Evening star., 1938-01-18
Roosevelt and Business
Writer Believes Casual Remarks on Sympathy Toward
IN. R. A." Plans Were Taken Too Seriously.

regard that a. . satisfactory business.
But last year-so the agent told Mr..
Roosevelt-people In that neighbor-
hood bought 81 automobiles. That
was disturbing to the agent. He was
glad to get the profit on 81 automo-
biles in one year-but he was obliged
to realize that next year he would
sell probably only about 20 machines.
Mr.. Roosevelt asked the agent why
1t was that the community bought 10
large . number OF automobiles last
year. The agent gave him the reasons.
One reason was selling pressure by the
automobile manufacturers. Among
other devices they enlarged the period
over which installment payments could
be distributed. from lS months up to
"a months, 50 that more people were
tempted to buy. Another reason was
that people were led to believe, from
various sources. that prices were going
up.
Value Of Leveling Down.
All this, Mr.. Roosevelt said, was un-
fortunate. 1t would be much better
If the supply Of automobiles to that
community could be leveled down to
rough average Of 80 year. That,
he thought. would be better for the
community, better for the automobile
agent. better for the manufacturers,
better for the workers in automobile
factories, better for workers In other
factories that make steel or other sup
plies for automobiles. In short, better
for the country.
This Is the dream Of planning"
planned production" planned econ
omy.' I imagine that Mr.. Roosevelt
was talking about it more as an At
tractive aspiration than as a serious
proposal for legislation. Meetings of
industrial groups may have only the
purpose OF planning production. OF
eliminating unwholesome practices.
But such meetings cannot avoid dis
cussing price. They cannot avoid
drifting into monopolistic practices.
That Is what we found under N. R. A.
and probably Mr.. Roosevelt has
learned this lesson as we'll Is the
rest of us.
The automobile business is an out
standing example OF what normally
characterizes nearly all American in
dustries. Nearly all are equipped to
produce greater output than the
country can normally consume. In
that condition. is q meeting OF auto
mobile manufacturers likely to welcome
any new competitor going into the
business? On the contrary. they are
likely to think virtuously that new
competition would accentuate un-
wholesome competitive practices and
That therefore new competition should
be discouraged as praiseworthy
public policy. II there had been, in
1894. = consolidated group Of producers
OF horse and buggy transportation,
what would have been their attitude
toward a young crank named Henry
FORD. who proposed to make a buggy
which did not need . horse to make it
go?
Situation Under N. r. A.
No suppression Of competition was
practiced by the automobile industry
under N. r. A. In fact. N. r. A. never
had much grip on the automobile in
dustry. But in several other in
dustries N. r. A. discouraged compe-
tftion vigorously. For example, no
person could set up . new ice-manu-
featuring plant without flrst getting
permission from the N. r. A. code
authority for the industry. Naturally
the code authority reflected the per-
sons already in the business. Naturally
they were difficult to convince of the
desirability Of more competition.
The casual remarks of Mr.. Roosevelt
in early January were Interpreted
too seriously, think-as sympathetic
toward the N. r. A. sort of thing.
which means essentially the fostering
of monopoly. Since then MI. Roose-
velt's later remarks suggest favor on