The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1938-02-17
That
Conference


mistake in arranging for the So
called conference of nearly thou
sand small business men. The
conference that turned into a near
riot provided plenty of publicity, if
that was what was planned, but it
was publicity of distinctly bad
sort from a political standpoint. On
the other hand, some way, some
how, there came out of that confer
ence score or more of recon-
mendations, and some of them were
the very recommendations" which
Mr.. Roosevelt wanted from "busi-
ness interests" 1t is a new vehicle
on which bureaucrats and advisers
can ride.
But before I attempt an analysis
of the results that may flow from
the conference, a review of the
meeting itself should be recorded.
The business men, widely publicized
as being Small and Independent
fellows were convened in the Com
merce Department auditorium. 1t
had all of the earmarks of session
for which program had been
drawn up here in Washington. 1t
appeared to be cut and dried. No
sooner had the session convened,
however, than things began to hap
pen. Since there were nearly thou
sand individuals, there were nearly
one thousand different views, and
the individuals sought in various
ways to express themselves. The
result of the first days meetings
can be described, therefore, as nil
unless you want to consider the
riot, the necessity for physically
ejecting some of the members who
became violent in their objections,
as result. It was a session in
which shouts were heard about
"hand-picked chairman" and ''log
rolling" and 'you can't dictate to
me-"
With the first days session flop,
machinery somehow was set in mo-
ton for the second day so that a
recurrence of the riot would be
avoided. The conference was brok-
en- up into group or sectional meet
ings. It was limited that big things
could be expected from these in the
shape of concrete recommendations.
Well, we observers found instead
that the big conference.-the of the
little business men had been broken
up into some ten or twelve smaller
conference-riots. Just as an exam
pie: one session was so uproarous
that it was found necessary to call
in the building police and forcibly
throw out one little business man
who measured over six feet and
weighed plenty.
Those were the physical phases of
the two-da5 conference. Yet, be-
lieve it or not, there were "recom-
mendations" made by those nearly
one thousand business men repre-
senting small businesses of the
country. They were duly present
ed to President Roosevelt who sent
out word to the newspaper CORE
spondents afterward that some of
those recommendations were, in
deed, quite constructive.
I shall not attempt to set them
down here. They would take more
space than is available. l noted
among them, however, one item
that urged the government to "es-
tablish a procedure to encourage
and facilitate loans to small bust
ness" It recalled to me that there
has been much talk among "ad-
vanced thinkers" in the administra-
ton that the government should
have an agency to make loans to
small businesses. 1t was discussed
in these columns recently. Undoubt-
edly, it was just coincidence that
this Recommendation" should
come from the small business men
while the advisers to the President
were considering it.
Included in the recommendations
however, were proposals for the adj
ministration to do
Some Are several things that
Pleased thus far have not
had administra-
ton backing. One of these was a
recommendation that wage and
hour regulatory legislation should
be abandoned. No one seems to
know from whence that item came;
ard it was variously reported as
not having had the 'full support of
the conference" It may have been
that even the IL chairmen who car
ried the recommendations to the
White House meeting with the Pres
ident performed a miracle-but
there is no denying that the item
was included and quite few men,
bers of the Democratic party in
congress were glad to see it.
So, the conference has been held
and its work and efforts to solve the
depression problems are spread on
the first pages of newspapers. The
results in this direction would seem
to justify Mr.. Roosevelt's recent
intimations that the business men
do not know what they want. Such
a view would be correct if the con-
ference itself had been representa-
tive. True, the delegates came
from all sections of the country.
True, all excepting very few were
of the type known as small business
men. But it must not be overlooked
that the conference was planned,
invitations extended and program