Show Round Merry-Go-Round Mtr By Y DREW P PEARSON end pd ROBERT ALLEN lLEN WASHINGTON Inside advisers admit that Roosevelt's smooth running neutrality policy struck a definite snag when the British postponed an embargo on oil And the insiders are Cire worried about it Privately they know that the neutrality policy is s not neutral at all b but t throws the full weight of ot the he United States against Italy and with the thelea lea league eague ue of nations In fact the United States invariably has been one step ahead of the lea league ue and has had to wait for it to catch up The policy received wide public acclaim ras as l long ng as the league always caught up but Ut in the case of oil it What is not generally known is is that all of these moves have been discussed in great detail between the he state department and the British The Ickes-Hull Ickes declaration a against the sale of oil to Italy was no exception The British wanted to o know from us in advance what we would do if they hey they embargoed oil They didn't want to be in inthe inthe the he position merely of diverting Italian purchases to o the United States Mr Hull showed his good faith and now finds himself dangling awkwardly from a limb with some embarrassing questions sure to be asked when congress convenes The question is how long the British who British who have been jeen talking ardently of an Anglo-American Anglo en entente en- en tente will tente-will will let him dangle t Titanic Struggle The Saturday midnight ht deadline for registration tion ion of holding companies found the government and the power industry locked in one of the fiercest struggles in the history of utility utility util- util ity ty regulation The outcome of the titanic battle not only will determine the fate of the holding company act but jut will have reaching far-reaching political and economic reverberations I If the government wins many of or the most powerful powerful powerful pow pow- erful utility moguls in the country will lose their corporation scalps If it loses oses the utility issue is certain to be a major battle cry in in next years year's campaign n and the movement mo to curb judicial powers powers powers pow pow- ers will receive tremendous impetus Utility Maneuvers The the scenes strategy of the two combatants com com- is isnow now clearly defined The aim of the utilities is to overwhelm the government with a tidal wave of legal actions Their object is two fold First to wear down the he government b by constantly hammering on a hundred different fronts second to enrage government government government gov gov- leaders into committing a provocative act which can be seized by the utilities in order to sway public opinion This program is behind the Baltimore suit and other tests to which the government is not a party It t underlies the secret reversal of policy within the industry not to file any registrations Such a course was the original intention But within the last few days it was decided that a afew afew few companies should register so as to pile up ad additional additional ad- ad labor on the securities and exchange commission commission com corn mission in formulating rules and regulations Administration Maneuvers The governments government's strategy is a combination of offensive-defensive offensive tactics For the time being the government is giving the utilities free rein to force the fi fighting It is adopting a peaceful and reassuring attitude This is is behind the conciliatory statement of S SEe SEC E C Chairman Jim Landis and the order of Attorney Attorney Attorney At At- torney General Cummings to refrain from brin bring bring- ing g criminal proceedings against recalcitrant util util- 3 Cummings and Landis had two ideas in mind First to put the onus of ag aggression ressi n on the utilities let the idea sink home with the public that the he utilities are resisting regulation defying the government government gov gov- second to maneuver the utilities into making the same mistake into which they are trying try try- ing to jockey the government government-an an an overt act which would sW swing ng public opinion against them That some of the infuriated ed utility barons are capable of such a blunder is shown by the lets gang ang the government stat statement ment of Edward F. F Hutton This tonguing free-tonguing brought jubilant smiles to the lips of new dealers It was a stroke of luck Juck uck and they are planning to make much of it Meanwhile government lawyers are preparing a sensational legal counter For weeks weck a picked hand-picked group of the best legal talent of the justice department S SEe SEC E C federal fed fed- ed- ed eral cral power commission interior department and R B I If f F C have Ve been beel- burning th the midnight ht oil preparing ing briefs arguments and and assembling precedents When finally they open fire some ome real surprises are in store for the opposition 1833 1033 by tuie Inc |