Evening star., 1938-05-01
A Recovery Program
That Satisfies Nobody
BY OVEN L. SCOTT.

The President accomplished this Diff
f1cult feat by attempting again to satisfy
everybody. He took an idea from one
adviser, a hunch from another, added
something from experience, dressed up
the product in important sounding
words and big figures and then offered
the result to the Nation as prescrip-
ton for prosperity.
So far the results derived from that
prescription are far from impressive.
The important La Toilette brothers Of
Wisconsin, advocates Of taxing as well
as spending, are offended by the repeated
refusal Of the President to face the prob
lem Of taxation for added revenue. The
New Deal economists, who have worked
out definite recovery plans, are upset
because the President has taken the
barest segment Of their proposals, but
has promised the results that they saw
in their whole program. At the same
time, the group Of conservative Treasury
advisers was shocked by return to the
hocus-pocus Of money and credit manip-
ulation, with the result that one Of this
group, Jacob Viner, a special assistant
to the Secretary Of the Treasury, has
resigned.
Equally disappointing to the White
House is the response OF the markets
and of business to the so-called "recov-
cry plan"
The stock market, which Is closely
watched by Mr.. Roosevelt as a barom-
eter, has failed to become excited about
the White House proposals. Important
commodity markets have continued to
sag. Business men have not jumped
into the market with orders for more
goods In anticipation Of imitation. Trade
is as slow as ever, and the rate OF In
dustrial production continues to hover
around the lowest point since early 1884.
1t now Is clear what the President
sought and what he expected to realize
from his latest venture into the busi-
ness Of promoting recovery.
Like large proportion OF the voters
Of the country, President Roosevelt is
wary personally Of return to a real
Government spending splurge as the
means Of turning the business trend
upward. At the same time, Mr.. Roose-
velt remembers how, one year ago, his
remarks to newspaper men about the
danger OF rising prices was followed by
a break In commodity prices that her
aided todays depression.
Out of this situation grew what New
Dealers now refer to as the Presidents
latest trick budget program.
There is In this program q plan for
continued relief to the unemployed on
about the present basis. There is an
other dose Of the prescription that Her.
bert Hoover first wrote for an artificial
increase IN the volume of excess bank
reserves. There is the old Hoover formu-
la for more loans to groups in the popu-
lation now suffering from an overdose
OF loans in the past There is big
volume Of official talk about imitation
and about the need for rising prices.
But, for the immediate future and for
most of the remaining months Of this
year, the Presidents recovery program
offers little prospect Of any substantial
increase in the volume of hard cash
flowing out Of the Treasury into the
pockets of those who would spend it In
hurry.
Informed officials say blunt;y that
there Is no actual pump printing pro-
posed or intended for 1888.
Rather the whole emphasis for this
year is on attempting to force banks to
lend money to business men, 70 home
builders, to railroads, to utilities, end on
attempting to frighten the owners of
existing bank deposits in$o putting those
deposits to work in anticipation of In
1ation. Mr.. Roosevelt is trying again,
just as Mr.. Hoover before him tried, to
talk recovery around the corner. To
bulwark the talk he is seeking by pres
sure on banks to force a more liberal
policy Of lending money, provided bor-
rowers can be found.
Success for policy OF this kind de-
pends upon the reasssnass of business
men to borrow as we'll as upon the will
ingness of bankers 10 Ienc. 1t is at this
point that the new effort Is being made
to convince the ssatsol that the White
House and business leaders really are
getting together. The same sort Of ef-
fort was made by President Hoover in
the midst Of his depression.
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II this attempt works now where It
failed before, then there still would be
time to check what later could become
real return to pump priming. Pump
priming OF the kind Mr. Roosevelt rec
ommends will require at least six months
OF preparation before 1t is translated
into important orders and increased jobs.
Normal recovery late this year or early
next could be followed by curtailment
Of outlays for slum clearance and pub
lie works before those outlays actually
increased much.
But If talk fails this time, as it failed
before, the President faces some diff
cult months during the remainder of
this year before his pump -priming talk
can become actual pump printing. Even
then the talk Of four billion or seven bill
lion or any other total of billions of
spending is of highly doubtful accuracy.
In fact, 1t is this effort on the part
Of the administration to offer the Ma
ton something much different from
what 1t is cracked up to be that is caus-
ing palace revolution In the Presidents
ranks.
More and more Of Mr.. Roosevelt's own
advisers are, IN private, questioning the
Presidents judgment
They cite what they regard as a series
of mistakes extending back over the past
year. The cumulative effect of what the
Presidents own followers regard as err
rors of judgment has been to under
mine their confidence in his leadership,
comparable to the undermining that has
gone on in Congress
If this were Fascist nation, with
dictator at its helm, the ground now
would be laid for first-class purge. As
1t is, the New Deal hierarchy Is doing its
criticizing unmolested.
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The record tn which the Presidents