Show 0 Nati national oral topics interpreted by william bruckart washington the expanding influence of the federal government on the lives of in through new deal out the united t states suddenly e n I 1 y has become a matter that Is attracting attention and more and more repercussions are to be noted in the national capital some observer tell me they think it Is an indication that the multifarious agencies that have been set up under the new deal are at last in full operation and their effects are now reaching to the grass roots of the country however that may be it can be stated without equivocation that the so called alphabetical soup the various administrations and boards and commissions known only by initials are making their presence felt for better or for worse in the lives of individuals I 1 ct annot agree with the exaggerated assertion by a leading republican politician that we are subject to hitler decrees from a hundred different sources but there seems little doubt of vast power being wielded by the various new deal agencies for instance harry hopkins federal relief administrator has decreed that there will be no drought relief funds for cattle owners supplied by the federal emergency relief administration unless the holders of any mortgages on those eattie eatoe agree not to foreclose on such mortgages and be it sa said il the mortgage holder who refuses to make such an agreement Is vp up the well known stump he can take the cattle of course when the mortgage matures but if the mortgages have many months to run the cattle are liable to die of starvation in the meantime without attempting to decide the merit of such a policy on the part of the federal goern government ment the illustration shows the power pomer that Is wielded from washington the reconstruction finance corporation po ration has been exercising its influence with banks for some time while officials insist they are not cot attempting to control policies of banks it nevertheless remains as a fact that they are exercising voting power in the boards of directors of numerous banking institutions they went so far in the case of a great chicago bank as to insist that the man they selected be elected by the board as its chairman in addition through the federal deposit insurance corporation the bank policies on loans are closely watched and this Is happening at a time when the president and some of his advisers are strongly urging the banks to make loans under and the numerous codes code various terms and conditions are laid down typical of for business practices here Is a typical case the code tor for the graphic arts industries has a pro provision ision prohibiting hi extension of credit tor for longer than two to years that Is a printing plant owner or aubi isher of a country newspaper or anyone else wanting to buy a linotype machine had been allowed alfored sometimes as much as five years in which to pay tor for expensive equipment of that kind now however hoever he roust must pay for it within two years or the manufacturer will be a code alo violator by selling it on a long term basis thus it is to be seen that the code exerts an influence on what might be called the innocent bystander Et the country publisher cannot save up gold with v ith which to pay for the machinery because he be would be a criminal to have gold under present law again declaring that I 1 am not discussing tile merit of the proposition it remains as a fact that the federal trade commission Is exerting an influence on the type of investments individuals make as a result of its control over the issue and sale of shares of stocks or bonds of course the commission cannot rench reach a corporation that Is doing business only la in its home state but the larger corporations engage in business on a broader scale than that and the bulk of shares and bonds therefore must not be issued until the federal trade commissions securities experts have bave determined the facts about the corporation that offers them it Is a matter of record of course that numerous corporations have sold purely blue sky stock but the point I 1 am attempting to make Is that here Is another federal influence on the lles of individuals As w we go through the month if 0 june another phase of 0 the new deal becomes ef forest feet fec lve tive I 1 refer to conservation the development of the count rys forests privately as well all as publicly y owned while there will be no noticeable results for some time the presidents forest condery con conservation sery policy has haa become operative nevertheless th eless and it la is a long range affair abal Is zeDe generally rally accepted as build ing for the future the program which the president initiated when he started the civilian conservation corps embodies a definite scheme tor for restoring forests that have been and constitute nothing milre more than waste land it provides for selective cutting of trees in lumbering lumber lne operations and it Is designed to create in the minds of citizens the necessity for sustaining our forests against the time when at the present rate of 0 destruction there would be no more lumber I 1 was surprised when the forestry service told me that forest land was just about one fourth of the entire area in the united states but the forestry officials reminded me at the same time that unless there Is a serious conservation movement there is only enough timber in sight bight to provide lumber for about thirty years more originally it will be remembered there was about 40 per cent of the entire continent in virgin timber mr air roosevelt Is proposing legislation most of which will be ready for the session of congress meeting in january 1935 to provide machinery for coordinating co the efforts of the federal and state governments and for gaining the co opera tion of private land owners in restoring growing trees A good many washington observers are wondering how soon the federal trade com headed for mission and a clash are going eos to lock horns the two agencies are certainly headed in the direction of a clash it Is generally conceded here that sooner or later general johnsons codes that establish monopolies in various fields of commerce and industry are going to be made the subject of pithy comment from federal trade commission circles how soon it will come or what form the disagreement will take of course can be only a matter of conjecture now it Is necessary to recall the basis upon which the federal trade commission was created in order to get a clear understanding of tile the clash that Is to be expected first of all the creators of the federal trade commission idea had in mind the idea of a federal agency that could be watching bl big business all of the time where it found unfair practices smothering of the little independent units and such other conditions as some sharp shooting businesses use tile the commission can and does cite them publicly it goes after the facts in public hearings and exposes the practices it also issues orders directing the offending in businesses to eliminate the objectionable practices if they choose to disregard the commissions orders the matter Is turned over to prosecuting officers of the government and tougher penalties may be imposed now the national recovery act and general johnsons codes have gone a long way toward making the commissions guardianship of little business nil in its effect the codes permit monopolies or rather the codes provide under the recovery act that the antitrust anti trust laws shall not apply to those signing the terms and conditions of the codes it Is seen therefore that the provisions of tile the federal trade commission act can hardly be enforced that Is to say the commission cannot order a business to cease doing something that general johnsons codes declare to be quite all right thus far the commission has kept reamona reasonably bly quiet about the thing it Is true however that its members have thoughts about the situation that would make interesting reading it if they were to be expressed openly the commission has kicked about a few of the codes in a mild sort of way its criticisms have been tempered it Is said by tile the fact that none knows exactly how to go about effecting a reconciliation of the diverse positions enacted into law in the recovery act and the federal trade commis commission slon act apparently there haie hae been no in from the white house and so the commission 1 Is looked upon merely as drifting until such time as nn an administration policy Is framed few observers anil and few important leaders as well are NN willing Illing to a attempt t a prediction as to the 0 outcome lit one reason Is that Is under fire from several directions and I 1 believe it cannot he be said to what extent the general principles of are going to become I 1 im in bedded in our industrial structure government officials are becoming more and more concerned bout about a the growth of smuggling aud and bootlegging oot leg I ing of liquor A determined effort Is being made to check the illicit trade but the optimism expressed by officials charged with will the responsibility does not ring very loud food indeed the talk I 1 hear it iii I 1 a good many quarters Is that there must be some revision donward dov ingard of the import duties and the local artil taxes on liquor C 5 b by western newspaper union |