Milford chronicle., 1938-05-06

I nave LNelF government TemOfe III
paralyzing fear which has stTangle
business, big and little alike-a par
alyzing fear that has resulted di
rectly from New Deal policies.
need not tell the people of tbi
country the basic cause for the de
preston that has taken place dur
D ing the last year. You know tn
D answer. You have seen the capita
' markets frozen through fear Of in
: fiation and fear of unsOund none
/ tary policies generated by the activi
} ties of a small group of left wins
New Dealers who have centereG
, around the President. You have seeI
, the wheels of business slow down
and in some cases, come to a stoI
because of the constant and unTe
mitting attacks on the profit system
in this country. Oh, I know the
President, when the occasion re-
quires, expresses devotion to and a
faith in our American economy and
a fair profit. but the actions Of MIR
Roosevelt and his friends speak
louder than his words.
There was no undertaking In gen.
uine fashion to dispel the basis OF
the fears of the country by such
necessary actions as repeating the
undistributed profits tax, modifying
the capital gains tax. 90 repeating
the greenback law. There was no
undertaking to bring business and
labor into harmonious working re-
lationship. Yet all of these prOpOs-
ais had been made by Republicans
! in Congress many months ago. l
am sure these men who had the fore
sight to suggest these remedies for
our economic ills have no selfish
pride of authorship. They would
have been glad to see their con-
structive ideas put into use for the
benefit of the country. In spite of
I the fact that these we'll thOught-Out
suggestions must have been brought
/ TO the attention of the New Deal
leadership the Roosevelt Admins
/ tration for seven months has chosen
a do-nothing program.
More precisely, should say that
the Administration has done nothing
IOnSAIuGtANC " nEAp anu Gh~bAA No.
business. On the contrary the Ad-
ministration has acted to discourage
and dishearten business during this
critical period. You know to what ]
refer. You remember the oratorical
fioggings given to business several
months ago by the Roosevelt Seere-
tary of the Interior and his Solicitor
General. You remember the cOnfus-
ing, contradictory statements that
emanated from the White House in
recent months one day. you VIII re-
call, we we're told all holding COM
panies should be abolished. The next
week we were told holding cOmpan-
les should not be abolished. Another
week we were told that government
should fight business and end mono
poly. and the next week we were
told business should learn to coop
crate. But in the third week the
Justice Department sought a grand
Jury indictment against business en-
terprises that had tried to cooper
ate along the lines suggested by the
President. And then of course You
remember about the prices. First
they were too low and then the
President said they were too higa
and now he once more thinks they
are too low.
How could business go ahead un5l
der such circumstances? Is it any
wonder that the merchant as well as
the manufacturer is confused as to
his future and asks where will we
go?' Is it any wonder they have he }
come frightened as to what their /
Federal Government may do to
them? And their confusion and I
fright will not be allayed by the /
program which the President has
placed before Congress.
Mr.. RoOsevelt's spending proposal I
is bad enough but his sudden rever-
sion to monetary and credit dealings
must seriously disturb every person
familiar with the history of the ruin
and havoc in every country which
has tried that road.
Once again, we are shocked by the
announcement in astronomical hg-
ures of credit expansion under or
ders of the President. although the
Federal Reserve Board was intend
ed to be an independent fiscal agen-
cy. BY the scratch of pen-just as
a big white Easter rabbit leaps from
the high hat-the excess reserves OF
the banking structure are raised to
3 billion $50 million dollars. the
greatest excess reserves In history
What justification can there be for
the creation of such an enormous
reservoir of idle money? None that !
| can see. Nor could the Federal
Reserve Board see any justification
for such action until the President
issued his orders last week. The Sc
verest condemnation of this action
Of the Administrator is found in
the mouth of the Federal Reserve
Board. Il was that agency which in
July, 1886. publicly warned the coun-
Try that excess reserves Of billion n
iollars constituted "a basis of pos
sible injurious credit expansion" II
was this Board that declared that
he part of excess reserves eliminat-
ID by raising the reserve require I
nents was 'superfiuous for all pres I
mt or prospective needs of COM
nerce. industry and agriculture. d"
That is what the Federal Reserve !
3oard said. Now. under the Presi-
Ient's order II reverses itself. s
The undisputed facts are that our s
,anks long have been filled with idle I
money. Interest rates have been low, I
There is no need to create any more I
'ank credit. What is needed are G
horrouars who see an