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Show National Topics Interpreted l J by William Bruckart SRmL Washington. William Pitt, the younger, observed during his pre-mlershlp pre-mlershlp of Eng- Self-Control .dtH that conse- for Industry quences flowing from the acts of statesmen were the things that mattered mat-tered and the truth of his thought has had no better demonstration than In the turn of events which has followed adoption of the principle princi-ple of tli Q national recovery act The acts of the statesmen, In this Instance, conducted tho national government directly Into the middle of prlvato business, enterprise and Initiative under tho guise of partnership part-nership with tho government. The consequence flowing from those acts Is tho slow, but certain, development develop-ment of a new type of permanent self-control for Industry. I am referring, of course, to the proposition thnt has come at once to he known as the "Swope Plan," because it was Gerard Swope, head of the giant General Electric company, who fathered the plan if, Indeed, he did not work out the details, de-tails, and gavo It tho Impetus to carry on. The Swope name Is synonymous syn-onymous with big business and industrial in-dustrial leadership, hence tho prestige pres-tige that the Swope plan had from the start. But, whether business likes It nr not, and whether the bulk of the people at this time agree with the principle, I havo found few persons In a position to survey the future who fall to see anything In the picture pic-ture other than continuation of some of the NRA principles, and Mr. Swope's proposal perpetuates them. Mr. Swope appears to recognize that there are numerous evils In the NRA system now obtaining and nt the same lime to recognize the necessity for a thorough hoiisech'an-ing hoiisech'an-ing by business Itself. In other words, the Swope plan contemplates providing business with authority to do tho things NRA was organized to do hut, in the nature of things, cannot possible do. Since there are too many details to permit of a discussion of all of them In these columns, permit nic to summarize tho Swope plan as a logical set-up for the control of all Industry by Itself, with a national na-tional chamber of commerce at the top. in the administration of that fhimilwr 11, f..,l..r,,l ,,,.. t would have a part, and that provides pro-vides Iho necessary government supervision. su-pervision. The pre.-ent system of codes for this and for that, hit and miss, enforced by men and women, who. In some cases, have hail no practical experience whatsoever, would ho superseded by trade associations as-sociations for each industry. There would he the necessary regulatory reg-ulatory committees In which the Industrial In-dustrial folks themselves would he In (he majority but In which the goveri nt would participate so that It knew what was going on. The primary responsibility, as he-comes he-comes readily apparent, would be on the business Interests, and the government gov-ernment would horn In only when human avarice or crookedness upset up-set policies predicated upon sound Judgment and far vision. The program, loo, would eliminate elim-inate what observers have feared constantly, namely, the building up of a gigantic bureaucrar y In Washington. Wash-ington. That Is what Is happening miller NKA and one raiinot be blind to It even while admitting the gains resulting from NRA activities. When Mr. Swope made his announcement before the advisory and planning commission of the I 'I'parlmeiit of Cominerce, lie barely hinted at that phase, yet It was plain he was aware of the growing tendency, since It Is history how government encroaches further and further unless the pco-pel pco-pel call a tin 1 1 . Mr. Swope laid his plan before the council and Ihe nation with the ad monition that: Favor "If business does Swope Plan ""t organize to control Itself, either (he stale or the federal government gov-ernment will." So Ihe program was horn, and II Immediately received the blessing of the iidmlnlsl rat Ion and expressions of good luck from various other sources. It may lie, anil probably will he that enmity and pelly Jcal ousy will slick out for cliaiu;es In favor of Individual groups, hut as far as I have been able to learn Ihe structure has been set up and It Is likely to stand as a principle, t mean by Hint, Ihe chances are Industry In-dustry will choose In Ihe end to nc-cepl nc-cepl what It may consider lo he Hie lesser of two evils from Its own standpoint ; It will take cither some-Ihlug some-Ihlug I i 1 1 1 up I'roui Hie Swope plan Hint will keep commerce ami Indus try on a decent plane, or II will have to swallow further encroachments from govei nmeiiliil bureaucracy. II Is lo be remembered that President Roosevcnt lias Insisted that he Is not Irrevocably commit led to any of he plans for recovery which he Iiiih sponsored. He lias described them g rally, as he said of the HKilenll urn I adjustment