Evening star., 1940-12-18

SNS UC UGs
ferred under the principle of putting
first things first" Labor peace is
the fundamental of both defense
and progress under the third Roose-
velt administration. Phil Murray in
the c. I. o., David Dubinsky in the
A. F. of L. are both working for re-
organization of the labor movement,
while Roosevelt holds the lire
against the conservative attack on
the Labor Board through the WAL
ter-Logan bill and the so-called
Smith amendments to the Wagner
Labor Relations Law.
Once the labor angle Is cleaned
up, it will be both possible and de-
sirable to take up the matter Of
peace with business. Here it is i'm
portant to avoid certain pitfalls
which might engulf any effort to
establish durable reconciliation.
Mr.. Lamont is both wise and pa.
trlotlc enough to be aware of such
dangers, and I am sure that he
would be the first to insist that
any steps which he might be invited
to take should be safeguarded
against misinterpretation.
First Pitfall Is Firm, Itself.
The first pitfall is the impression
which might be created in certain
business circles that to deal with
Washington it would be necessary
to go through the Morgan firm.
Nothing should be done by Mr..
Roosevelt to cause businessmen
and lndustrlalists to believe that %
Wall street is the front-or the
back-door to the White House.
This peril could best be avoided
by creating a committee, which in
addition to Mr. Lamont, would in
clude men like Cyrus Eaton of Cleve-
land, Joseph E. Davies and others
who have never been part of the
New York financial system and
who have criticized its operations.
Such a broadly representative COM
mlttee could select its own chairman
and vice chairman and serve as a
clearance house for reconciliation
moves originating in business.
The second lion in the way of
peace between Government and
business is the danger lest anything
be done to strengthen the national
power and prestige of the New York
financial community Financial de-
Capitalization is necessary if Amer
lea is to survive as a. free economy.
The history of the last 20 years is
the history of an American MONOPOLY
over credit, directed from lower
Manhattan and causing grave social
and economic Embellishments.
New York Still Dominates.
Even the creation of the Recon-
struction Finance Corp. and its
lending operations as directed by
Jesse Jones have not substantially
freed the Nations business-particu-
larly small business-from New
York's dominance. Yet If there is
one thing sure, it is that New York
is doomed to diminish in relative
Importance in the life of the Nation
parallel to the decline of European
trade and that there will come a
redistribution of financial power and
of economic opportunity throughout
the Nation.
Here the safeguard is less clear.
Perhaps the President could appoint
a broadly representative committee
on financial decentralization charged
with the duty of recommending ways
and means-changes in the banking
laws, the R. F. c. Act, the Federal
Reserve Act, etc-to the Govern
ment. Perhaps such a commission,
rather than the committee men,
toned in the first part of this COL
unln. would be the real medium by
which peace. understanding and
reconciliation can be established
between the Government and those
businessmen who now fear the Gov
ernment
Sooner or later it will be necessary
to act on the findings of the T. N.
E. C.'s monopoly investigation, and in
such action it can be taken for
granted that Mr.. Lamont will be dis
posed to play a far-sighted and
patriotic part as one of those whom
the President may invite to advise
and consult with the Government
on matters affecting economic and
social defense.