Evening star., 1938-01-23
Cropping for a New Policy
Seen in Monopoly Attack
President Assumes Crusader Role Again as
Recession Climaxes Series of Defeats
for Prestige.

bothered Mr.. Roosevelt and all the New
Dealers. As medicine men, their magic
had failed to WORK. Mr.. Roosevelt was
taunted with the remark he had made
when recovery had been rising, I'VE
planned it that way"
Then came the special session Of Con.
gress, beginning November IS and lasting
until December 2l. That session reflected
the impairment Of the Presidents prestige.
The session ended without enActinz the
measures for which the President had
called the session. The crop control bill
was not enacted and was In jam. The
wage-and-hour bill had been killed OUT
right.
Apparently the President had suffered
diminution both in prestige with the public
and authority in Congress. The Christmas
holiday was politically bleak.
What to Attack.
Thereupon the President and his palace
advisers adopted an old and often success.
full military strategy, "Toujours Taudace."
Be bold and still more bold. Never retreat.
fense Is offense. Attack!
But attack what? Well, the best thina
to attack is something that practically no
one wants to defend. Attack MONOPOLY,
Smash big business. Down with the trusts.
That IN American politics, is always sure
fire. 1t would break the public psychology
which thought of the administration a
suffering reverse. 1t would give the pub.
lie the picture of President again with his
shining armor on, his spear poised his steed
dashing gallantly.
And as respects Congress- it would Of.
fend no one; it would re-create presidential
prestige: it would unite the two groups In
Congress which Mr. Roosevelt imperatively
must keep united. Both farm members
and labor members would come together in
an attack on monopoly.
So Mr.. jackson and Mr. Ickes were sent
out on the hustings and with them a small
army of minor Jacksons and Ickeses. They
carried all the kinds of arms that are in the
New Deal armory-including one or two
boomerangs. Their biggest shell was Q
heaven-sent polemic strategy-blame the
recession on business! In a general way
they fired at monopoly, economic royalty,
the sixty families. But in the impetuosity
of their barrage they hit about everything
in sight.
After the opening radio-barrage had
drenched the country with invective. the
Commander i'm Chief came forward with Q
more concentrated and orderly attack. The
focus Of his fire was. DO something about
monopoly" Just what to do is apparently
being improvised as an afterthought. The
choice lies between letting business grow
big and then regulating it: and, on the
other hand, preventing bigness.
Toward which Of these courses the
President is headed, no Washington CORE
spondent can tell certainly. At one press
conference Mr.. Roosevelt talked about busi-
ness getting together and sitting down with
Representatives Of the Government That
sounded like the path to Government con-
troll; it sounded like q revival or variation
Of N. r. A.
At another press conference Mr.. Roose-
welt talked about putting an end to hold
ing companies, all holding companies. That
sounded like the other path, the path Of
preventing bigness - smashing bigness
where bigness now exists and preventing
bigness from existing again.
Of-Hand Talk.
But it may be these utterances Of Mr..
Roosevelt at press conferences are taken
I'M IN MI hott. .{o u,S.-,
attended the press conference felt Mr..
Roosevelt was talking off-hand, casually.
1t Is most doubtful If the utterances that
caused 50 much >commotion were put out
by the President with any great delibera-
ton. It Is doubtful If he came to the
press conferences intending to say any
thing momentous. He may not have In
tended to talk about business at all, nor
about serious public policies. Some who
listened felt that the President just drifted
into the talks. Some subject came up.
and Mr.. Roosevelt make an od-hand re-
mark about it. Thereupon eager Newspaper
men asked questions. Mr.. Roosevelt An
swered them. rather oonversationally, cas-
ually. One thing led to another. and pres
emily Mr.. Roosevelt was uttering Views that
arrested national attention.
In any event, it is doubtful If this Con-
gress will do anything momentous about
business. The broad subject, monopoly and
monopohstic practices. may be referred to
. commission for study. That would take
time and 1t would not discover much that
has not already been discovered by previous
commissions What to do about monopoly
and monopolistic practices has been . re-
current issue in American politics since the
Civil War.
Copyright 1888. New York Tribune, 1nc)
Bachelor of Gas Degree
TOXIC R).-Japanese medical students