Evening star., 1937-11-10

Is DelllS uISeu W n.r;a u.wr.,,.
do something
and he, too, is receiving advice from
all sides. Eight years ago business
men cried in chorus that conditions
were fundamentally sound" and that
all that was needed was confidence"
Today men are clamoring for such
action on the part of the Roosevelt
administration as will instill conf
dence." Again the inclination is to
blame the incumbent administration.
So far as the facts and figures are
concerned, the new depression is in
some respects more severe than what
the Nation experienced in 1929 and
1890 because the decline has been so
rapid Thus in only few weeks
steel production has come down from
80 per cent of capacity to 40 per cent.
Major operations of this kind cannot
be dismissed as mere turns of cycle.
They relate to conditions far more Sc
rious than are contained in one indus
try or group of industries. They
are directly traceable to the difficulties
encountered by democracies nowadays
Ill CUplllS Will ldSuolo bOeAA
within and outside their borders.
Delayed Action Too Long.
1t is a debatable question whether
Mr.. Roosevelts intervention at this
time can do much to stop the flood OF
defationary influences that have start
ed. He might have been more sue
ceesful If he had acted three or four
weeks ago. But the wait-and-see ar
gument prevailed. The President is
described by those who have been con-
ferring with him this week as alert to
the dangers of the present economic
trouble Of the country, but not yet
ready to act aggressively or decisively
on all fronts in the emergency man
ner. Maybe five or six weeks from
now the emergency will have been
even more clearly defined and the
country will again turn to the White
House as 1t did in the bank holiday
emergency Of 1888.
It Is not from the banking situation
which is absolutely sound-but from
the unemployment crisis that the
= impetus will come. Men are being laid
OF right and left. The A. F. of l..
admits a decline in figures of those
employed and the word from all
sources Is that the unemployment
curve has started upward rather pre-
cipitately.
The administration plan-if, in
deed, opportunism of any kind can be
called a plans TO encourage business
activity in three directions-utility
spending, railroad rate increases and
the extension of credits to stimulate
housing and construction generally.
Could End Utility Question.
Most significant, of course, was the
Presidents discussion of the utility
question. He gave the newspaper men
the impression he would like to get
together with the utilities and end the
war between them and the Govern
ment. He could do it overnight by
telling the public exactly what his
policy toward a $12,000,000,000 in
dustry Is to be. Mr.. Roosevelt said, for
instance, that the root of the difficulty
was the matter of valuation Of proper
ties for rate-making purposes. But
there is something more-the question
of Government competition. The Presi-
dent referred to the right of munich
palities to vote for public ownership,
but he significantly omitted saying
word about the use of Federal funds
to connive with municipalities to in
duce them to throw out the private
companies.
Until questions like these are met
frankly, there will be no investment
OF funds by the public in new utility
securities and without the support of
the investors utility spending is not
feasible.
AS for construction and the guar
anteeing Of loans for housing purposes
much can be done in this field. The
right way, of course, is to carry for
ward the principle which the Federal
Housing Administration carrie d
through so successfully with the CO.
operation of the banks in insuring
mortgage loans. To use private bank
ing facilities with the supporting hand
of Government agencies so that initi-
ative can be developed and Leadership
assumed is to encourage the building
industry at the psychological moment
But finance alone is not everything
Costs of materials and labor have been
skyrocketing.
What will Mr.. Roosevelt do 10 keer
the labor factor from getting out oi
hand? Conceding that wage levels
must be maintained or else purchasing
power will be impaired, the problem
Is really how to keep certain trades
from getting out of line and throwing
the whole economic system out o.
balance. Here, II ever, Is q chance
for government to act a. co-ordinator
Council Of Advisers Needed.
What Mr.. Roosevelt needs at thu
moment is to select depression coun'
Gil, or If the word depression" is tt
be taboo again as it was in 1929 ane
1890, 1t might truly be called ma
tional recovery council. It shoult
consist Of only few men. JOSEPH
Kennedy can handle the utility prob
lem. Jesse Jones can handle the finan
cial side of housing and reconstruction
John Lewis and William Green shoult
be drafted to handle the labor problem
within their respective jurisdictions
Gov. Eccles should be the fifth mem
Der.
These five men could work with tn
President and in few weeks chang
the whole national psychology. Thu
Mr.. Kennedy could approach the utili
ties and get them to agree to registe
under the Public Utility Holding Act
drop all litigation, and get writer
assurance from the Government tina
while intermediate holding companie
viii be abolished, the 'inteSrated" sys