Show step 0 national topics interpreted by william bruckart washington with the coming of fall and the usual spurt in commerce and indus two million try accompanying get jobs cooler e 0 0 I 1 e r weather two facts about the governments general recovery plans have become apparent the N KRA RA and agricultural adjustment programs have been yielding some benefit but weaknesses of 0 each program are becoming painfully evident full advantage Is being taken of 0 the gains registered whether the vulnerable spots in the programs can be fully corrected however remains a matter of conjecture there has been undisputed progress made toward recovery in a great many lines of business there hare been at least two million workers restored to jobs and there has been an increase in income to farmers armors to industry and to workers cut but there has been a fly in the ointment at the same time despite the enthusiasm with which the recovery program has ed there have been some very sore spots created by mistakes on the part or of government leaders as well as some rancor on the part of 0 a limited number of industrial leaders that has come from selfishness from all of the information available here at the seat of affairs my conviction Is there has been some bullheaded bull headed ness less on each side and this condition has disclosed where the weak spots of the several programs obtain to make the going tougher labor leaders have swooped down to nail fast every possible advantage they can find that they may be in a better position whenever normal economic condit conditions ious prevail again there cabbe no more mistaking this bit ot of selfishness than there can be by closing ones eyes to the attempts of some industrialists to line their own nests the difference Is that under present circumstances and with the terms of the national recovery act to back them up labor leaders are considerably more powerful now low than are the employers the greatest weakness thus tar far evident in any ot of the several recovery efforts according to the consensus I 1 have gathered Is the attempt to make the rules of codes hidebound and inelastic this course has har resulted in handicaps being placed on some businesses that actually prohibit expansion of 0 operation where the desired end obviously is more volume observers here are contending that the authorities particularly have employed too much haste baste in some instances and again haste has made waste I 1 am told that there are a good many codes that will have to be amended or revised or worked over in some respects in the light of experience per peri lence ence but the pity of 0 this Is that able men were not given the chance to have the changes included in the codes in the first instance probably the answer anser to these statements will be that hearings bearings were held and each industry was given an opportunity to state its case which Is true yet ret in all of the terrific hustle and bustle that has gone on in the headquarters there were influences wielded that appear to some persons here as having been tinged with selfishness I 1 do not seek to defend either side in such controversies as occurred over the coal code or the automobile to code or some of the others for each side rather messed up the program but speaking generally the staff which general johnson has around him was capable of doing better work than was done on most of the codes As to the gains resulting from the united effort figures tell the plainest story official statistics show that in the majority of lines of trade there has been a greater volume of business done since NIIA and the agricultural program got going than had bad been to in months be tore fore this brought new jobs and new dew jobs carry additional pay rolls and obviously that means greater comfort for those theretofore out of jobs concerning the efforts to correct weaknesses in the recovery plans perhaps the to correct most notable is the move by the weaknesses reconstruction finance corporation to push money out where it will be used the corporation po por ration atlon Is 13 prepared to make loans to banks if those banks will make loans t to 0 private businesses and to su supply p ply the money to the banks at 3 per cent interest it the banks will not charge more than 5 per cent when it Is re loaned in other words the reconstruction Reconstruct lon finance corporation has gone almost the whole way into the banking business for that which it Is now doing Is nothing more or less than commercial obligations As was stated above whether such moves as this will serve the purpose of correcting weaknesses in the recovery plans no one can say accurately it Is to be remembered that the prime purpose of the NICA NHA was to boost prices raise wages anil make wore more jobs undoubtedly some of 0 that general objective has been achieved else there would have bays been no need for the proposition advanced by the reconstruction finance corporation its move was waa designed to provide commerce and industry with money to meet the added costs entailed under the scheme hundreds of instances were reported where firms and individuals simply did not have the resources after three years of 0 struggle with which to meet the new drain they had to be helped over the hump between the time when they assumed the new obligation of 0 the blue eagle insignia and the day when it would produce returns to the business banking authorities are not certain that the plan will work from banking authorities I 1 learn that there Is a better chance of 0 some benefit accruing under the reconstruction construction lon finance corporation plan in the west and south agricultural areas than in the east where manufacturing predominates money rates seem to be higher bibber in the west and south than in the districts where a larger volume ot 0 money Is handled it may mar be then that a maximum rate of 5 per cent will cause borrowings to take place that have been held back by banks which seek to hike the interest charges too high from our own war on the depres sion it seems to me we ought to turn tura our eyes a moment the foreign on conditions situation abroad that depict to many observers a state of war mindedness that has been evident since the end of the world conflict in 1018 one can gain little satisfaction from interviews ter views among our own government officials respecting the potentialities 0 of the foreign situation because remarks from officials of the washington government at this time would simply add to the name flame nevertheless it does no good to ape an ostrich and hide ones head bead in the sand the most untrained observer can see the potential dangers once the facts are made known in france in italy in germany and even in switzerland that little republic that always has been a barometer of international relationship there Is evidence 0 of war planning even in our country atten tion con can be called to the program for building up the navy our got gor erni nent says it wants a navy of 0 the strength allowed by the london and washington treaties and by building it now work Is made available for the unemployed england alone of 0 all the major powers seems to be making few steps toward arming interest has centered in a gigantic fortification along its frontier that the french government has constructed ted no one knows what lt it has cost or will cost when ultimately paid for it Is known only that there has been constructed a veritable concrete and steel system of 0 subterranean fortresses passageways eways munitions depots and supply bases along the frontier ren tier tor for about one hundred miles and that these one hundred miles roughly constitute the boundary between germany and italy on the one hand band and the F rench french on the other the germans under adolph hit lers lees direction lately have completed and opened war clouds tor for business what Is said to be one over europe of 0 the largest airports on the european continent it Is located almost on the border between germany and austria and some qualified observers maintain it was placed there because of 0 the 9 rowing growing pro german sentiment in austria their thought Is that hitter hitler expects some time to have control of austria and he assured the pro germans of austria that he Is looking after their interests by providing viding an air fortification where it will be of 0 assistance to them in event of 0 trouble from outside of the two nations in other words the implication Is that germany Is gradually coaxing austria back into an alliance buchas such as existed under katser kaiser wilhelm Wll helm in addition to these things one cannot overlook the hatler assertions that are strongly antl anti french nor the mussolini declarations indicating he will have more territory nor the fact that the french have men under arms this year likewise it cannot be passed as insignificant that Britis hers are reported to be steadily disposing of french real estate holdings investments that have been heavy in years past it may be only hotheadedness headedness hot bot on the part of statesmen so called now in power in these several nations or lt it may be that there are grievances that are real instead of fancied whatever the underneath condition may be or Is it Is apparent there are potentialities of 0 war obtaining in burcope now that have not been visible in a decade and in thinking of a european war it Is well to remember the course of that conflict which raged from 1914 to ir 1918 I 1 0 1133 1033 western newspaper Nem paper union |