| Show 0 rational national topics interpreted by william bruc bruckart kart washington I 1 believe thesues th the eques question most frequently heard in washington these important days Is now that we have this quezon question new deal how to it goina to be untangled and it occurs to me that it Is about the most important question before the government today A ch chemist ernist can mix constituent parts of a formula ora prescription but he never can undo what lie has done thus while the new deal has not changed the physical characteristics of things as a chemist would do in mixing a formula the job of getting tills this country settled down la Is one of such magnitude that the untangling of the Is going to require something more than patience consider the farm adjustment program Dr or the nna or look into the uprooting of commerce and industry by the various banking changes and currency and gold maneuvers that have taken place and last but by no means least examine the rapidly growing pile of obligations that constitute what we know as our public debt with reference to the public debt it should be stated that this country after the world war and its devastation and animosities had been shaken off proceeded to pay on off its public debt at an amazing rate after the end of the war when the debt was tit at its peak the government owed a total of it stands today roughly at in between those two dates when the country was prosperous and income taxes and other taxes were yielding their fullest the debt once was whittled down to about so those who watch over the public debt say they entertain no fears that when conditions are prosperous again there will be taxes to pay off the debt and that no one will complain about the vast sums now being spent it if the result Is prosperity this payment of the public debt however la Is to my mind considerably sider ably less of a tangle a problem with which to deal than the farm adjustment scheme on oil which secretary wallace and his agricultural department folks are laboring it seems likely from mr air wallaces calculations that the coun arys acreage of harvested crops next year will be at least and may be acres below the average acreage of crops planted and harvested annually in recent yeika yei irs emergency adjustment plans are responsible they are predicated upon a basis contemplating control of production a restriction against a surplus that would force prices down mr wallace Is profoundly convinced that this course will be extremely helpful to the farmers ile he sees better returns to them and lie he sees greater peace of mind which after all Is not to be dismissed lightly among the farm folks of oatlie the country but that Is the immediate picture what of the future or to quote again the oft repeated question how Is it going to untangle sly my own conviction Is that in the urge to get somer some relief ellef out to the farm belt too little attention has been paid to the future status of the entire commodity production areas of the nation that can be called farm land to show how far reaching the farm adjustment program Is it Is only necessary to like a game state that every of chese crop P thus tar far considered la Is one constituting a key in commodity structure these key crops cotton wheat corn etc occupy more than acres to change that layout secretary wallace admits Is just like a game of chess when you make one move moe you are immediately faced with another and so on by removing wheat as a production from one square mile or one portion of a county attention must immediately be given to the question of to what use that land can be put it Is obvious that it cannot be allowed to grow only weeds so there must be a stopgap stop gap crop of some kind some come crop that will not compete with wheat or with corn or with cotton or the other crops on which production control Is being attempted As an example out gut in western ac kansas ansas they have developed after years of trial and experiment a now new kind of 0 sorghum cane it Is no longer the tall slender stalk of yore but a short stalk not unlike wheat that has a heavy head of grain or seed as aa you choose to describe it it can bo be produced for about 14 cents a bushel and farmers are hocking flocking to its use it takes care of the land made vacant by withdrawal of wheat but it presents a competitor tor for both wheat and corn or if the vacant land Is turned to grass you at once start live stock industry expanding there and AB government govern nent Is trying to hold down live stock production so that those who devote their land to live stock will get a fair return such to Is the story all through the list it Is not easy and I 1 think any fair minded person will admit it no professor however learned Is going to solve that problem without careful thought and exceedingly cautious moves admitting my own inability to forecast the result and an equal lack of capacity to find anyone who has suggested the answer I 1 cannot refrain from calling attention to one possibility the new dent deal has set out upon a policy that cannot avoid revision of our entire economic structure and it now appears it may lead even to a resettlement be benien 0 of the 10 united a ted states til es that means of course that folks who devote their lives to live stock raising will have to move to tile the areas where they can do that and the corn growers will have to get into that bailiwick or some such new alignment I 1 confess I 1 do not dot know what drastic changes can be accomplished without dislocating the lives and the hopes of farmers but to me it Is a decidedly interesting question over which to ponder as the long winter nights wear on a the country still seems to be trying to figure out what was the cause of the rethe dig big cent drastic treas puzzle u r y reorganization the change came so quickly and without tiny any warning note that it was wan IL a move amounting to lightning from a clear sky and now the observers here are trying to figure out its meaning in the fullest sense I 1 watched the count rys leading newspapers closely for several days after tile the president announced that secretary adin was going on a long leave of absence in search of 0 health that dean acheson was resigning as undersecretary and that henry jr was wag being moved over as a undersecretary of the treasury from the post of governor of the farm credit administration tr tra tion atlon being undersecretary he immediately became acting secretary when mr woodin wooden left for arizona in his search bearch for health the newspapers were worean at wide variance on their views some of them held editorially and in their news columns that tant had taken the treasury under their wing and that we were headed straight into the grievous mistake that germany made on her currency others took the position that mr woodin was wa not a yes yea man and that mr air acheson was not in sympathy with the various maneuvers to which mr roosevelt Hoo sevelt was lending his support and that the president simply cleaned house whatever the reason was it remains m ains as much of a secret as ever the one thing upon which washington observers seem to agree and the feeling was reflected rejected in many large newspapers was that mr acheson was the goat mr roosevelt wanted mr air Morge nthan in the treasury and wanted him to run the place while mr air woodin was away and the only way to accomplish com it was to get rid of mr acheson that certainly happ happeney happen eneM eSL the president in announcing the changes sald said it was necessary to have a man of more experience in the treasury than mr acheson since once mr woodin was going to bo be absent the president Is seeking to d develop vel the governments work relief program so that make Millton i sit will be operator jobs ing tn on its most extensive a 8 c e a I 1 0 coincident with what Is logically expected to be the peak of un unemployment em this winter ills program to add to the public works funds funda an and take idle persons persona off the relief rolls for those jobs la Is well under way it no doubt will make several million jobs available for a short time at least it Is the presidents thought that where persons have been on relief rolls they will gladly take a job and work regularly if they are paid a little more than the relief doles dolea they were receiving lie ile contends conten da that people prefer work generally to being fed on a charity finals basic and as far as I 1 can learn no one disputes the idea certainly the person who la Is working and Is being paid for it regains self respect which so ninny many times Is lost when charitable organizations have to care for him and his family there Is one aspect of the program for making work however howe v er that seema beems to have been generally overlooked the proposition contemplates wide development of roads and highways in all parts of the nation state road supervisors are going to make and indeed are now making plans and lilting hating projects in the numerous counties where work of a worthwhile nature can be done this plan places tile jobs close to the source of need right in the locality where men are out of jobs c lia unico |
