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Show National Topics Interpreted JL by William Bruckart W. Washington. Whatever may be gleaned from recent developments ...... in Washington, it NRA Will Can be stated Continue with certainty that President Roosevelt has now set his mind definitely defi-nitely to continue the National Recovery Re-covery administration as a governmental govern-mental unit. It may well be that the organization may be changed in form ; it may be possible that the name will be revised and that there may be revision of methods. But there can be no equivocation about the fact that Mr. Roosevelt intends to maintain NRA and that he has acted at this time to give notice of his decision in advance of the convening con-vening of congress. Observers here have taken note of the unusual emphasis placed upon the President's part in NRA reorganization plans. They think this was done at the behest of the Chief Executive with the thought ln mind that it would serve as a reassurance to hundreds of thousands thou-sands of people throughout the country. I believe there can be no doubt that a good many people, some influential, some just the mine-run, have questioned the flying qualities of the Blue Eagle. Their dissatisfaction and distrust has been shown in many ways, and thus it appears logical that Mr. Roosevelt would seek to allay their fears. Under the new set-up of NRA, the President has taken active leadership. lead-ership. Of course, he has been the leader heretofore, but there has always al-ways been the disposition on his part to allow the former administrator, adminis-trator, Gen. Hugh S. Johnson, to guide his own ship. Despite the fact that Mr. Johnson was given a free hand, it was easy for Mr. Roosevelt Roose-velt to take control because, after . all, he is President of the United States. By dividing management of NRA among the heads of three boards, It is generally believed that the President Presi-dent has made it easier for himself to assert his influence and his ideas more directly than has hitherto been the case. This is particularly true when the personality of the former administrator Is considered, although the President had only one man with whom to deal under that circumstance. Politically minded people in Washington seem to be wondering, however, what the effect will be on Mr. Roosevelt. Suggestions have been heard that by taking a direct hand in NRA Mr. Roosevelt has put himself "out front" where, some seem to think he may be the target for some of the "rotten eggs" about which the bombastic General Johnson John-son spoke so frequently. The retiring retir-ing administrator said frequently he did not mind being the target, but many times Mr. Roosevelt has taken occasion to fight back at his critics by calling them tories, un-awakened un-awakened Rip Van Winkles, and other such descriptive terms. It Is yet too early for a general reaction to be evident among conservative con-servative b u s I- Oppositwn ness men on the Active President's NRA organization program. pro-gram. Those who have given voice to their feelings thus far, however, have Indicated that the right wing group In the country are finding small unction from the new program. pro-gram. Indeed, the undercurrent of information which we get In Washington Wash-ington Is to the effect that there are more secret . meetings and definite moves among business Interests to ward off any left wing swing by the administration than there has been at any time since Mr. Roosevelt Roose-velt took office. The President's recent radio speech to the country was generally gen-erally understood as a conciliatory move on his part and It seems not to take a stretch of the imagination imagina-tion to link that speech and NRA reorganization with these various movements against the overhanging overhang-ing threats of such liberals as Donald Don-ald Ricbberg, former Chicago labor lawyer, who Is certainly the most influential man in the new NRA set-up. Everywhere I go, I find that business Interests are accepting the reorganization of NRA as notice of Its continuation and It may be possible pos-sible that one result of this Interpretation Inter-pretation of the President's act Is the growing opposition movement mentioned above. Business generally gen-erally Is mindful that the matter of continuing NRA must be decided by congress. They recognize that the present recovery act expires next June and that the President will lay before congress a comprehensive compre-hensive program early In January after congress returns. Their efforts ef-forts In opposition, therefore, nat-j nat-j uraliy will be directed to the con-; con-; gross in an effort to accomplish j some of the changes In the law j which they believe advisable to per-i per-i mit free and untrammeled commerce com-merce and industry. With regard to the President's determination to continue NRA it needs to be pointed out only that if : he had wanted to scrap that unit of t ! his recovery