Show 0 n washington it Is a little early in the new year to become despondent I 1 suppose tup pose after Bills 9 not the manner of a happy certain radio star I 1 ought to be happy about the whole thing but I 1 tim nm not the outlook is too gloomy developments of th the last few weeks have combined to make me a pessimist of the first water I 1 hope I 1 om am wrong yet present conditions force the conclusion that this country faces a condition as serious as that through which it passed in 1932 and 1933 there Is no reason evident to me why we should not face the facts discouraging as they appear so let us consider some of the things that hove have happened lately and some that are happening these days only in that way I 1 believe v i can we get a correct understanding of this new depression which a thousand government propagandists insist upon calling a recession four months ago industry began to lay oft off men and women workers there i was no market for the goods they were manufacturing the reduction in payrolls was necessary to avoid bankruptcy nobody con can afford to pay workers if 11 there Is no work to do dismissal of workers continued in an ever growing volume until on january 1 the great general motors corporation laid off something like ilka men at one time and placed Us its remaining workers on a four day week that action while it appears sense sensa dional was illustrative of what had been going on during the tour four months that I 1 mentioned it brought public attention end and political attention to a focus but it was sensa dional bonal only because of the numbers it made an impression that dismissal of a few or several hundred here and there had failed to make during this same period prices were undergoing a natural and normal react reaction lon some were up some were down altogether they were and are in a topsy condition government business analysts smelled tho the mouse they were watching all of the trends that tha were evident during those tour four months those in high places ond and charged with responsibility tor for na tonal welfare were informed of what was in prospect but govern ment propaganda continued to show br bright ekht and smiling faces in the picture it wont last they were say ing in the written and spoken words it Is a psychological condition president roosevelt sald bald and thereby made the th e same mistake that president i hoover made when ho he announced that prosperity was just around the corner in 1031 it Is the some same old corner and it is the same old prosperity but apparently the roosevelt administration Is going to have just as much trouble finding either the corner or the prosperity as mr air hoover did to get back to the sequence of events t the urn time iame came when the responsible officials more afore truit trait hod had to say some busting thing by way ot of admitting the existence of the depression recession mr roosevelt it will be re called went off on a fishing trip around december 1 ile he took with him the brilliant and able young robert jackson of the department of justice now mr jacksons per nar lies in the direction of breaking up trusts monopolies big business combinations those of us whose job ll it Is to watch washington thought wo we to foresaw the next nc move by the administration we have it now in full howera flower a great drive against all of those sinful big business interests who simply must be the folks responsible for or the depression of course it should bo be remembered at the same time that there must be a goat when poll tics bics gets balled ti up and big bustness again Is the goat of the administration jn in consequence of the crash in business the Col collapse liPse of the theories of the long haired crew that seeks to dimou 14 america Amerl caunder under the guise of newdell New iDeal Deal plans and the general running out dut of democrats on the new deal leadership the country is now dow to be treated to another trust 4 busting drive comparable to that conducted by the lats late theodore roosevelt when he was president PresIde nL yes big business can always be attacked cajoled threatened it la is t proper stunt nearly always retorted resorted to by politicians and others who find themselves locked within the meshes of their own fish fishnets nets dig big business Is the red herring that the administration Is trying to drug drag across the trall it is 13 because the administration Is attempting to con ceal its mistakes mista kea and make people forget them instead of doing a constructive tive job that I 1 find myself despondent spon dent rit in the tha early weeks of 1833 1938 tho the real to the drive on big business was in the form of a speech by mr jackson who said by way vay of the radio that the only wa way Y to insure a rea lovably steady well being for or the no na alon as a whole is for the government to act as an impartial overseer of our industrial progress ready to call a halt at all times on monopolistic practices practice which threaten to throw our economy out of order that theory Is basic with most of the now new dealers america must be made responsive to the washington government it is that theory to which more and more business men little as well as big are objecting they are arc tearful fearful of it tor for the reason that they can not see how this administration or any that may follow will be impartial in overseeing industry it Is auice quit s natural for a political group to be intent upon preserving itself in power and thai tha end never has been accomplished by impartiality dealers but the new dealers wish to avoid blame for the conditions now con fronting the no na would tion conveniently ShiftS shift blame lame enough there Is no mention being made now odthe of the tremendous pressure that was exerted through four of the last five years to bring about higher prices those prices now are held to be the result of monopoly pot not the tault fault of the professors who were saying a few years ago when prices were moving higher berthat ithac we planned it that way so political guns are turned on big business but my guess Is that little littie business will be hurt more than big business by the refusal of the wallaces the ickes the the jerome franks the orans and the cohens to recognize that hillers Hit lers style of business management must tall fall here hera as 03 in germany the rankest frankest statement about the whole thing has come from mr roosevelt himself he declared recently that overextension over extension of inventories ven tories was responsible tor for the current depression that is to say producers and manufacturers feel eel ing that business was booming produced or manufactured too much they did not recognize that the better business we appeared to have tn in 1835 1935 and 1931 1930 was highly superficial nor were they aware what the ithe would do ui the way 0 controlling ai or burdening business of all kinds with now new taxation and now new restrictive legislation it was from those latter two things that a fear ear was bred and tho factories and farms that were being worked full tilt because prices were going higher were left with an overstock I 1 think it il can be fairly said also that few persons expected to see such encouragement from the administration for or labor to flout bout the law and take over control of property as has happened whatever else may be said however the fact remains the theories constantly being advanced by one or another of mr Roosevel ts advisers have frightened millions of persons wino who still have a few dollars which they would like to put to work on the whole I 1 am convinced those dollars will not be put to work unless and until there Is assurance assur anco from brorn washl ington agton that sanity and not monkey doodle schemes scheme swill will be exer cleed in count rys business it Is dishonest governmental dealings with the on the part pari of government regardless of political party to charge that business brings about depressions any person with a grata grain of sense must know that no individual desires to throw away his own money or throw away a chance to make more president roosevelt has taken a firm stand for a larger navy ills his action deserves corn com for larger emendation mend men atton dation condl condi navy eions ons throughout the world are such that he would be foolish to disregard tile ole necessity for or a strong defense de ense it will cost money of course but preparedness has proved i cheaper always than being thrown into war because no other oilier nation Is afraid of us I 1 have an idea that mr roosevelt will be attacked from a dozen different dlf lerent direct directions so called peace organizations organization swill will try to pin his ears back and malce make him say uncle but I 1 have gained the impression that mr roosevelt will adhere to his program certainly nearly all students of international affairs agree that he Is per cent right in a letter to house leaders mr roosevelt suggested the necessity for or construction of two battleships two light cruisers eight destroyers and six suma submarines dines during the fiscal year beginning next july 1 I these craft are in addition to other naval construction already considered for or the next fiscal year jt it will take two or three years to build some ol of these boats planning and preliminary 11 work ought to be started on them as soon as possible mr air roosevelt believes the work ought dostart to start right after all I 1 think most folks biks will agree that the president Is in a better position than anyone else in the country to know what the dangers are 4 newspaper union |