Show 0 national topics interpreted by william bruckart i washington it has been lust just a year since franklin delano roosevelt carried hla his A year of the new deal pro new deal dea lyp gram era irto into the executive mansion at washington and the country has witnessed in that time many of the most revolutionary changes in its economic and social and financial structure that could be imagined indeed la in a nation that has a tradition of being largely conservative some of the things that have happened or have been brought about by the new dealers could not even he be imagined except by those who dwell in the house of the theorist cut but they have come they are with us and without commendation or criticism it la Is being asked what have we for ono cue thing in the past twelve months we ha have hae e observed the slowly stretching tentacles of the federal government reaching out into hitherto unknown functions we have seen those same tentacles taking over more and more the rights of individuals and of states and lesser divisions of government and ne have witnessed what some persons hold to he be an absolute destruction of that basic difference between one nation and a union of our several states that Is according to the view just set forth we are for the period of the emergency at least just one people instead of peoples of the 48 states and the district of columbia also I 1 think it is true that never in our history have we known a time when the president of the united states was possessed of such power either legally ga fly or politically as now in the preparation of this weekly letter I 1 consulted with men and women of thought and vision and I 1 believe there was no exception to the co that none can accurately forecast what the ultimate results of these changes are going to be economic and social changes are slow to mature into their full effect it Is natural that they should be so it Is going to be some years before we can know whether the theories and the plans of the new sealers dealers will vill be accepted into the basic structure of american lives of one thing we can be sure if all of the changes or even eve n half of them bare are knitted permanently into aur our social structure tui e the accomplishment ment of these lost last twelve months of I 1 a in that direction will have been greater by many than the changes that have occurred in any ally other century indeed in several centuries combined take for example the principles of NKA AAA and the others of the alphabetical alphabetic organizations every one of them has injected into american life projects and propositions aich nelch were rejected to in one form or another in their bisic basic ideas in years gone by under tile the desperation of the depression they were nere hurled into the whirlpool of our social structure with varying maryin success as measured by the resift results thus far nearly all of the principles injected into the commercial lifeblood of the nation are of a character to promote group or unit action distinguished from individual action that was aas developed with the opening up of american resources arter after formation of the union we ve never have known for instance a time kihen our government told business in so many words that it could work lo together gether as a unit it if it met certain requirements nor have we cier known a time when our government said to agriculture that it had to cu down its production in a monopolistic agreement in order to force higher prices one could go on and on with illustrations now to repeat the eailler question hat have se e there is and can be little doubt of econ economic omle progress in the last few months the noticeable country it has a s progress emerged f from r 0 m the depression to some extent at least I 1 believe no one can say with assurance however that we are far enough on the to recovery that we can be ba oulu sure of no relapse hut but those persons who nho are best in a position to appraise conditions certainly feel f e el there has been a gain As to the cause 0 of this improvement one cau call pick up an argument almost anywhere the ardent supporters of the new deal assert tile the roosebelt Roo policies are responsible while bile those opposed to the roosevelt policies claim there Is a possibility that some or all the progress made came from the natural nearing gout out of the depression that Is history records the same course for all depressions stocks arid and supplies are exhausted and production st arts up ill of its own accord to meet tile the demand so we are starting in on a second year of the new deal as I 1 see the lie picture still uncertain as to tile the outcome but equipped alth ill greater cor 1 than obtained among tile the rank and file of tile the people a year ago it will ill be recalled how flow mony many times 11 resident roosevelt Koo sevelt has said in presenting new items in his new i deal that here was something else to try ile he has experimented tho the law of average might seem to indicate that part of them will work and obviously part of them have been influential in the economic progress that has been made but who can say eay with assurance which they were and how much influence each had it Is my conviction that anyone attempting to make an unqualified statement of these results at this time Is cither biased or inclined to stupidity 0 0 0 while we are looking into the extent to which the roosevelt policies have carried the wide powers federal g 0 v e r n jor for it wallace ment meat ln in individual ll ellal lal affairs it la is proper to call attention to the far reach ing even sensational proposal to give secretary of agriculture wallace authority to control the amount of cotton that may be produced each year the legislation known as the bankhead Bank licad bill Is ig undoubtedly the most important proposition yet devised for extending federal power because it not only invades rights hitherto respected but it provides the secretary of agriculture with power to force cotton farmers to obey his orders in limiting the cotton production succinctly the bankhead Dank head bill with which congress Is now wrestling would limit the production ot of cotton in the united states to nine MIJ million lion bales for the crop year of 1934 35 and in order to prevent the production of a greater amount there Is a destructive sales tax provided for application to the surplus the tax Is fixed at twelve cents a pound for the amount in excess of nine million b bales a les and that B figure gure of course Is higher than the value of the cotton itself use C to enable the see sec detary of agriculture to control the production each farmer who planted cotton would have to obtain from the secretary what Is described as a certificate of exemption for the amount lie he intended to produce that Is to say the farmer would be given a certificate exempting so many pounds of cotton from the operation of the sales ales tax and it Is presumed that the certificates of exemption will be issued only for the required amount from this brief outline it must he apparent that never before has there been such a drastic proposal for control of individual businesses of men in this country I 1 have heard all of tb the arguments favorable to the bill and some of them against it but none of them have made clear to me what can call be lone done in poor crop scars ears or in years when there is a bumper crop what I 1 mean is this the total for the crop year of lom 1034 ai is fixed at nine million bales on the acreage of a normal or average year but assume there is especially favorable weather in the year and the production Is far above the average then will the farmer be penalized by having to destroy that part of his crop in excess of the amount stated on his certificate of exemption or what benefits will vill he gain ahel when nature has smiled on his crop thorp there is also the converse of the prop proposition assume there Is another drought of 1930 1030 or on the proportions a and i i d the cotton co crop Is of other aher hand virtually de st ed low Is the cotton producer going to be rewarded for having reduced ills his acreage and where will the country get its supplies of cotton obviously a short crop will enhance the price yet wl with ill a small acreage will the get even et a fair return from the higher prices secretary wallace of the department of agriculture called attention to another possible result of the bill ile he told a congressional committee that lie he feared there wo would u id be m a regular business of dealing in exemption certificates develop from that feature of the bill one can only guess where that would lead mr wallace said that the value of the exemption certificates obviously would fluctuate along with the rate of the tax ou oil the excess and the higher the rote rate of the tax the greater would he the value of the exemption certificate in so far ns as the exemption certificates are of high value he said there may be a tendency to shift the emphasis from cotton production to an in emphasis on procuring of exemption certificates these them themselves selles might become a 1 commodity this could mean that various persons nho in the past have engaged in the production or of cotton and would be entitled to ex es eruption certificates may prefer to remain out of cotton cotlon production arid and to rely for part of their th er income COL nl normally received from cotton al 11 upon tile sales values of their exemption certificates the secretary likewise pointed to ital spot in the statement that there wis was no due allowance made for differences in soil condl fitins or weather between tile the north and south lines of the cotton belt and other such purely local ie tl phases 9 by newspaper Paper union |