Evening star., 1938-03-23

HAi HSoOoeVeitS spring vacation IN the
South affords him another of those
cherished "perspectives' in which, he's
fond OF saying, the President of the
United States ought periodically to in
dulge himself. F. D. RS view is that
at the White House the Chief Executive
is in too close contact with the trees to
see the national forest. Certainly an
eyetul awaits the Squire of Warm
Springs when he settles down this time
to give the country the once-over. For
one thing, he'll survey New Deal which
is all but in ruins-itS fondest plans
gone hayWire and its starry y-eyed helms
men poWerless to chart a course through
the dark and tempestuous seas into
winch they've maneuvered this old
snip OF state The new depression. of
course. is the blacklist spot Steel, that
1nfallible barometer of the condition of
business, tells the story. Operations for
the current week, while registering an
advance OF 1.6 points to 1877 per cent of
capacity, compared with the previous
week, are 56 per cent below the same
period year ago. The telltale figure
is John l.. Lewis revelation that 49,
100000 Americans are out of work.
These are the grim and grewsome
economic facts that stare the President
in the face as he adjusts his binoculars
for a perspective" from his Georgia
hilltop. Politically, he finds the out
look no less gloomy. White House con-
troll of Congress- despite a Democratic
majority of 225 in the House and II
in the Senate, no longer exists. Except
for the crop-control and housing bills.
both of which have potent vote-making
qualities back home, Congress has sys-
tematically and stubbornly baked at
every major administration project that's
come before it since last November. If
the pending reorganization plan gets by
the Senate, it will be by the skin of its
teeth. Last week switch of only three
votes on the Wheeler amendment would
have stripped the act of its entire value
from Mr.. Roosevelt's standpoint. The
tax bill that will finally emerge will look
no more like what the administration
proposed than day looks like night, even
though it falls far short of what business
holds to be necessary if the wheels of
recovery are really to start.
In the Warm Springs perspective"
too, the 1888 congressional elections will
bulk conSpicuously and disturbingly.
New Dealers don't look for defeat in No.
vember, but they are already resigned
to whale of a reverse. When they
come up for air, they fully expect to find
their House strength shot to pieces, even
though their majority can hardly be
wiped out. Thenceforth, they'll extract
such comfort as they can from the
lugubrious historical fact that the party
which loses heavily in an off-year elec-
ton Is generally headed for Salt Greek
in the presidential contest two years
later. Any substantial setback for the
Democrats in November will indubitably
denote that Roosevelt fortunes are on
the toboggan and point to 1910 as a
year of destiny for the G. o. P.
According to a circumstantial story
vouched for by the Washington bureau
OF the Philadelphia Inquirer, Hitler's
Nazis are plotting far-flung propa-
ganda campaign in the United States
by planting and financing a chain of
anti-Semitic, pro- German newspapers at
strategic points throughout the country.
According to the Inquirer, Is newspaper
men, for the most part American citi-
zens Of German descent, were sum-
moned to secret meeting at the Aus
trian Legation In Washington on Sum
day. March II. = few hours after
a