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Show Natidnal Topics Interpreted b by William Bruckart fflHI National Presa Building Washington, D. q DrglUrfTT Washington. Changes in President Presi-dent Roosevelt's policies have been coming so last Changes lately that about Come Fast aU 1 am abIe t0 d0 this week is to review re-view the situation. I have gathered gath-ered information and advice from many official sources In an earnest effort to understand what is happening, happen-ing, but with all of that I am quite incapable of what I would regard as a complete analysis. As the air pilot would report while flying through fog: the visibility is zero. The proper basis for a start, therefore, appears to be with recollection recol-lection that one of the cardinal policies poli-cies of the Roosevelt administration was control of agricultural production produc-tion to accomplish higher prices. Another basic plank is the foreign trade policies under which reciprocal recipro-cal trade treaties have been negotiated negoti-ated with numerous foreign nations. These two planks were designed to make markets available for what we produce, first, through scarcity of quantity and, secondly, to stabilize stabi-lize the world exchange of goods on price levels which we, in this country, coun-try, considered to be worth while. Various other legislative acts and White House announcements came into the picture also, but we need not be concerned with them just now. Well, the higher prices began to materialize. They came along to the point where eight or ten months ago there was genuine evidence of a speculative boom. Mr. Roosevelt said recently in a statement to the press that the outlook on this circumstance cir-cumstance was a bit alarming. Suddenly, Sud-denly, however, the depression settled set-tled down on the country. The President Pres-ident took note of It after a time and announced that prices had to come down in order to encourage buying by the consumers. That was in January of this year. Early in February, Feb-ruary, he told the press that there had to be higher prices to bring the country out of the depression. Subsequently it was on February 18, I believe, he took another position posi-tion on the price question. He said in a formal statement: "It is clear that in the present situation, a moderate rise in the present price level is desirable and that this rise need not and should not extend to all prices." So that now we are committed to a price rise on some commodities i and present or even lower frices on some other commodities. It is to be presumed (because there is nothing to show a contrary viex) I that all of the machinery of govern-! govern-! ment is to be used to bring about price rises in "some commodities" but not all of them. However, to continue our review: ; I reported to you in December, 1D37, and have mentioned several times I since that there Is a trust busting j drive on that is as big and as broad ' as the famous "big stick" which Theodore Roosevelt used when he was President. Twenty-nine cases against so-called monopolies are pending now in federal courts and the federal trade commission has some others in process of prosecution. prosecu-tion. The prosecutions range all the way from Iadic3' half-size dresses and against Individuals who design styles through the list to Aluminum Company of America. Now, while the trust drive has been on (and some folks have been cruel enough to charge that the trust busting drive is to keep the folks from realizing we are In a depression), de-pression), another thing has happened. hap-pened. I refer to the passage of the new farm aid legislation. I have not been able to understand the law, but Secretary Wallace calls It one of God's blessings to the farmers farm-ers because he says that It will reduce re-duce or limit production and thereby there-by force a greater return to the farmers. In Mr. Roosevelt' statement state-ment on the general price situation, however, he spoke of the new program pro-gram as follows: "Our program se'-ks a balanced system of prices such as will promote pro-mote balanced expansion In production. produc-tion. . . . This h not a policy of restriction; it Is a policy of abundance." abun-dance." I seem to recall some phrases of a few years bark which described the plans as lending, first, to hiiih'T prices for agricultural products through "scarcity"; then, th'-re came "the more abundant life" and later balanced abundance. I assume as-sume the "balanced expansion" must represent something taken In between the ottier policies, but I frankly do not understand. That Is the reason why I have nttempied this report to you by way of a review. re-view. Although admitting that much of the new program is too deep for mo to analyze, there Trade are certain phases Treaties which have b a en operative and from which results have begun be-gun to show. Take the reciprocal trade- treaties en an example. I came ncros some figures down flt the Deportment of Cornrrioree th other day nnd they wcro something of a revelation. They showed