Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1938-03-10

Washington.-Congress has just
passed another relief appropriation
for the current
wore year. This, like
for Relief the earlier vote of
funds, was done at
the request of the President. The
new sum is $3.50, 000, 1000. Since the
first appropriation for the current
year was a billion and a half, we
now find that federal relief during
the current fiscal year will have
cost at least ESQ, 100000. 1t may
be added that the sum mentioned
is in addition to local charity, COM
munity chests, ETC., and also that
it has been, or is being, spent in
period five years after we were told
that the nation was about to be re-
made under New Deal ideals.
Now, it is a rather far cry from
relief, the care of the aged and in
firm, the destitute, to the question of
politics. That is, it appears only to
be great gap between those two
phases of national life. insist it is
very close; that there is no gap at
all. / reach that conclusion because
never before in history has there
been such use of basic economics
as in the last four or five years.
That is to say, politicians have
turned to questions of economics for
their political buncombe-and it
ought to be added that when a poll
tician tries to do something with
fundamental questions, just there
begins a grand mess.
All of which brings US to the
point of this discussion. When Pres
ident Roosevelt went into the White
House in March, 1888, he was con-
fronted with probably the most I'M
favorable conditions, insofar as
business conditions were concerned,
that any President ever has faced.
He called for a New Deal in han
ding the situation and he obtained
almost unanimous support. Indeed,
as we look back at that situation,
the support was too nearly unani-
nous. He had no opposition to point
out weaknesses of what was pro-
posed by the responsible officials.
think / recall having written at
that time that stronger opposition
would have been good for the coun-
try. Some of the pitfalls would
have been avoided, / am sure, if
congress had not been so subservi-
ent and if the President had not
yielded so completely to the the
cries of advisers who had no prac-
teal experience.
The people of the nation were in
mood to listen to anyone. They
heard new phrases of what can and
should be done-the more abundant
life, the economic royalists, the
crushers of the poor, and on and on.
But the trouble with the professor
advisers was that they ignored or
did not know of another side to the
story. In short, they believed that
human nature had changed over
night and that a nation could be
managed or directed or ordered as
an individual. It has taken sew
eral years to re-establish natural
facts and natural laws, but they
seem now to be approaching that
re-establishment through the proc
esses that normally must be fol-
lowed in nation, as distinguished
from an individual.
So, what do we have? think the
answer is that we have an admin
istration headed by a man who is
the victim Of the advisers he select
ed. l believe it can be said that
politically President Roosevelt is
just as uncertain about where he is
going as is the rank and file Of citi-
Zens about where the nation is GO
ing. But he selected those advisers
and, for the most part, continues to
give them his confidence. They are