Evening star., 1939-05-18
The Unusked Question


President Roosevelt, now thor
oughly disturbed by the failure of
efforts to bring about the investment
of idle funds in private enterprise,
has submitted two questions to the
Monopoly Committee, headed by Sen
ator O'Mahoney of wyoming. In
letter to Chairman O'Mahoney, the
President called attention to the fact
that "a large part of our vast reser-
voir of money and savings have re-
manned idle in stagnant pools" and
asked the committee to consider
these questions:
rs it (thiS want of investment)
because our economy is leaving an
era of rapid expansion and entering
an era of steadier growth, calling for
relatively less investment in capital
goods?
rs it because of lag, leak and
friction in the operation of invest
ment markets which pervert the
normal flow of savings into nom
productive enterprise?"
Undoubtedly these questions are
important and merit careful study
by the committee, but they are not
the most urgent ones in the country
today, as suggested by Mr.. Roosevelt.
A far more important question
Studiously ignored by the President
in his letter-is that concerning the
deleterious effects of some of the
basic New Deal policies on our ma
tional economy. The overwhelming
preponderance of the evidence is on
the side of those who sincerely be-
lieve that most of our business
troubles, and particularly the re-
luctance of investors to risk their
savings in private enterprises, is
directly traceable to these unWise
policies, and, even though the Presi-
dent may be unwilling to face that
fact, the committee, in justice to
itself and to the public, should make
a candid and thorough survey of this
phase of the problem.
Perhaps the most important of the
New Deal policies which have con-
tributed to prolongation of the de-
preston is that which rests on the
''pump-priming" philosophy-the at
tempt to purchase recovery year
after year with borrowed money.
The national debt is now around
forty billion dollars, nearly half of
which has been added during the
Roosevelt administration. That means
a debt load of three hundred dollars
for every man, woman and child in
the United States, and the interest
charge alone in single year equals
| the total cost of government twenty
five years ago. But despite this ap-
palling accumulation of debt, none
of the major problems confronting
the country has been solved Never
thelesS, the New Dealers, ignoring
the ominous prospects of imitation
and insolvency, want only to con-
| tinue down the same dangerous road.
In such situation, is it any cause
for wonder that private investors are
timid and bewildered?
Next in Importance are the New
Deals tax policies. Although many
of his own advisers have come to
believe that the administration tax
program has crippled businessmen
and consumers alike, the President
has refused to take the lead in bring
, ing about any substantial reform in
this respect and has discouraged
others who might have taken the
initiative. But the evidence indicat-
ing that there can be no industrial
recovery without a readjustment, if
not reduction, of taxes is too i'm
| preSsive to be ignored.
A third policy, happily in eclipse
at this time, has been that of seeking
to create distrust of business and
businessmen. Nothing has been heard
lately of economic royalists" and
princes of privilege" but those ILL
considered appeals to class prejudices
had their effect, and the conse-
quences are being reaped today.
If the Monopoly Committee really
wants to get to the bottom of our
economic troubles it will consider not
only the questions submitted by Mr..
Roosevelt, but those he left unasked
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