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Show Nadonal Topics Interpreted ' . by William Bnickart jS&MWjL Washington The expanding influence in-fluence of the federal government on the lives of in-Feel in-Feel Effects of dividuals through- , out the U n i t e d New Deal gta(eg suUd e n 1 y has become a matter that Is attracting attract-ing attention, and more and more repercussions are to be noted In the National Capital. Some observer observ-er tell me they think it Is an Indication Indi-cation that the multifarious agencies agen-cies that have been set up under the New Deal are at last In full operation and their effects are now reaching to the grass roots of the country. However that may be, It can be" stated without equivocation that the so-called alphabetical soup (the various administrations and boards and commissions known only by initials) are making their presence pres-ence felt for better or for worse In the lives of Individuals. I ctnnot agree with the exaggerated exagger-ated assertion by a leading Republican Repub-lican politician that "we are subject to Hitler decrees from a hundred different sources," but there seems little doubt of vast power being wielded by the various New Deal agencies. For instance, Harry Hopkins, federal fed-eral relief administrator, has decreed de-creed that there will be no drought relief funds for cattle owners supplied sup-plied by the federal emergency relief re-lief administration unless the holders hold-ers of any mortgages on those cattle cat-tle agree not to foreclose on such mortgages. And, be it said, the mortgage holder who refuses to make such an agreement is up the well-known stump. He can take the cattle, of course, when the mortgage mort-gage matures, but if the mortgages have many months to run, the cattle cat-tle are liable to die of starvation in the meantime. Without attempting attempt-ing to decide the merit of such a policy on the part of the federal government, the Illustration shows the power that Is wielded from Washington. The Reconstruction Finance corporation cor-poration has been exercising its influence in-fluence with banks for some time. While RFC officials Insist they are not attempting to control policies of banks, it nevertheless remains as a fact that they are exercising voting vot-ing power in the boards of directors of numerous banking Institutions. They weilt so far In the case of a great Chicago bank as to Insist that the man they selected be elected by the board as Its chairman. In addition, through the Federal Deposit De-posit Insurance corporation, the bank policies on loans are closely watched, and this is happening at a time when the President and some of his advisers are strongly urging the banks to make loans. Uuder NRA and the numerous codes, various terms and conditions are laid down Typical of for business How Code Works Practices. Here Is a typical typ-ical case: the code for the graphic arts Industries has a provision prohibiting pro-hibiting extension of credit for longer than two years. That Is, a printing plant owner or publisher of a country newspaper or anyone else wanting to buy a linotype machine ma-chine had been allowed sometimes as much as five years in which to pay for expensive equipment of that kind. Now, however, he must pay for it within two years or the manufacturer will be a code violator vio-lator by selling It on a long term basis. Thus, it is to be seen that the code exerts an influence on what might be called the innocent bystander. by-stander. The country publisher cannot can-not save up gold with which to pay for the machinery because he would be a criminal to have gold under present law. Again declaring that I am not discussing the merit of the proposition, propo-sition, it remains as a fact that the federal trade commission is exerting ex-erting an influence on the type of investments Individuals make as a result of its control over the issue and sale of shares of stocks or bonds. Of course, the commission canno" reach a corporation that is doing business only in its home state, but the larger corporations engage in business on a broader scale than that and the bulk of shares and bonds, therefore, must not be Issued until the federal trade commission's securities experts have determined the facts about the corporation that offers them. It Is a matter of record, of course, that numerous corporations have sold purely blue sky stock, but the point I am attempting to make is that here is another federal influence on the lives of Individuals. As we go through the month of June, another phase of the New-Deal New-Deal becomes ef-Forest ef-Forest fective. I refer to Conservation 1 h e development of the country's forests, privately as well as publicly, public-ly, owned. While there will be no noticeable results for some time, the President's forest conservation policy has become operative nevertheless, never-theless, and it is a long-range affair that is generally accepted as build- in? for the future. The program