Evening star., 1936-09-13

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creased.
Where would we be today II we
had adopted this philosophy in
1890? Or 1900? How many auto
mobiles and telephones would
there be In the country? How
many moving picture theaters?
How many radios?
Control Over Industry
Overlooked by Business.
This philosophy was sold to US
in 1888, as a temporary measure,
when We were too troubled to real
lie what was happening. Many
business men then supported the
experiment. Some saw in it es-
cape from the rigors of competi-
ton. Others selfishily welcomed
relaxation Of legal restrictions on
monopoly. They failed to see that
it marked the establishment Of
centralized control by government
of industry. .
In practice the national recovery
act was a law which tended to
protect the large, prosperous and
well established concerns, at the
expense of the ambitious young
man trying to start his own busi-
ness-it was a law which tended
to make it impossible for smaller
concerns ever to compete effective
1x, rx,ffh 10
enterprises ever to gain a foothold
in fields already occupied. Like the
recently enacted so-called surplus
tax bill, it hung milestone around
the neck of the small business
man.
Recall what happened under the
N. r. A. with its hundreds Of
codes. Only the big corporations
were able to keep staff Of men in
Washington to present their views
at the code hearings. The little
fellow had neither the time nor
the money to make frequent trips
to Washington. He could not
spend days around Government
Offices trying to keep up with all
the changing rules and regulations.
As a result. he never could be sure
he was not breaking a ruling laid
down by a bureaucfat-a ruling
which was frequently made over
night and without public hearing,
and which under this administra-
ton had the force Of law.
What the N. r. A. really under.
took to do in this country was to
terminate our system of free COM
petition, and to substitute for it .
system of Government-created and
Government-protected monopolies.
1t is not difilcult to see what in
evitably happens when this doc
trine is followed.
First the Government creates
and fosters a monopoly. Then it
finds that it Is against the public
interest to leave such a monopoly,
even though regulated. in private
hands In consequence, the Gov
ernment decides to take over the
monopoly.
It is a well-defined movement.
The road it takes is easy to fol-
low. It is the road that leads
away from democracy.
The N. r. A. was the beginning
in America of the movement
which, throughout the world, has
been sweeping aside private enter
prise in favor of government con-
trol-a movement which has been
substituting arbitrary personal
authority for constitutional self
government.
But-you may say-the N. r. A.
is dead.
True enough. The national
industrial recovery act is dead.
thanks to the courage and integ-
rity Of the Supreme Court.
Spirit of Defunct
Law Lives On"
But the spirit Of the N. r. A.
lives on. 1t lives on in recently
enacted laws. 1t lives on in the
efforts of this Administration to
get around the decisions Of the Su-
preme Court. 1t lives on in this
Administrators 1886 platform,
1t lives on in the recent public ut
terances of the President and his
spokesmen.
But above all. it lives on In the
spirit of the President. who has
confessed no error-who has let
it be clearly known that he con-
sidered it would be a catastrophe
If the American farmer should
"once more become q lord on his
own farm"
If this does not mean that the
present Administration wants to
establish government domination
of industry and agriculture. what
does it mean? If the President has
changed his mind and recognizes
his errors, let him say so. Let
him say so in plain language. Until
we have such an admission of er.
ror, the choice before us is clear.
On one side Is the system of
free competitive enterprise, which
while not perfect, at least does not
dole out opportunity according to