Show national topics interpreted by william bruckart washington I 1 believe the question most frequently heard la in washington these days Is now important that we have this question new deal how ls is it going to be untangled and it occurs to me that it Is about the most important question before this government today A chemist can mix constituent parts of a formula or a prescription but he never can undo what he has done thus while the new deal has not changed the physical characteristics of things ns as a chemist would do in mixing a formula the job of getting this country settled down Is one of such magnitude that the untangling of the skein Is going to require something more than patience Cons consider lder the farm adjustment program or the or look into the uprooting of commerce and industry by the various banking changes and currency and gold maneuvers that have taken place and lasts 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 arid and its degasta tation and animosities had been shaken 0 off if proceeded to pay oft off its public debt at an amazing rate after the end of the war when the debt was 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 Svere 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 if the result Is prosperity this payment of the public debt however Is to my mind considerably less of a tangle a problem with which to deal than the farm adjustment scheme on which secretary wallace and his agricultural department folks are laboring it seems likely from mr wallaces calculations that the coun arys acreage of harvested crops next nest year will be at least and may be acres below the average acreage of crops planted and liar har vested annually in recent years 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 sir mr wallace is profoundly convinced that this course will be extremely helpful to the farmers ile he sees better returns to them and he be sees greater peace of mind which after all is not to be dismissed lightly among the farm folks of 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 be untangled sly my own conviction Is that in the urge to get some relief out to the farm belt too little attention has been paid to the tuure status of the entire commodity production areas of the nation that can be called farm land 0 to show bow far reaching the farm adjustment program Is it Is only necessary to state that like a game every crop thus far of or chess ator considered Is one constituting anming tn ming a key in the 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 you are immediately faced with another and so on by removing heat as a production from one square mile or one portion of a county attention must immediately be given to the question of to what nhat uw use that land c can an 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 7 kind dud some crop that will illi not compete with wheat or with corn or with cotton or the other crops on which production control Is being attempted As an aji example out in western kansas they have developed after years of trial and experiment a new kind of sorghum cane cace it Is no longer the tall slender stall stalk of yore but a short stalk not unlike wheat that has a heavy head of grain or seed as you choose to describe it it can be produced for about 14 cents a bushel and farmers are flocking to its use it takes care of 0 the land made vacant by withdrawn withdrawal of wheat heat but it presents a competitor for both wheat heat and corn or it if tile the vacant land Is turned to grass you at once start live stock industry to expanding there and the government ern merit Is trying to hold down live stock production so that those who devote their land to live stock will get a 8 fair return such 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 find and exceed angly cautious moves mover admitting my own inability to forecast the result and an equal lack of capacity to find and anyone who ha has suggested the answer I 1 cannot refrain refrain from calling attention to one possibility the new 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 settlement resettlement re of the united states that means oc ourse course that folks who devote their lives to live stock raising will have to move to 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 know what drastic changes can be accomplished without withof t 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 the country still seems to he be trying to figure out what was the cause of the recent drastic the big treasury reorganize puzzle tion the changes came so quickly and without any warning note that it was 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 tor for several days after the president announced that secretary woodin was going on a long leave 0 of absence in search of health that dean acheson was resigning as undersecretary and that henry gen thau jr was being moved over as undersecretary of 0 the treasury from the post of governor of the farm credit administration being undersecretary he became acting secretary when mr air woodin left for arizona in his search for health the newspapers were at wide variance on their views some of them held editorially editor lally and in their news columns that 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 not a yew yes man and that mr acheson was not in sympathy with the various maneuvers to which mr roosevelt was lending his support and that the president simply cleaned house whatever the reason was it remains as much of a secret as a S ever eve r the th e one thing upon which washington observers seem to agree and the feeling was reflected in many large newspapers was that mr acheson was the goat mr air roosevelt wanted mr in the treasury and wanted him to run the place while mr air woodin was away and the only way to accomplish it was to get rid of 0 mr acheson that certainly happened the president in announcing the changes said it was necessary to have a man of more experience in the treasury than mr air acheson since mr woodin was going to be absent the president Is seeking to develop the governments work relief program so that it will be op make mahe millions crating on its most of jobs exten sHe scale coincident with what Is logically expected to be the peak of unemployment this winter ills program to add to the public works funds and take idle persons off the relief rolls for those jobs 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 relict rolls they will gladly take a job and work regularly it if they tire are paid a little littie more than the relief doles they were vere receiving lie ile contends that people prefer work generally to being fed on a charity basis and as far as aa I 1 con can learn no one disputes the idea certainly the person who Is working and Is being paid for it regains self respect which so many times is lost when charitable organizations have to care tor for him and his family there Is one aspect of the program tor for making work however that seems to have been generally overlooked 1 the proposition contemplates wide development of roads and highways in all parts of the nation state road supervisors are arc going to make and indeed are now making plans and listing ng projects acts in the numerous counties where work of a worthwhile nature can be done this plan places the jobs close to the source of need right in the locality where men fire are out of jobs while we nye are discussing the problems of the new deal it seems pertinent to call attention to how advancement of science in commerce and industry add problems with which the professors must cope for example the bureau of fisheries of the department of commerce has just discovered a way to make oysters shuck themselves there are tho wands of men and women too who annually add to their incomes by shucking oysters along the rivers aud and at the ports where here the oyster boats come in the discovery lis covery of a method for self shuck ing of oysters will throw a good many of them out of jobs this N winter inter if tile the plan works as the bureau says it will work cl 1131 alwn union |