Evening star., 1938-02-05
''Little Men" Prove Ability
Draft Sensible Program and Fail to Rant Against Big
Rl,sness
Business.

was observed that only one was a
request by little business for relief
against big business. Little business
asked that the antitrust laws be
clarified and that the penalties for
violation of antitrust laws be in
creased One resolution, partly di-
rected against some of big business,
asked that advertising of the slogan,
No down payment" be eliminated.
Another asked that the purchaser Of
goods on the installment plan be given
some protection against the right Of
the seller to "repossess' such goods.
These two resolutions amounted to a
complaint against excuses of the in
stallment method of selling, which
some of big business has pushed to a
point that is generally recognized as
undesirable.
New Deal Boomerang.
This was about the sum of the
grievances of little business against
big. If the administration. in calling
the conference of little business men,
expected to extend the political tech
nique OF inciting s-consciousness
by setting little business against big
any such expectation was defeated.
Out of the l8 resolutions. fully 13 were
substantially identical with resolutions
previously adopted by big business, or
positions taken by big business. From
the point Of view Of the administra-
ton. the conference was a boomerang
in the sense that about II of the Is
resolutions were complaints against
Government. requests that legislation
enacted Or promoted by the New Deal
and practices followed by the New
Deal, be terminated.
Only one of the resolutions was novel
or unorthodox. the one that read:
Provide an inexpensive method of
securing loans for the purchase Of in
ventory, machinery and equipment and
for the construction OF buildings
through an agency designated or Gre
ated by Congress" Those words de-
scribe way of getting capital by
persons who want to start in business.
or to extend their business. The sug-
eestion is that Congress. Government,
should provide the initial capital for
business. This suggestion is novel
only in the sense that il is made on
behalf of business There is already
mechanism by which persons who
want to become farmers but lack the
means can get from the Government
money TO buy farm and equipment.
Much Chaff in the Wheat.
Altogether. the resolutions which
came out of the conference of little
business men contained a high per-
centage OF sanity and common sense.
And the II men who marched in be-
hind Secretary Roper to see President
Roosevelt looked as substantial as any
II members of Congress or leading citi-
zens anywhere. 1t is true that the 800
or 1000 who composed the conference
as whole contained a considerable
number of persons whose power of
voice and inSistence upon being heard
exceeded their equipment for sound
thought. But whatever was the meth
cd by which the cream of stability was
SKINNED" from the conference as
whole. it produced a good result.
For the uproar and the bizarre incl
dents that accompanied the confer
ence as whole. the reason is easy to
see. 1t lay in the method of choosing
the persons to whom the adminlstra-
ton sent invitations to attend. The
selection was confined to persons who
had written letters TO President Roose-
Welt or to departments of the Govern
ment An immense number of such
letters was assembled Out of the
number. by process of sheer hap
hazard, were selected some 800. To
these 300. invitations were sent to
come to Washington for the confer
ence. They came in a delighted spirit
OF welcoming the opportunity to state
publicly the views and suggestions they
had made in their letters.
Method Gets the Impractical
That method necessarily omitted
many small business men whose pres
ence would have been most useful.
The persons who write letters to any
President telling him how the country
ought to be run include many of high
character and ability. But they in