Evening star., 1937-03-19
WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS
BY FREDERIC WILLIAN WILE.

For the first time since President
Roosevelt Sprang the judiciary bomb
shell, Washington's attention is diverted
to other issues. They are the financial
and economic problems projected by
Chairman EccleS of the Federal Reserve
Board in his recent statement on what
is being called the inflationary situa-
ton" The conditions in question arouse
speculation as to whether they perhaps
constitute the crisis at which President
RooSevelt's flreslde chat vaguely limited.
Many indications suggest administration
fears that the country may be booming
toward another 1929" In mid-Week
press conferences on Wednesday both
Secretary of Agriculture Wallace and
Secretary of Commerce Roper uttered
words OF caution that only thinly veil
anxiety about business trends Probably
its the skyrocketing of commodity prices
which fills New Dealers with most con-
Germ. In some cases these are said to
have jumped far beyond anything JUS
titled by wage boosts. The why's and
wherefores of the slump in Government
bond prices are another cause of heart
searching, along with labor unrest and
undlminiShed expenditure for relief and
public works. Things generally appear
to be shaping in way designed to boil
Ster administration demands for legiS-
lation clothing the Government with far
wider regulatory power than it now
possesses.
Observers in touch with agricultural
developments foreshadoW as an early
major move in the labor field big drive
to unionize the country's farm hands.
Whether or not John l.. Lewis and his
c. I. o. are the spearhead of the plan
seems uncertain. UnioniZation cam
palgns have already taken place in the
California fruit belt. Extension of the
movement into the field of general farm
ing is reported to be just around the
corner. For comprehensive reasons,
farmers aren't expected to generate
much enthusiasm for transportation of
the closed shop to the land, because of
the inevitable increase in costs of pro-
duction which would enSue from collec-
tive bargaining by farm-labor unions.
Already dependent upon Government
bounty to make both ends meet, some
authorities profess doubt whether Amer
lean farmers could survive higher wages
and shortened hours for farm hands
Agriculture is complicated by diversifi-
cation and regional problems that make
unlonlZatlon of its labor far more diff
cult proposition than anything which
industry presents.
X
One of President Roosevelt's unde-
niable disappointments in his crusade
for Supreme Court reform is the failure
of the agricultural community to line
up as solidly as expected for his pro-
gram. The National Grange and the
Farmers Union rate as definitely hostile
to it, and the other big organization,
the Farm Bureau Federation, is reported
at least half, if not tWo-thirdS, opposed.
1t was popularity supposed that, because
the New Deal has played Santa Claus
so generously to agriculture, farmers,
IN their overwhelming majority, would
be with the President. The preponder-
ance of evidence is in the opposite direc-
tlon. at least as far as organized agri-
culture is concerned. With farmers
divided or lukeWarm, the President would
seem to be reduced for popular support,
mainly to dependence upon organized
labor. 1t is significant that Labors
Non-partisan League is opening
branch office in the farm belt, appar-
emily to counteract agriculture's apathy.
According to Rear Admiral Reginald
r. Belknap, U. S. N, retired, who was
at Annapolis with the late Admiral
Hobson, it was the hero of Santiago who
brought about the establishment of the
Office Of naval operations in the Navy
Department. This is the branch which