about short t-sell-
ing or tariff on manganese or Fed
eral reserve rediscount policy or an
excess profits tax or 30-hour week
or holding company functions or SYM
metalism? And the sad truth is that
IN this vast welter of intricate eco
nomic forces the masses are helpless
victims of the oily-tongued dema-
gogue, the economic simpleton and the
visionary reformer.
This is the background of our pres
ent state We had World War. This
country waxed rich from it for time
and then developed a morbid condi-
tion. A head-in-the sand government
under Coolidge and Hoover failed to
see the handwriting on the wall. They
sat at Belshazzar's feast When the
disaster came. the Hoover administra-
tion faced it with honesty and cour-
age, without vision or understanding
1t permitted Congress to enact un-
happy laws dealing with the tariff, with
farm products. with public works. On
the other hand, it did recognize the
truth that there is no sleight-o -of-hand
cure of depression, and in general 1t
refused to enact unsound measures to
please special interests or placate
popular clamor.
Small Group Comes to Power.
And little group of men sensed the
fact that if the masses in their distress
could be persuaded that the govern
ment at Washington was responsible
for the depression, for the economic
evils that preceded 1t and for the fall
ure to stop it, they could come to power.
They were completely successful. They
promised to end depression. They
offered the people glittering generali-
ties about the more abundant life.
They gave intimations of economic
favors to- come for every important
sectional and class interest in the
country. All had their bags of oats
dangled before them-labor, silver, the
farmers, the inflationists.
This is merely the background of
the economic merry-go-round of the
last two years. 1t does not explain
what has happened since. Admittedly
this takes some explaining. What can
explain the surrender to the silver
crowd, the squandering of money, the
debasement of the currency, the end
less shifts in economic policy?
The explanation is very simple. The
! present government came into Office
saddled with these promises. 1t took
Office in the midst of a national
emergency. 1t was pledged to bring
recovery, to remedy economic evils. to
do something for the masses. With
out program or concrete plan of any
kind, it turned to a group of miscel-
laneous advisers, in and out of Con-
gress.
Some of these advisers were kid
glove, dilettante parlor socialists.
Some of them were hard-boiled poll
ticians, shrewd in the art of inflam-
matory appeals to mass prejudice.
Some of them were representatives of
certain population groups, relentless
in their demands for class legislation
, and merciless in pressing their cause
on plant administration. Silver
union labor, agriculture and the in
flationary stock interests come in
stantly to your mind when you con-
slider these groups. The parlor pinks
urged upon the administration a ver-
liable Pandora's box of wild schemes
for relief and recovery. The pressure
groups made hay while the sun was
shining.
! And hsrs ws ind ths explanation