Evening star., 1937-12-08

nevertheless still
a gap which makes the N. A. NJ, meet
ings less effective than they might be
as molders of opinion, and that is
the tendency on the part of business
men to see public questions only
through the eyes of the economic
forces in which they themselves play
such a dominant part.
Government, on the other hand,
must view public questions in broad
policy sense, weighing carefully the
fact that the power to sustain gov
ernment comes from the people them
selves and that in system where
universal suffrage exists it is not
easy to accept one viewpoint-the
business idea, for instance-and ex-
clude all the others.
The value of the N. A. M. sessions
Is, of course, that business men do
give expression to what they deem to
be the prime needs of the Nation to
achieve economic stability, and just
now the outcry is that government
should do its utmost to remove the
uncertainties that have led to loss
of confidence on the part of the busi-
ness community. Some of the points
stressed, such as revision of the tax
structure, are in process Of being
accepted now by government, and
there can be no doubt that the pro-
tests by business men have been in
fuential in creating this trend here.
More Markets Needed.
But the basic problem-one might
almost say, in large sense, the real
political problem of the hours sell
dom touched upon by the exponents of
any of the group PHILOSOPHERS. Labor
rarely talks about it and capital Is
hesitant to offer a formula. 1t con-
Germs the matter of increasing Ameri-
cas- home market and her foreign
market. Obviously, with a productive
capacity unparalleled in the world. the
task of the United States is to find the
markets, which is but another way of
saying jobs must be created and pur-
chasing power increased either at
home or abroad so that increased pro-
duction may be consumed.
Where shall the increased volume of
transactions come from to consume
the output of the American productive
machine? Not single suggestion on
this point seems to have been made
by the speakers at the N. A. NJ, and
the inference is left that the business
men of America are quite content with
the home market and that they feel
jobs will be created and goods will be
Il C+o4
the Government reverses some of its
social or socialistic policies, as the
case may be.
Social Controls Held Necessary.
But officials of the Roosevelt admin
istration, though conceding that they
look at things through political eyes
just as business men view things
through economic spectacles, declare
some of the social controls advanced
are necessary in order to ration or
divide the existing home market among
the different classes and that very
little increase can be expected from
abroad.
Sometimes it is difficult to under
stand why many business men who
are professed opponents of the New
Deal are not really champions of the
Roosevelt policies. For the business
men who believe in an intensified
drive to increase home markets will
find, on looking beneath the surface,
that the administration here believes
the same thing, Notwithstanding Mr..
Roosevelt's occasional gestures of
sympathy for the Cordell Hull policies.
In European countries where Fascism
has flourished, the national objective
has been self-sufficiency and a ration
ing of the home market. Secretary
Wallace wants a crop control measure
to regulate the production of the
farm to meet the needs of the home
market, and he places little dependence
on export. Mr.. Roosevelt wants the
wage and hour bill passed because
he thinks it will increase the pur-
chasing power of the people in the low
er brackets and he is not concerned
with the fact that this will be done
at the expense of the people who get
wages just above the minimum
really a reapportionment of existing
purchasing power. The whole philos-
ophy here is that there is just enough
business to divide up in existing
companies and plants and that the
Government must do the dividing.
Business Declines Denial.
Business men have not offered any
idea to the contrary and the notion
that possibly an increased volume of
transactions might come out of a
stimulated world economy, with
America playing a prominent part in
reviving world trade, is conspicuous
only by the few sympathizers which
the policy has, either inside or outside
Of government.
Business is, therefore, arguing that
there are too many controls and gov
eminent is contending that the con-
trolls may perhaps be clumsily ad-
ministered, but controls there must be
If everybody is to have share of
whatever limited business America can