Evening star., 1938-05-05

ISb TdSe.J
parliament need be consulted. Public
opinion may be diSregarded. Through
a government controlled press and
radio the people can be told that the
nation has been attacked, the govern
ment treated with contempt, and war
forced upon them"
Occupation of Manchuria.
The question. therefore. before the
American people is whether this situ-
alton should not be taken into account
in the fixing Of our own national poll
cies, he declared.
Secretary Woodring SadN there
seems to be no question that the Japa-
nese occupation Of Manchuria in 1881
was the beginning of chain of events
that led directly to much of the pres
ent difficulty in which the world finds
ITSELF
Four years later, he recounted, Ger
many announced adoption Of rearm-
ament and conscription in violation of
the treaty of Versailles. then followed
this by occupation of the Rhineland
though, he commented, Il do not pass
Judgment on these events"
In order, the speaker enumerated
the Italian attack on Ethiopia. armed
intervention in the civil war in
Spain" and japanese invasion of
China"
1T is a fair inference Secretary
Woodring emphasized, that this
chain of events was in direct conse-
quence Of the success Of Japan IN
setting up the State Of Manchukuo
without effective objection from the
democratic powers. Each incident has
had repercussions on the world sit
uation, until today there is less re-
lance upon the sanctity of treaties,
less trust in international good faith,
less confidence upon which to build
lasting prosperity than there has been
for long time"
Pump -Priming Assailed.
Meanwhile. today. business men con-
tinued their attacks on Government
policies, the proposed pump -priming"
program of the administration being
particular object Of attack. on the
ground it was threatening danger to
the whole economic structure of the
country.
Fred H. Clausen of Horizon, Wis,
said business wanted to see reversion
by the Government ito the program Of
economy promulgated by the President
when he entered his Office and prac-
ticed for a short time thereafter"
Edward P. Palmer of New York,
president of the Associated General
Contractors of America, pictured the
low level of private construction as the
key-log in the depression. and Francis
E. rockingham of Boston, president
Of the Investment Bankers of America,
said the condition into which the coun-
try has fallen brings threat of die
tatorship.
Mr.. Palmer said approximately two
and one-half billion dollars worth of
business is in sight for private con-
struction this year, but that if large
appropriations are made for the Works
Progress Administration without any
restrictions as to the use of the money
1T Is not unlikely that some of this
volume will be lost. He accused the
w. P. A. OF "encroaching" further and
further into the field of private enter
prise. and declared it had put many
smaller operators on municipal prof.
ects out of business. The speaker also
hit the Wagner -Healey bill to require
contractors on Government jobs to
submit, without recourse, to rulings by
the National Labor Relations Board.
Mr.. rockingham declared that
'business has set backward in past
months more rapidly and relatively
further than ever before in our his
tory" and coupled this with the
warning that continued economic
distress may bring about those condi-
tions which can only be surmounted
by the dictatorial method"
May Reply to A. F. Of L.
As the business men prepared tc
wind up their meeting with the adop.
ton of resolutions, speculation was
stirred as to the possibility Of a reply
to q plea for cooperation between
capital and labor that came last night
from the Executive Council of the
American Federation of Labor.
Labor invites industry to discard
the weapons of industrial warfare
directed against labor by employers
organizations both now and In dayl