The Waterbury Democrat., 1937-12-16

Washington, Dec. l6-This is not one of those periods when anyone whose function 1t Is to prophecy what's going to happen next in gov ernment politics, business and other national affairs finds himself hav- ing very much fun.
 Under the influence of . down. ward business curve which has been almost perpendlcular for many months, the Roosevelt form ula Cf government by zlgxag has reached the point of xigxagging so rapidly that it often Is lm- possible to tell gig from gag, partly because the qulckness of both gigs and gags deceives the eye.
 Yet there probably is no more confusion inside the government as to the future than there Is on the outside--and probably nowhere near as much. The question of who or what started this depression has given way to debate on which forces are now most sacred-the admiris- trations or those of Big Busi- ness"P Faith in the curative pow CTS of tax revision, budget -balanc- ing, attempts to stimulate building and other measures is ebbing. Faith Is Shaken
 There appears to be real worry in New York that the situation can't be saved simply by tearing down the New Deal that private capital can't and won't take over during a depression, and that no one really knows the answers. Conservatives who believed innn Independent congress" and balanced budget are now not quite so sure, espe- cially after observing congress in It's special session. The conviction grows here that government spenel- ing is going to have to be used to halt the economic spiral, but that Isn't official because no one will admit it.
 Proposals from the National AS- sOclatl0n of Manufactures that government cooperate with busi- ness toward recovery caused hard ly a ripple here, perhaps because of q dcep-scated conviction that the N. A. M. Is an inc0rrlglble enemy of tho New Deal. There arc tugs Of war between various sets of administration advisers as to the nature and extent of "cOn- sessions Co business" but these only accentuate confusion.
 An example of this confusion is the complete uncertainty as to what extent the corporation surplus pro- fits tax will be modified. in view of Roosevelt's insistcnce on retain- ing It's principle in tho face Of widespread demand for repeal. Assorted Advisers
 Probability that Chairman Joe Kennedy of the maritime commis- sion will be made ambassador to England has started everyone guess. ing whether this is a bad sign inas- much as 1t gets perhaps the presi- dents closest conservative adviser far away from the White House, or whether it Isn't good sign when Roosevelt demonstrates his faith in his closest conservative adviser.
 Almost simultaneously Roose. welt has thrown . package 0f mingled good news and bad news to both conservatives and progress slveS by appointments of Jerome Frank, liberal lawyer, and John W. IIsncs, Wall street broker, to the SEC.
 pr. Rex Tugcll has just visited Roosevelt at the White House dor IunCh) for the first time since he uuit the New Deal. Arch -conSerVa- tive Congressman Bruce Barton oi New York, adyertiglnng magfatc, has advised the N. A. M. to get in- tcrcstcd in low-cost housing on the ground that ono gesture of "social consciousness will do more good than all the resolutions In tho world.
 Rev. Gerald Doing Well
 The political picture continues to be complicated by the third-terln specter, and there arc rufnors that High Commissioner the-Philip- pines Paul McNutt will seek q coal- ition nomination for 1040
 The Republican executive com. mittce meets at St. Louis t0 name . program committee which will be just as much mixed up on the program question as everyone else. The Republican governors of Yer mont and New Hampshire, who are expected t0 be seldom seen and never heard, have both found voice to demand party refOrm--a fact which means practically nothing except that it may indicate a concerted attack on Herbert II00ver's control of party machln' cry.
 Meanwhile the Rev. Gerald L. K. Smith, who will rabble-rouse over 4O.odd radio stations every Sunday as long as he can raise money to pay for t, has moved Into the Hay Adams house in room where nc gazes daily across the park at the White House and thinks Of new polemics to hurl at It's most cele' brated occupant
 And If anyone asks you "Where do we go from here?" the set an- swer is:
 I'll bltew
 Copyright, 1897, NEA Service Incl |