Evening star., 1938-02-06
COUNCIL PLANNED
AS BUSINESS AID
Group to Be Sounding Board
for Economic Broups
Gains Favor.
By HARDEN COLFAX.

The idea OF setting up some sort OF O |
council or congress to serve as a
sounding beard for the various eco
nomic groups within this country Is
taking a strong hold in important |
places here. President Roosevelt IA
vors it and so do an important group
Of Senators.
This idea grows out of recent ex-
perience. That experience has come
from the series of Washington con-
ferences with business men and from
the testimony of business men before
the Senate Committee on Unemploy-
nent. Those conferences produced
little more than general statements
etnd plants about taxes. They pro-
duced few positive suggestions for ways
to treat the underlying problems that
keep cropping up in the operation of
the country's business machinery.
Neither the President nor the SEN
ators could get much more than gen.
eralities out of the assembled business
leaders
So minds travelled back to N. R. A.
During the life of that agency each
industry set up code authority and
tried to rig prices and production
policies in way to get as much as
possible tor itself at the expense of
the rest Of the population. There
seems to be no desire to go back to
that experience.
But in N. R. A. was the germ of an
Idea that persists.
Information on Trends.
This idea is that if individual in
dustries can be kept informed of trends
and can be warned of danger signals
and can be kept advised of the prob
lens of other groups in the population,
they can do better job of determin-
ing policies that are least likely to
bring upsets such as the one the coun-
try now is undergoing.
For example: If industry could have
known that its inventories were being
piled up to dangerous levels or that the
prices it had established were leading
to slowing of sales and consumption
or that some wages were forcing some
prices far out Of line, it could have
made adjustments early enough to
avoid depression
So the idea is that a council of not
more than 25 members. representing
business, big and little, as we'll as
agriculture and labor and finance and
transportation. should be set up un-
officially to meet in Washington on
occasion to consider the state of the
Nation.
Selection Of Members.
The Industrial Council would not
be created by legislation. It would
have no authority to tell anybody to
do anything. Its membership would
be selected on basis designed to get
intelligent consideration of national
problems as they affect the major
economic groups in the population.
To this council would 20 studies Of
Government economists. It would get
glimpse Of the economic machinery
IN operation and its members would
give reports on the situation In the
industries represented by them. The
emphasis would be on viewing prob
lens from national rather than from
an individual viewpoint
IT the council became convinced,
on the basis of facts before it, that
one part of industry was getting out
of balance with another part, or that
the banks were missing opportunities
to perform services in some fields and
overencouraging others, or that labor
demands were growing excessive in
some directions, it could say so. or
at least debate the issue.
Effort at Education.
There would be no attempt at plan- |
ming, or production control or price
controls, but there would be debate
and an effort at education on broad
matters Of policy that affect the trend
OF industrial production and prices
and wages. Findings would be made |
public for the benefit of business men
everywhere.
But the mere mention of any such
q set-up as that favored by the Presi-
dent has produced an outburst of
criticism.
Some members of Congress say that
such a council might soon lead to
an assumption Of powers that really
should belong to the National Legis-
lature. Others think that they see
IN the idea way to get around the
ANTITRUST laws. Still others believe
that there is a ghost of N. R. A. hid
den somewhere in the idea.
Actually, however, those officials
VINO have been giving the idea closest
consideration are impressed by the
TACT that business now really has
no liaison with the Government and
no machinery for considering its
problems on a national, as distin-
gulshed from an individual, basis.
Agriculture now has such machinery
through the A. A. A.
Copyright, 1881