which the President initiated when he started the Civil-Ian Civil-Ian Conservation corps embodies a definite scheme for restoring forests that have been cutover and constitute consti-tute nothing more than waste land; It provides for selective cutting of trees In lumbering operations, and it is designed to create in the minds of citizens the necessity for sustaining our forests against the time when, at the present rate of destruction, there would be no more lumber. I was surprised when the forestry service told me that forest for-est land was jus,t about one-fourth of the entire area in the United States. But the forestry officials reminded me at the same time that unless there is a serious conservation conserva-tion movement, there is only enough timber in sight to provide lumber for about thirty years more. Originally, Orig-inally, It will be remembered, there was about 40 per cent of the entire en-tire continent in virgin timber. Mr. Roosevelt is proposing legislation, legis-lation, most of which will be ready for the session of congress meeting In January, 1935, to provide machinery ma-chinery for co-ordinating the efforts of the federal and state governments govern-ments and for gaining the co-operation of private, land owners in restoring re-storing growing trees. A good many Washington observers observ-ers are wondering how soon the federal fed-eral trade com-Headed com-Headed for mission and NRA a Clash f e einS lc horns. The two agencies are certainly headed in the direction of a clash. It is generally gen-erally conceded here that sooner or later General Johnson's NRA codes that establish monopolies In various fields of commerce and industry are going to be made the subject of pithy comment from federal trade commission circles. How soon it will come, or what form the disagreement dis-agreement will take, of course, can be only a matter of conjecture now. It is necessary to recall the basis upon which the federal trade commission com-mission was created in order to get a clear uuderstanding of the clash that is to be expected. First of all, the creators of the federal trade commission idea had in mind the Idea of a federal agency that could be watching big business all of the time. Where it found unfair practices, prac-tices, smothering of the little independent inde-pendent units, and such other conditions con-ditions as some sharp-shooting businesses busi-nesses use, the commission can, and does, cite them publicly. It goes after the facts in public hearings and exposes the practices. It also issues orders directing the offending offend-ing businesses to eliminate the objectionable ob-jectionable practices. If they choose to disregard the commission's orders, or-ders, the matter is turned over to prosecuting officers of the government govern-ment and tougher penalties may be imposed. Now, the national recovery act and General Johnson's codes have gone a long way toward making the commission's guardianship of little business nil in its effect. . The codes permit monopolies, or rather, the codes provide under the recovery re-covery act that the anti-trust laws shall not apply to those bnsinesses signing the terms and conditions of the codes. It is seen, therefore, that the provisions of the federal trade commission act can hardly be enforced. en-forced. That is to say, the commission commis-sion cannot order a business to cease doing something that General Johnson's codes declare to be quite all right. Thus far, the commission has kept reasonably quiet about the thing. It is true, however, that its members have thoughts about the situation that would make interesting reading read-ing if they were to be expressed openly. The commission has kicked about a few' of the codes in a mild sort of way. Its criticisms have been tempered," it is said, by the fact that none knows exactly how to go about effecting a reconciliation reconcilia-tion of the diverse positions enact-' ed into law in the recovery act and the federal trade commission act Apparently there have been no Instructions In-structions from the White House and so the commission is looked upon merely as drifting until such time as an administration policy is framed. Few observers, and few important leaders as well, are willing to attempt at-tempt a prediction as to the outcome. out-come. One reason is that NIU is under fire from several directions and I believe it cannot be said to what extent the general principles of NRA are going to become Imbedded Im-bedded in our industrial structure. Government officials are becom ng more and more concerned about the growth of smuggling and bootlegging boot-legging of liquor. A determined ef fort is being made to cheek the 11 licit trade, but the optimism expressed ex-pressed by officials charged with the responsibility does not ring v loud. Indeed, the talk I hear in good many quarters is that there must be some revision dov,-wn,,i the Import duties and the local a,u state taxes on liquor. C bt Western Newspaper Union. |