Evening star., 1943-07-18
Congress Writes OFF
New Deal Experiment
By John H. Cline.

TeauzeQ at tne Time. AND this Is true
because of its implications for the
future.
1t is not likely that the decision to let
the law die natural death will produce
any immediate reactions. Unlike the
conditions prevailing at the time the
first coal act was passed in 1885, the in
dustry is not now lacking a market for
Its product The problem now Is to get
coal mined. Once it Is above ground it
can be disposed of at the maximum price
permitted by OPA, and any real or fam
cied need for fixed minimum prices-the
basic feature of the acts not apt to
develop while the war lasts.
But this was not the only consideration
Involved in the congressional decision,
which took the form of a 13-to-11 vote by
the Ways and Means Committee to let
the statute lapse. The renewal legisla-
ton before the committee would have
extended the act for from two to three
years after the conclusion of the war.
This was assailed on the ground that
favorable action in this instance might
serve as a precedent for a tremendous
expansion of Government control over
industry in the postwar period, and there
Is no doubt that some members of the
committee took the opportunity to vote
against extension of the coal act as
means of expressing their lack Of SYM
pathy with the notion that industry will
not be able to survive In the future unless
1t leans upon the Government for sup
port and accepts degree of Government
regulation which has never before been
known in this country. In other words,
to considerable extent at least, the
vote not to renew the act was also a
vote for return to the philosophy that
an industry should be able to survive on
Its merits in a competitive field, and that
If it cannot survive under these condi-
tions it is not the responsibility of Gov
eminent to hold it up on legislative
props.
A Legislative Anomaly.
The coal act has always been some
thing of an anomaly on the New Deal
stage. Destruction of monopolies, good,
bad or Indifferent has been in the fore
front of the avowed objectives of this
administration. Yet it has accepted the
monopoiistic philosophy of the coal act
without a murmur, including the man.
datory minimum prices which raise the
cost OF coal to the consumers for the
benefit of the producers. Had any in.
dustry attempted to do such a thing as
this on its own initiative it would have
been promptly taken into court and pros
ecuted. But the Government does the
same thing in its own name without so
much as the lifting of an eyebrow.
The explanation, of course, lies in the
TACT that John L. Lewis wanted the Coal
Act passed, and he got it passed by re-
sort to strike threats. Mr. Lewis inter-
est was in getting more money for his
miners, and he got it. The operators. or
most Of them, also wanted the legislation
because they had been all but ruined by
the appalling competitive methods pre-.
vailing In the industry. and they were
perfectly willing to give the pay in
crease which Mr.. Lewis wanted If the
cost could be passed on to the public.
But some Of them have lived to repent,
for the wage demands of the miners
kept abreast of the rise in revenues and
the anticipated stabilizing effect of the
legislation failed to materialize in prac.
tlce. In recent weeks, as result of Mr..
Lewis latest wage demands, the mine
owners saw their experiment in Govern
ment dependency break down complete
ly, and they were forced to surrender
custody of their properties to Secretary
Ickes so that Mr.. Lewis might be per-
suaded to send his miners back to work.
AS result of this whole painful ex-
perience there has been a hardening of
the will to resist the contention that
private enterprise is on It's last legs and
that it will surely go down after the
war unless it leans upon the Government
for support. In the extensive hearings
held by the committee, the most per-
suasive advocate of the belief that in
dustry must work out its own salvation.
with a minimum of reliance on Govern
ment, was James A. Emery, who, as gen.
eneral counsel of the National Associ-
alton of Manufacturers, spoke for large
segment of the business community.
Self Reliance Advocated.
While conceding that private enter
prise and Government must cooperate
closely and sympathetically during the
transition period from war to peace, Mr..
Emery vigorously dissented from any
suggestion that the Bituminous Coal Act
could or should serve as the pattern for
rescue by the Government of distressed
industries after the war. Speaking Of the
postwar period as distinguished from the
period of transition, Mr.. Emery told the
committee:
If we are going to adopt the principle
for any one industry that its future Is
threatened by the fact that 1t will have
great difficulty in recovering its costs, I
can see no reason why that should not be
continued or applied to all industries
that may be in like situations. If that Is
done our future is hopeless. No Gov
ernment can support such a situation.
"The whole tendency in this country
in the past decade has been in a steady
direction Of increasing public control
over private action, increasing the range
OF Federal control 50 that steadily We
have enlarged the area that is governed
directly from Washington. But
nations are like individuals. They have
character, and nations, like individuals,
are affected in the great characteristics
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