Evening star., 1938-05-30

supporter in the n-:.Y.-...
main, of New DA''" D"
Deal legislation, finds it necessary to
say publicly that the President has
broadcast over the radio to the Amer
ican people some misinformation.
Mr.. Harrison absolves the President
of Wilful misrepresentation and ex-
presses again his belief in Mr.. Roose-
velt's sincerity, but nevertheless he
convicts the Chief Executive of what
would seem to any school child an
almost objectionable blunder-a
President not knowing what an I'M
portant piece of legislation presented
to him for signature really contains.
Why the Misinformation?
Here we have something which in
wolves not a conflict of opinion. but
a question of fact. 1t is not just
somebody's mistaken Interpretation
of what law means which has
prompted Senator Harrison's sensa-
tional utterance, but what Is actually
written in the text of the law itself.
Unuuestionably, as Senator Harrison
says, the President was misinformed.
But why was he misinformed? That's
the crux of the whole matter, and that
very point is of more public conse-
ouence than what the misrepreSented
portion of the law really provides.
This is because Senator Harrison
unwittingly has put his finger on the
most dangerous tendency in American
life today-one-man government. Mr..
Roosevelt cannot personally do the
tasks assigned to him by law, nor can
he attend to the many extensions OF
power, beyond the law, which his zeal
Gus advisers tell him he can legally
assume. He lacks the time to verify
what is told him, and besides he Is
plainly overworked. which, all TOO
often, begets a certain impulsiveness,
II not irritability born of haste.
Everything depends on the advls-
ers to a President, to be sure, but much
depends on a Chief Executives own
Willingness to trust somebody else be-
sides the sycophantic partisans who sit
at his elbow with economic axes to
grind and theories to try on over
l30,OO0,000 guinea pigs.
Put in Awkward Position.
So intent are some Of these advisers
on putting the President in a position
allegedly consistent with previous
stand, so unwilling are they to permit
an acknowledgement of error that Mr..
Roosevelt is placed by some of their
statements and speeches prepared for
him in the awkward position of a
proud, unrelenting individual who
would rather refuse to concede point
to his political opponents than obJec-
lively consider the true public interest.
If, on the other hand. Senator Har-
risons thesis, namely, that Mr.. Roose-
welt was misinformed by others, is
untrue, it would put the President in
the role of failing himself to under
stand an important law with which he
Is presumed to be familiar because he
has been giving Congress messages
and advice on the subject for quite
. while now
There are critics, Of course, who
insist Mr.. Roosevelt is not averse to
broadcasting misleading statements as
well as speeches that are not based
on facts. They can point to half
truths ingeniously assembled to pro-
duce in "fireside" chat misleading
inference. Fortunately, In free
country, individuals can hold any
opinions they like about the tntellec-
tual honesty Of anybody else, including
the President, but any such assump-
ton which attacks the integrity OF
Mr.. Roosevelt's mind is not one which
I have ever cared to indulge.
Fault Lies in System.
For my part. it seems ever so much
more important to draw attention
tmpersonally and dispassionately to
the faults of system in which human
fallibility and human error only serve
to make plain the unwisdom Of dele
eating immense power and authority
to one man in a democracy. There
are many New Dealers who do not
understand this approach. They are
sensitive in the extreme and adopt q
tone Of personal hurt whenever their
official acts are criticized. They, in
turn, attack their opponents with
vicious thrusts which are basically
personal and emotional. It is this
aspect Of public life under the New
Deal which is most distressing because
It operates as a barrier toward that
adjustment of group with group,
interest with interest. which alone is
the art of real craftsmanship in q
democracy.
Senator Harrisons speech, there
fore. is q notable example Of criticism
expressed with restraint and yet with
out rancor, with logic and yet with
out invective-a refreshing utterance
because 1t springs from the sincere
convictions Of q man who has labored
for the administration in season and
out Of season, and who persuasively
points to the fact that bill which
had almost unanimous approval In its
final form in both the House and
Senate still does not measure up to
the desires Of the President. Rather
than attach his signature, he had let
t1lC VIA bCCVAlC low uAtSA Az Aoy0 -
. mark Of public protest.
Frowns on Business Men.
Quite apart from the points made
by the chairman Of the Senate Finance
Committee. who did stress his belief
that the bill would help recovery, it is
disappointing to find Mr.. Roosevelt
dampening again the ardor of business
men by indicating that he sides with
the small group of zealots at his
elbow, the fake liberals and crusaders
for State socialism, rather than the
many true liberals In the Democratic
party in Congress who have tried to
consider themselves representatives OF
all the people.
These Democrats have incurred the
wrath Of the White House because they
have been concerned primarily fol
the welfare Of the millions Of persons
who suffer unemployment today pre-
cisely because theory has been put