Evening star., 1939-07-24

&4g&&& ~ H. Detter argu-
c, ment than this.
the test of the record, it simplv
won't mold water The truth il
that the President in his two terms.
1or good or i'll. has worked a politi.
cal and economic revolution II is
agreed, moreover, on all hands that
many OF the changes he has brought
aoouC-or' IN another manner of
speaking, which were inevitably on
the way and which he accelerated-
are certain to remain.
The Presidents two terms have
peen either a tremendous SUCCESS
or tremendous failure: and if thew
nave been the latter. as the cancel.
lalion argument would seem to i'm.
ply, the reason must be found else
"here than in the denial of power
TO the President.
Results in the Large.
Lets take again the Presidents
frequent advice to the reporters and
look at the forest and not at the
trees. Forget the chickering's of the
present over neutrality, the spend-
lng-lendlng bill and other immediate
ISSUES. Look at the results in the
large.
A host of new instruments of
power, in the Presidents phrase,
nave been created in Washington
The relationship of the States to
the Federal Government has been
lrrevocably changed. New controls
over the industrial and financial life
OF the Nation have been set up. Re-
lief, IN some form. of the human dis
tress caused by the depression has
Deen accepted as national obliga-
tlon. A system of old-age pensions
and unemployment insurance has
been established. A minimum-wage
and maximum hour law has been
written on the books. Labor has
been benefited through the firm af-
flrmation OF its right of collective
bargaining and the creation of the
National Labor Relations Board. A
huge Federal enterprise directly af-
fecting the lives of millions of peo-
pie has been installed in the Ten
nessee River Valley. Billions of dol
lars have been poured out to shore
up tottering businesses, to aid the
farmers and the war veterans. to
SubSidize the silver mining industry,
to build public works.
On balance, one may approve or
disapprove what has been done; one
may emphasize the social gains that
have been made, or, on the other
hand, emphasize the trend toward
state socialism, the jittery state Of
private business, the fact that the
unemployment problem remains
substantially as bad as ever, the con-
tinuing deficits and the $4,000 OOO,-
600 public debt.
Facts Belle Argument.
But place the emphasis where you
Wlll-praise or damn Roosevelt
and the fact remains that revolu-
tionary changes have been wrought.
To say that his efforts have been
negatived by the Supreme Court
and the tories" and that therefore
a third term is in order, is to strike
new low in demagogic political
debate.
Go back to the first term. The
greatest apparent setbacks that Mr..
Roosevelt then received were the
decisions of the Supreme Court
knocking out the N. R. A. and the
A. A. A. These two agencies had
been hailed as the twin pillars of
the New Deal. But who misses
them now? N. R. A., with its en-
couragement of the cartelization OF
industry, its price-fiXing proclivi-
ties, its ramifications into the small
est businesses, had already been
diScredited in public opinion when
the Supreme Court by unanimous
decision declared it unconstitutional.
The administration owes a debt
OF gratitude to the Supreme Court
for having freed it of what was
certain to become a heavy political
liability. Even Mr.. Roosevelt has
since said that the N. r. A. tried
to go too far, and Gen. johnson. so
far from blaming the court, wrote
in his column the other day that
the courts decision pointed out
save all that was good in N. r. A."
AS for A. A. A.. the administra-
ton quickly found another way to
give benefits to the farmers-and
now Congress, with the acquiescence
OF most of its So-called economy
bloc" is bestowing on the farmers
some $3.50 100000 more than the
administration asked for in its
budget
The Second Term.
1t Is true that in his second term
Mr.. Roosevelt was denied the power
to pack the Supreme Court, beaten
on his first reorganization bill and
compelled, finally, to give way to the
opponents of one of his pet prof.
ects-the undistributed profits tax.
But wherein, in the end, has he
been denied any substantial power
that public opinion wanted him to,
have?
In the present session of Con-
gress. Notwithstanding his weakened
control, he got very large share
OF what he has asked for. He got
reorganization bill, he has re-
tanned his power over money, he
has put through huge national
defense program, he has got practi-
cally all he demanded for relief,
apparently he has stopped what he
regards as hostile amendments to
the labor act, he will probably get
approval for good share of his
new spending-lending scheme. In
addition, during his second term,
he has achieved something more
important than all these items put
together: He has remade the Su-
preme Court and utterly changed
the direction of it's thought.
The more the record is studied,
the mora no ofonfl,, alci,rd bonoxnor