Evening star., 1938-06-05
Spending Of Billions Has
Not Solved Problems
By OVEN L. Sc0TT.

Dickering with Congress is a growing
chore. The Governments planning de-
partments are still in the doldrums. The
President has less and less of Importance
to say to newspaper men. New ideas
continue to be quoted at heavy dis
count inside the New Deal.
All Of this is in sharp contrast with
the action Of Mr.. Roosevelt at the time
he first took ofilce under circumstances
that are not far different from those OF
today.
Now, as then, commodity markets are
on the skids. Wheat and cotton prices,
In terms Of gold, are back near the low
est levels on record. Farm income is
starting to melt away In the face of sub
sidies and Of controls. The number of
unemployed in the cities is not. greatly
different from the number recorded in
1882. Industrial production Is slipping
back gradually toward the 1882 and 1888
levels There Is recurrence Of a relief
crisis in large cities as the UNEMPLOYED
not lucky enough to get places on w. P.
A. find themselves faced with hunger and
destitution.
When President Roosevelt first faced
these problems Of acute defiation early
in 1888, he turned Washington into a
bedlam. Ideas shot up to high pre-
MUM. Gen. Hugh johnson was turned
loose to create a first-class madhouse
with his conception of an N. r. A. Henry
Morgenthau called In the late Prof.
George F. Warren to perform his sleight-
of-hand operation on the dollar. T. v. A.,
c. G. c., F. E. r. A., A. A. A., C. w. A.,
P. w. A., E. H. F. A. and a multitude of
other alphabetical agencies popped into
being almost faster than the eye could
record.
Mr.. Hoover had elected to sit out the
1929 depression. allowing def.ation to
work Its cure. He sat until big business
and high finance no longer could stand
the pain, and then he inaugurated the
New Deal with the Reconstruction
Finance Corp.
President Roosevelt picked up where
President Hoover left off, The new
President met his first depression with
vim and vigor
No problem seemed too big to tackle.
In the process, employment in Govern
ment agencies rose from about half a
million to above 100000. The cost of
government shot up from under $4,000
100000 year to above $1,000 90 900 But,
at the same time, business conditions i'm
proved The number of unemployed
narrowed gradually. Farm income rose
toward 1929 levels. Foreign trade i'm
proved. Mr. Roosevelt had the satisfac-
tlon OF seeing Nation moving toward
prosperity and he had the pleasure of
Two overwhelming Endorsements of his
administration at the polls The cost
was high, but there were results to show.
But now all is changed again. Defia-
ton and depression have taken the place
OF prosperity. Yet President Roosevelt is
gun-shy in his approach to new ideas.
The men who had no difficulty selling
their recovery plans in 1888 are unable
now to get hearing There still are as
many Government employees as ever.
The cost of Government activity is run
nlng as high as ever. Most of the ex-
perlments launched between 1888 and
1881 have turned into permanent agencies
OF Government. But apparently nothing
mas been solved by the expenditure of the
billions OF dollars and the outlay of i'm
mense amounts OF energy. Discourage
ment takes the place of satisfaction at
the White House
The result Of these five years and more
OF effort is that Mr.. Roosevelt is beins
pushed toward some decisions of funda-
mental Importance
instead OF making those decisions at
this time, however, the President is plan
ming again to postpone them by the use
OF further dose of spending to ease the
Nations economic pain.
The planners say that this new SPEND
ing Will go the way of the old and. after
few months or few years. the same
OLD problems that are present todav will
pe oack again, as acutely painful as ever.
Inose problems grow from the choice
That has faced the country ever since the
war, only y to be lodged by successive
PRESIDENTS utilizing various expedients.
Choice Is between a ree-acting eco
nomic machine, in which Government
serves solely as the policeman to see that
competition gets in its work, and a con-
trolled economic machine. in which Gov
ernment uses its power and its credit to
force the major adjustments that free
markets once forced.
All over the world, governments are
turning to this second choice. The New
Deal started in that direction with its
farm-control program and with the basic
idea OF N. r. A. But Mr. Roosevelt now
hesitates to push farther in that direc-
ton with new controls over industrial
prices and production-including the
price of labor.
The Presidents hesitation springs
partly from belief that the Nation it.
sell fears to move in the direction of
Government planning and partly from
an unwillingness to try to force the issue
with Congress that already is inclined
to balk at any innovation.
But neither is the President willing to
let the Government pull into its shell
while the country again tests its ability
to undergo the suffering that recovery
through defation would make necessary.
So the Government is turning again to
spending while it tries out the new ex-
pedient Of attempted antitrust law en-
forcement. The principal officers of the
Nations greatest automobile companies
are accused of being criminals because of
their efforts to simplify and improve au-
tomobile financing operations The
same charges soon will be made against
executives of other big industries
After three or four years, If the Gov
ernment can speed up procedure, there
may be decision in few of these cases.
pYit avoy, after tho co,Yrfs hovo dactdaa