Evening star., 1939-05-10

Illdt ClIllCI SOll.
gress or the executive branch has
for any of the economic ills of the
country is to keep on spending.
A few weeks ago the headlines
were filled with taX-revision plans
OF the administration and Congress.
Something was going to be done to
make business feel a little better
and induce more private spending.
Secretary Hopkins-of all people
had said in his rose-tinted Des
Moines speech that ANY Federal
taxes which tend to freeze the nec-
essary flow of capital should bs
amended" A new era of co-opera.
ton between business and the Gov
ernment was at hand, and the goose
hung high.
Prospects Flicker.
Nothing in the tax-revision line
has happened. Nobody knows
whether or not anything will hap
pen. The President has tossed the
problem into the lap of Congress,
and Congress seems to be unwilling
to do anything without the initia-
tive of the President. Meantime,
the President and business-or at
least that section of it represented
by the Chamber of Commerce
continue to make faces at each
other. Old prejudices still rule on
both sides.
Congress was going to economic.
Congress had become economy
minded" The budget, of course,
could not be balanced for a long
time to come, but Congress was
going to put the brakes on runaway
spending. The trend that had
carried the national debt to un-
precedented heights was about to
be reversed. So ran the prophecies
based on the outgivings of the
economy bloc" and little cheese.
pairing here and there
What has come of all this talk
about economy? The Senate has
just added. more than $3.50, 900 900
to the agricultural bill as it passed
the House. raising the total to about
81 200 100000. Secretary Morgen-
thau, who really wants start
toward balanced budget and tax
revision in aid of business. shakes
his head sadly. He is. he says, dis
turbed." He has a right to be. A
deficit of some $4,000, 900 900 was
already in prospect for the next
fiscal year The farm bill increase
unless Congress provides addi-
tional revenue-raises the prospec-
tive shortage to 3,7OO .OOO,O 900.
The whole atmosphere Of WASH
ington Is one of uncertainty.
None Knows Disaster Point.
Nobody knows how high the debt
will 60 before it is checked Nobody
knows how high it can 60 without
disaster. 1t is only known that at
some point along the line of in
crease. disaster awaits Will the
trend be reversed before that point
is reached?
This is but one of the uncertain-
ties that cloud the political and eco
nomic outlook. After weeks of con-
gressional hearings, nobody knows
what. if anything. is to be done
about revision of the neutrality laws.
Nobody knows what is in store for
the railroads. Amendment of the
Wagner Labor Relations Act Is still
in the offing. How the antitrust
laws should be enforced remains an
unsolved problem. And topping all
the other problems is that of unem-
ployment-how to ease the strain
on the Federal Treasury by getting
men back to work in private in
dustry.
Such is the picture as the heat
settles at the Capital. 1t is not q
heartening one. 1t would be i'm
measurably frightened by a business
upturn. This would not only provide
jobs, but 1t would also help to end
the defeatism that now governs the
attitude of large part of Washing
ton off1cialdom toward the country's
problems in general.
Secretary Hopkins said at his
press conference the other day that
while it was important that the fiscal
policy of the Government for the
next IL months should be carried
out-that is, the spending policy
it was also important that every
thing possible should be done to
stimulate the use of private funds.
Is it too late to hope that the
extremists on both sides-both in the
New Deal and in business-will lay
aside their prejudices and permit
the adoption of a genuinely CO.
operative program calculated to put
private funds to work?