pro nam, that It Is evpeilnieiilal, a move by trial and error lo determine deter-mine whal will end Ihe depression. Consequently, It seems fair to assume as-sume that Mr. Roosevelt will support sup-port the Swope plan quite some time yet, even If It goes awry In the end. The President at last Uas launched out on a course of aid for the so-called so-called heavy Industries. Lie has determined de-termined on this program after long delay, and only after he had been urged to do so by dozens of men who ought to have some understanding understand-ing of the country's economic problems. prob-lems. The public works administration adminis-tration loan to tho railroads was the first step and others have followed. fol-lowed. It Is a move designed to make capital available for expenditure expendi-ture by those heavy Industries In tho belief that those expenditures will encourage others in kindred Industries In-dustries to lay out some of their own resources, If they have any, so the normal cycle of money flow will be restored. There can be no doubt, of course, that every time expenditures are made for con- More Jobs, structlon, repair More Money or remodeling, Jobs have been made available, and when Jobs are made available there Is more spending spend-ing by those given work. It Is obvious obvi-ous that each of these add something some-thing to the country's buying power, pow-er, but the question Is, how much? That seems to be the weakness of the plan to help heavy Industries, as It was tho weakness of other plans Involving expenditures. While the $n.0O0.0o0 thnt was loaned to about twenty railroads, for example, exam-ple, will start some folks to work, It will require a good many more millions to carry that theory through to successful completion, according to the best Judgment I have been able to obtain. Hut that fact Is not one In criticism. criti-cism. It Is pointed out merely in emphasis of another fact, namely, that this recovery Is and must of necessity he a slow process. It will lie so slow that most folks will lose patience and confidence. I-et us take the railroad loan up for consideration, again. It Is small, comparatively speaking, but repeating repeat-ing that which was said above: It will result In Jobs. The heavy Industries Indus-tries after all are the big employers or lanor, and tr they are able to Increase In-crease their pay rolls In however small amounts, there will lie Just that much momentum given to the wheel which must turn continuously continuous-ly If there Is to be prosperity throughout the world. So as the other Industrial and agricultural recovery re-covery programs move forward with their varying degrees of success, the attempt to get (hose heavy Industries Indus-tries on their feet surely must be considered as a unit of the general plan and one that Is highly important impor-tant In (he structure of economic life. The first payments to farmers under un-der tho wheat acreage reduction program have farmers Ocf ,,.n n,.,d,.. The First Pay first one was made to n farmer In Iowa from which state Secretary Wallace of the Department of Agriculture Agri-culture comes. I was told at the department that It Just happened the first payment went out there. All details of the contract had been arranged and so the check went for ward. It so happened, however, that Iowa was one of tho trouble spots In the farmers' strike, nnd the quick action to get money out there might naturally have been taken In hope of providing some of those farmers with a reason to quit the strike. It Is the expectation of the Department De-partment of Agriculture that the wheat program will result in distribution dis-tribution of around JIO'J.OOO.OOO to Ihe farmers. The acreage reduction reduc-tion signed up w ill take about 7.S00,-ooo 7.S00,-ooo acres out of production next year, and the payments now being made represent about 70 per cent of what each fanner will receive. The remainder will he paid next spring when the farmers' contracts will have been fully executed In the sense thai I he acreage concerned has not been planted cither tills fall or next spring. Despite llielr "wot" leanings, Postmaster General Farley and Attorney At-torney General Cuiuuilugs have hail to decree Hint liquor advertise incuts In newspapers anil magazines may not go Into "dry" stales. They have ruled that It Is proper for a newspaper or a magazine, carrying a liquor advertisement, to clrciilatr 111 a stale where prohibit Ion Is not operative under state laws, but otherwise the advertisement must not ho circulated. I do not Imagine It was II pleasant pleas-ant thing for "Big Rill" Farley to do, because It was he who fought harder for repeal than any other high Deniocrallc lender. And pes slhly Ihe action was made more distasteful to Mr. Farley because It w as another I icinoci at, ".llin" Reed, of Missouri, who had sponsored the huv, that barred liquor advert Isl'n; from Ihe malls. IIU.I. W 11 N tVM.it ar V'llloll. |