The Waterbury Democrat., 1938-12-14

you do have to respect it. It will do more for business than all the furious denunciation of the last four years.
 One of the strangest episodes in public relations and business statesmanship in the last half century has been the attitude of business toward the Roosevelt ad- ministration.
 When the president came into power business was fiat on its back and business men-bankers, utility executives, investment bank CTS, promoters-were in a state of disgrace. The public naturally sup posed that Roosevelt would turn upon them with unexampled vigor and enmity.
 ROOSEVELT CALLED
 BUSINESS FIRST
 The president, of course, in speeches and addresses did attack business abuses. Who would not have done so?
 But the moment he was inaug-
 urated he invited the business
 men of the nation to Washington
 and literally turned things over to
 them.
 Few will recall this out of the mists of the last six years. There has been so much confusion. But it is true.
 A prominent big business exec utive was named secretary of the treasury. A vice president, later president, of the American Bank CTS association was made assist ant secretary, and a member of one of the biggest business law firms was made under-secretary.
 The N. R. A. was headed by a group consisting of the chairman of the board of the Union Pacific Railroad, and head of one of the greatest Wall street banking houses and by the representatives of the tobacco interests, one of the
 biggest business interests in the country.
 Representative from great Wall street financial and reporting and accounting houses were put at the heads of the departments and the economists of a huge Wall street financial firm was made econo- mist of the administration. BIGGEST MEN
 ASKED TO ADVISE
 The secretary of commerce, with presidential approval, invited about 20 of the biggest business men to Washington as the administration industrial advisory council ito chart the future course of American eco homie life" The council included the president of the Chamber of Commerce, chairman of the board of U. s. Steel, and so on.
 In those days men like Donald Richberg were looked upon as the left wing of the reformers. The
 Brain Trusters were Raymond Moley, General Johnson, George Peek, AdOlph Berle (later a gov. ernor of the New York Stock Ex- change).
 The only dangerous group was the group investigating Wall street, but that had been organ ized before Roosevelt was elected. And when the S. E. c. was formed, the president put well-known con- servative Wall street figure, right | out of brokerage office, in as chairman and a Wall street broker as assistant to the chairman.
 There was plenty more of this. It is not strange that with all this powerful inside grip on the ma chinery of the First New Deal business let the president slip out of their hands? Why? Because they permitted the hatreds and fury of a few men who had a quarrel with the president to poi son their whole relationship with him. He was theirs. He was in their hands. And they threw him away.
 Since then they have done more 1 by their attacks to build him into a great popular figure than all the | of the so-called New Deal publicity agents put together. At last they seem to have recov- cred their reason.
 Copyright. 1888, NEA Service, Incl