set-up, the retirement j of General Johnson afforded an ex- j cellent opportunity. It was then j that he could have allowed the or- 1 ganization to disintegrate and could j have transferred to various agen- j cies of the government that are per- j manent in character such functions ; as he desired should continue. But ' he did not do that. He acted with dispatch. This is best shown by the chronology of events. It appears ap-pears that the President made up his mind over one week-end. He received General Johnson's resignation resigna-tion on Monday and announced it on Tuesday. His return to Washington Wash-ington on Wednesday wa. followed immediately by conferences with Mr. Ricbberg and a quick announcement announce-ment of the new program. It Is evident, therefore, that when the President decided something had to be done, he moved at once to get rid of General Johnson and ti start the j new machinery through orders issued to Mr. Richberg. Formulation of industrial policies henceforth are regarded as likely to be more on the basis of trial and error than heretofore has been t lie case. Banking and other financial interests inter-ests of the country are apparently quite disturbed I Financiers over the trend to-Disturbed to-Disturbed ward easier bank examinations. Mr. Roosevelt lately has told the treasury treas-ury that the bank examiners were too hardboiled in going over loans held in portfolios of banks and that he was anxious to see a more uniform uni-form system developed than the examining ex-amining methods long in use. The fear seems to be that the bank examiners will relax too far in granting approval for loans outstanding. out-standing. Heretofore, banks have had to toe the mark and any questionable ques-tionable papers or any loan that gave evidence of not being liquidated li-quidated in accordance with Its terms was promptly called to the attention of the bauk management with instructions to make corrective adjustments on the books. If, as some financial authorities expect, bank examiners become too lenient It is suggested ln many quarters that the banks may find themselves with paper upon which they cannot realize, Just as occurred at the beginning be-ginning of the depression. It was bad loans that forced the closing of many banks. Then, too, many observers are finding it difficult to reconcile the President's attitude with the frequent fre-quent criticisms he has made of banking practices heretofore employed. em-ployed. I am reminded, also, of the stinging rebukes that have come from the senate committee on banking bank-ing and currency after Its Investigation In-vestigation of the entire banking bank-ing structure. Time after time that committee, which proceded with Its investigation with a blessing from the White House, has attacked banks and bankers because of bad loans and worse judgment ln deal- . ing with the borrowers. The question ques-tion has been asked several times lately whether banks are going to be willing to make loans that are in some respects a gamble even under un-der the President's urge If, later, they will be subjected to attacks In the halls of congress. On the bauk loans the President Is convinced that bank examiners have been throw- Examiners ing out a lot of Too Stringent loans that are perfectly good. They have been forcing the banks to charge off this paper as a loss. In other words, Mr. Roosevelt believes be-lieves that under the old rules of examination a too stringent attitude was adopted by the administrative authorities ln the treasury and the bank examiners carried out those rules literally. In the background, It Is to be remembered, re-membered, however, there Is the federal deposit insurance corporation. corpora-tion. This agency guarantees that the depositors will be repaid In full up to a limit of $3,000 on each account. ac-count. It would seem to be that the existence of this Insurance corporation cor-poration ought to fend o!T any particular par-ticular fear. But bankers know and a good many of the political and administrative leaders recognize that the corporation could not withstand with-stand wholesale bank failures. It draws Its funds from assessment of member banks and, therefore, when its present reserves are exhausted ex-hausted banks must dig up more. Following this line of reasoning, one cannot help arriving at the conclusion conclu-sion that a series of bank failures, resulting from bad loans, would throw more of a burden upon the good banks than they can carry. Thus It Is made to appear that a high percentage of bankers In the country after all are going to continue con-tinue to exercise their Judgment on the type of loans they make and will not he influenced materially by administration wishes. Some, of course, will extend credit with abandon, aban-don, and it is to this croup nf bankers bank-ers who eventually will witness the deposit insurance corporation paying pay-ing ofT their dopo'l ; ors. 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