Evening star., 1937-05-23
Wallace Has a Plan for
Spreading Wealth.
BY OVEN L. SCOTT.

Mr.. Roosevelt, as President, prefers
to run a one-man show. Congress and
the Supreme Court have their moments
in the limelight. So do some of the
White House aides-among them, over
the years, Gen. johnson, Donald Rich
berg, Harry Hopkins Harold Ickes and
Cordell Hull-but their periods of prom
inence tend to be brief, as the history
OF the recent past shows.
Yet. one member of the cabinet is
turning out to be the exception that
helps to prove the rule. Whether by
design or not, Henry Wallace, as Secre-
tary of Agriculture. keeps bobbing into
prominence with ideas that cause some
people to shudder, but others to wonder
If he is in careful training for possible
bigger things.
Mr.. Wallace is emerging with plans
and dissertations that outline the phi
losophy OF new New Deal. He pro-
vides an example of what one man with
ideas and a fixed purpose can do, even
when not the worlds best politician.
Those ideas, just now, take on added
Importance with the prospect that the
Supreme Court is gradually removing
itself from the path of experiments in
government and when President Roose-
velt is reiterating his determination to
push ahead to try to fulfill his promise
of better life for all
1t was back in the 192Os, when the
Nation was riding high on one wave
OF prosperity, that Wallace, as rather
young editor of an Iowa farm paper,
insisted upon impressing the minds of
his readers with his conclusion that
things were heading for smash. No.
body seemed greatly interested at the
time. But when the break came. the
Republican Mr.. Wallace ended up as
Democratic Secretary of Agriculture
possessed OF an opportunity to put his
ideas to work.
Today, the country is riding back
toward what looks like prosperity. In
terest In reform and inexperiments is
dying. Congress and the country ap-
parently want rest. But again Mr.
Wallace insists upon doing some warning
and some planning. This time. the
question is whether the Secretary is
guessing right for 1910 or whether he
is simply sounding sour note at a time
When cheers are in order.
The best guess Is that, through the ex-
presSions OF Secretary Wallace the coun-
ment OF direction now to be taken by the
Roosevelt administration. Specific White
House Endorsement is lacking, but the
ideas expressed by the Secretary of Agri-
culture fit into the pattern that the
President obviously has in mind.
Opportunity to step back into the lime
light came to Mr.. Wallace just at time
when he was beginning to operate under
handicap. His had been the misfor-
tune to inherit the hodge -podge of costly
activities built up by DR.. Rexford Tugwell
in an experimental resettlement admin
lstration Many of the experiments were
close to the heart of Mrs Roosevelt. Use
OF the ak would be embarrassing At the
same time, the Secretary admitted deep
interest in the plight Of the under
privileged farm tenants of the South, an
interest that did not appeal to the landed
group in control of much Of the political
machinery of that region-a machinery
vital to any one who has the White
House in mind.
Just in the nick of time. the President
decided that the time had come to econ
omlze. Expensive R. A. experiments could
be dropped by the Wayside. Tenant aid
was easily reduced to a gesture. An
embarrassing situation had been relieved
to enable Mr.. Wallace to concentrate on
new design for national living.
The Wallace story, told in series OF
as yet unpublished speeches. which are
the subject of considerable unjustified
mystery, is this:
Use OF machinery and of advanced
technical processes during the last fifteen
years has nearly doubled the amount OF
goods that one industrial worker can
turn out. The same factors on the farm
during this century have doubled the
amount of goods that one farmer can
produce. Fewer and fewer people are
needed to produce larger and larger
amounts Of goods. Gains from that in
crease in efficiency, official figures are
said to show, have tended to flow into
a high concentration of wealth within
few big corporations. while masses OF
individuals are left without security.
Those big corporations, the Secretary
OF Agriculture argues, hold the key tc
the Nations future. He finds that they
stand across the path of the forces OF
competition that, in times past, operated
naturally to bring recovery from depres-
oAoii' AA1C 1eSOlC ID tIldO tOOdy Will LIle
business cycle well along toward full re-
covery, large numbers of people are un-
able to find work.
Mr.. Wallace suggests that. the way
things now are going. the country can
expect a boom in 1899 and depression
In 1941.
So what to do to head off these de-
velopments?
In giving his answer. the Secretary OF
Agriculture may be letting the people ir
on some administration secrets. He
| points to two sets of controls that car
be applied to keep industry on an ever
keel. His prescription for agriculture is
contained in bill already on its way tc
Congress. The combination represents
New Deal formula for future of bal
anced abundance"
Control number one calls for Fedora,
Government licensing of corporations
Corporations" Mr.. Wallace said, must
more and more be prepared to accept
| the doctrine that capital and manage
| ment have received from Government q
| grant of power which entities them te
make profits on condition that certain
| rules of the game are observed with re-
spect to production, prices, wages anc
savings This suggests direction of broac
| corporation policies under Government
| supervision.
Control number two involves use of the
Federal taYipp nower IN hiring about q