Evening star., 1939-02-19
Business Leaders Aid
Hopkins Program
For Recovery
Joint Plan Is Developed
To Break Up Loe-Jom
Of Capital Resources
By the Associated Press.

- r .~S OSs"
Of Capital Resources
By the Associated Press.
NEW YORK, Feb. 18.-Tax revi-
sion, a new deal for railroads and
utilities, and an overhauling of la
Dor policies are basic elements of a
Joint business administration pro-
gram designed to bring lasting re-
covery, some industrial leaders said
today.
Secretary of Commerce Harry l..
Hopkins, under whose supervision
the plan has been elaborated In Sc
cret conferences with big business
leaders during the last two months,
Is expected to pronounce the bene-
diction of the New Deal on the pro-
gram In a speech at Des Moines,
Iowa, during the coming week,
they said
Secretary Hopkins has represent
ed to some big business leaders. they
said, that the drive" to bring re-
covery will have the support of
1IColucilG IbOOScVclI.
Broad Tax Revision.
The main points of the drive"
as outlined by financial leaders here
are understood to include:
l. Broad revision of the Federal
tax laws and basic modification of
the Securities and Exchange Com
missions policies, all in the primary
hope of breaking the log jam of
capital resources" and getting the
Nations wealth moving, through
equity markets, into business expan-
sion. (They pointed out that al
though President Roosevelt said yes
terday that he did not plan to in
troduce new taxes, that his re-
marks did not preclude a move
originating with business itself
through Congress)
2. A long-term program for pri-
vate electric utility expansion, in
cluding an administration promise
to limit future competition with pri-
vate industry, in the hope of i'm
mediately launching huge utility
spending to get heavy industry
moving"
3. A permanent solution of the
railroads problems in a broad new
Transportation Act" in which the
future Of rails, highway traffic and
water transport will be amically cor
related, in the hope of getting "the
Nations No. spender on the job"
To Consolidate Reforms.
4. New laws and Federal policies
relating to coal and other basic min
eral industries, worked out jointly
by executives, labor and Govern
ment experts to eliminate disease
spots in the national economy.
5. A major effort to end factional
labor disputes: modification of Ma
tional Labor Board procedure (but
without basic change in the prin-
ciples Of the Wagner Act); temper
Ing of the Walsh Healy Act to help
solve some small factory problems.
The program in general, they said,
was designed not to compromise any
OF the essential reform" policies of
the New Deal, but to consolidate"
these changes in order to put drive"
Into the business picture, especially
IN the capital field.
Some New Dealers have charged
that there was strike of capital:
1ndustrialists, conceding that the
worlds greatest accumulation of
capital resources is stagnant, have
contended that capital was not being
invested because investors we're un-
certain of the future. The program,
they said, is designed to remove a
large part Of that uncertainty.
Depends on President.
Some of the known figures
IN heavy industry, utility and finance
fields said today that they would
predict If the program goes through
on lines disclosed to them, and if
President Roosevelt gives the pro-
gram his spoken support, that a
substantial recovery would follow.
The length of such a recovery,
they said, would depend upon the
program receiving continued sup
port from the President.
Their prediction was based upon
the belief:
/. That the current business pic
ture is generally discouraging, even
on a basis of January forecasts,
although no great tangible barrier
to recovery is discernible; 1T simply
lacks drive"
2. Drive" Jointly by business and
Government would remove political
uncertainty" would start things 60
ing"
Business leaders generally inter-
preted as favorable" the Presidents S
published remarks that the Govern
ment did not plan further competi-
tive activity in the electric power
field.
Big business contributions to the
program have been sifted by the
Business Advisory Council, an or
ganization of prominent executives
in various fields, selected by the
Secretary of Commerce. The pres
ent council, with one exception, was
appionted by predecessors of Secre-
tary HOPKINS.