that In 1(1.17 this nation of ours was Im porting more agricultural commodities commodi-ties than it exported. I could not find when that condition had obtained ob-tained before. Certainly, there have been few times in our history when that has happened. The department figures showed that the United States imported 18 per cent more commodities from the farms of the world than it exported ex-ported from our farms. Further examination ex-amination of those statistics reveals the disturbing fact that the bulk of those imports were things which our American farmers could have grown right at home. I can find no other reason for the condition than that the reciprocal trade treaties trea-ties which were to bring us prosperity pros-perity have taken prosperity to some other farmers. The circumstance caused me to wonder then whether these trade treaties are not slowly grinding the American farmer into the dust I have tried to find out how the new farm aid law, which restricts production pro-duction further in the United States, is going to help this situation. Accepting Ac-cepting Secretary Wallace's statement state-ment that it will result in higher prices for our farm products, will it not by the same token make a greater difference between foreign prices and our own? And If that be true, is not it to be expected that there will be more imports of farm products from foreign lands? My reasoning brings an answer of "yes" in each case, and so I cannot see where we are going to get "balanced expansion" out of those factors. Now, as Al Smith used to say, let us look at the record as it concerns the trust-busting drive and Its relation re-lation to prices, employment and the like. I simply have no patience at all with the big business groups that Ignore or forget their responsibilities responsi-bilities to the public. There is no excuse and can be no excuse for crushing any individual who is trying try-ing to run a business of his own. It is one thing, however, for a business busi-ness to have grown big because It serves Its public well and quite another an-other thing for the same group to have attained its bigness through, savage tactics. That brings me to the recent conviction con-viction of the o:l companies In a trial that was hold 7Vusf nt Madnon. Wis. Busting As fir as I have rend the record In that case, the basis of the char;:c by the government was tint the od companies had used a pricing system sys-tem which was fostered by the infamous in-famous NRA. a policy laid down by congress. Secretary Ickcs of the Department of the Interior, now one of the loudest mouths In the chorus of bust tine trus's. Insisted on the oil companies getting together. He wrote letters to them to that rfTcct. Of course, the MtA was held unconstitutional un-constitutional but the decision was based on the question of congressional congres-sional authority to delegate powers to the executive officers. It did not declare that congress had no right to grant privilege of agreement on prices for purposes of stabilization. We might also look nt some of the tactics employed by the government. govern-ment. Robert II. Jackson, who was the spearhead nnd spokesman for the trust busting drive, lately has been promoted to the Job of solicitor general of the United States. Mr. Jackson told a senate committee considering his nomination that ho had picked "the proper forum" for the oil case. He said the Department Depart-ment of Justice would continue to do It. They picked a New York court to hear the case against the Aluminum company In order to get the proper kind of a Jury as they did in the oil case. The tactics used In the Aluminum case seem to me to be almost reprehensible. rep-rehensible. For Instanre, the government gov-ernment had been anxious to set a dale for the trial nnd the Aluminum company counsel urged early Action. Ac-tion. The record of that day In court In New York revealed that when Judge Knox proposed n rl.ite early In April, Waller Rice, one of Mr. Jackson's assistants, ndmilted to the court that the government did not yet have enough evidence to prosecute. This seems far nfleld from the price question. I wonder If It Is so far o(T Ihe subject. As I said earlier In this discussion, legal ne-tlon ne-tlon ngalnst anybody. Individual or corpora lion, Is destructive, demoralizing demoral-izing nnd expensive. I know nothing noth-ing about the merits of the oil rase or the aluminum rnse or any of Ihe others beyond what I have picked up In the records. On the olher hand, however, It Is plain for nny-one nny-one to see no "price structure" can bo nrrnnged for "balanced expansion" expan-sion" If the federal government Is going to decree one course of action ac-tion for business with one hand nnd wrllo nn obituary for the same busl-ness busl-ness wllh the other hand. That la to say, If the people are unable to know or understand what their government gov-ernment policies are, It Is quite likely thnt those same penplo will continue If) nsk enrh olher: "Wbero nro w going and what Is Ihe end going to be?" Wo.l.rn N.w.tmp.r Union, |