Evening star., 1938-01-11
Five Leaders to See
Roosevelt Today
on Policies.
ADVICE IS SOUGHT
ON COOPERATION
Sloan and Weir Head
List-Baruch Is
Visitor.
BACKGROUND

CUWLS " uHutySc uuVttHtStIu-
tion's real attitude to,uard business
hare foundered in maze OF incon-
Sistencies. President first adopted
concilitory tone to,rard utility lead
ers and proposed huge housing pro-
gram to help business in general.
Then came bitter attacks By dd-
ministration licutenants. and the
much more friendly talks by Mr..
Roosevelt at opening of Congress
and Jackson Day dinner. Result
has been creation of state OF uncer-
tdinty, most obSerDerS expecting
strong attack on "monopolists," but
not being sure 1uhere bloU 1Uill fall
BY J. RUSSELL YOUNG.
President Roosevelt today sum-
moned five of the Nations outstanding
business leaders to discuss the business
situation at the White House late this
afternoon.
The five business leaders are Alfred
P. Sloan, chairman of the board Of
General Motors; Ernest P. Weir, presi-
dent of the National Steel Corp;
Lewis Brown, president of the Johns
Evansville Co.. NJ W. Clement, presi-
dent of the Pennsylvania Railroad,
and Colby Chester, chairman of the
board of the National Manufacturers
Association and president of the Gen.
eral Foods Corp.
Telegraph invitations for the con-
ference were sent out by the President
yesterday. although he has had con-
ference of this sort in mind for several
weeks.
Although the President was repre-
sented today as not planning series
of conferences like that this after
noon it is thought likely that later he
will assemble other groups from the
business world as we'll as representa-
tive labor leaders and farmers.
Seeks Cooperation.
The President has been anxious to
obtain the cooperation of business in
his efforts to increase employment and
to boost the buying power Of the
Nation He has made frequent utter
ances along this line during the past
few weeks and by the discussion this
afternoon he hopes to receive the
opinion and advices of the five busi-
ness men as well as the cooperation
of the industries they control.
Bernard Baruch, noted New York
financier. has been frequent caller
at the White House lately and yester-
day was the Presidents guest at lunch
ecn. 1t is generally believed that the
Presidents recent talks with Mr..
Baruch inspired the invitations to
these business leaders to confer with
him today.
Sees Utility Leaders.
This conference will follow one the
President held during the forenoon
with a group of public utility leaders
for the purpose of bringing about
greater cooperation with the present
plan to bring about the building ex-
pansion programs by industry so as to
increase employment and the national
buying power.
In the utility group the President
COlllCAlCN WAtAA VOduy WSAS OoAAASA ~
Green, president of the Central Serv-
ice Corp of Illinois; John Carpenter
from Dallas. Tex, president Of the
Texas Power & Light Co., and A. B.
West of Riverside, Calf, president of
the Nevada California Electric Corp.
Duplication Problem Weighed.
During the latter conference the
question of avoiding duplication of
transmission and distribution of facil-
tiles Of power was brought up. The
three utility heads said afterward they
recognized that this is one of the prob
lens of the power industry, and they
agreed with the President that every
effort should be made to avoid waste
by this duplication. He said this ef-
fort should be made by all power
agencies whether they be private or
public.
The three utility heads said they had
very agreeable and interesting talk,
and they assured him of their desire
to cooperate. Mr.. Green said he be-
lieyed that creation of investor con-
fidence in utilities would bring about
increased construction"
Frank r. McNinch, chairman of
the Federal Communications Com
mission and former chairman of the
Federal Power Commission, who has
been one Of the Presidents close ad-
visers on power matters, attended the
utilities conference.