Evening Star Newspaper, April 29, 1937, Page 13

& this week / v ” THE EVENING STAR, Competition Is Feared Doomed. New Deal Moves Held Aimed at Wide Price Control. BY DAVID LAWRENCE. HE Roosevelt administration is paving the way for the passage of a law by Congress giving the Federal Trade Commission and similar tribunals in specialized flelds the power of price control. Within the last 24 hours, the White House has released several statements which when pieced together can only mean one thing—Federal control of prices in basic commodities and pos- sibly in byproducts sold at retail. On the surface it might seem as if there was a conflict or incon- § sistency between President Roose- velt's espousal of the Guffey - Vin- son law which he signed one day and * his disclosure the next day of a let- ter sent him by & Attorney General i Cummings argu- &\\ ing for competi- tion and a re- statement and reinforcement of the anti-trust laws. Likewise there may seem to be a contradiction between the legalized monopoly and price fixing granted to coal producers under the Guffey law and the President's notifi- cation to House and Senate leaders that he wants action held up on the Miller-Tydings bill which would enable prices of cert in articles to be main- tained when resold by manufacturers through dealers and other outlets. The truth is the whole thing pieces together symmetrically. Mr. Roose- velt is against price-fixing when private companies do it, but he is for it when the Government has a control or supervision, as in the Guffey coal bill. Mr. Roosevelt is against monopoly which is alleged to lead to collusion in price-fixing in basic industries like steel, but he favors Government con- trol of prices through a commissioner or tribunal speciafizing in that subject. Attorney General's Letter. ‘When the Attorney General says in his letter that the anti-trust laws need revision, he points out that “the machinery of the courts is not geared to the handling of the social and economic factors necessarily involved; and many persons and communities seriously affected cannot be parties to a court proceeding under the anti- trust laws.” So it might also be argued about the Guffey act, that persons and commu- nities affected and social and economic factors may be involved and yet not get protection under the Guffey act. Still, the New Deal will answer, that's the function of the “consumers’ coun- sel” and the National Bituminous Coal Commission ijtself. The Attorney General's letter un- doubtedly was written for the purpose of expressing a point of view desired by the President himself. Rarely if ever nowadays does anything formal come from' a cabinet officer that isn't suspected of having been approved in advance by the White House s0 that in effect the letter is considered as Mr. Roosevelt’s own viewpoint. The latest pronouncement, therefore, asking for a restatement of the anti- trust laws on the ground that they are not adequate is taken to mean that the administration really wants to get new powers to deal broadly with industry. Instead of being con- tented to put into the Guffey law and other measures a provision suspending the anti-trust laws, something that simply stirs up men like Senator Borah and other true liberals who do not believe in the Fascist philosophy of price-fixing now being embraced by the administration, the plan is to revise the entire anti-trust law struc- ture. The idea is to outlaw monopoly and trusts and proclaim free competi- tion, but yet give the Federal Govern- ment certain power over price control which amounts to legalizing the ex- isting producers in groups resembling European cartels, now Americanized under the word “codes” such as the N. R. A. started. Miller-Tydings Bill. ‘The Miller-Tydings bill and the fact that 40 States have laws on resale price maintenance is a disturbing influence in the administration’s gen- eral plan, hence the move to squelch it. The administration may take up the resale price maintenance idea or the so-called “loss leader” in another form, but it is moving slowly till it gets broad general powers. The Rob- inson-Putman act is an example of the confusion which the administra- tion has encountered in going at the problem of trying to regulate business piecemeal. What is desired by the President undoubtedly is price control by governmental commission. The need for this has been emphasized recently by members of his official family, including Gov. Eccles of the Federal Reserve Board, who sees it a5 necessary to prevent inflation and & boom. For the moment the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Com- mission are being asked to study these questions, but the truth is the admin- istration wants to wait till the Supreme Court of the United States is properly packed with judges of its own choos- ing so that the next move to control all business will not be upset by a Supreme Court decision. Hence be- tween now and the time the present controversy over the size of the court is settled, methods of imposing price eontrol will be studied. Meanwhile the administration wants no interference by the passage of frag- maents of legislation touching on mis- oellaneous phases of the matter when the whole business structure is due to undergo & surgical operation at its bands to regulate prices and, of course, uléimately, profits. As the saying might well be, “Ger- man and Italian papers pleace copy,” for it means the death sentence to the system of frée competition as it has been known in America for 150 years. $33,336 FOR CADET TRIP The War Department paid $33,336 to send the corps of West Point Cadets to President Roosevelt’s second inau- guration. During hearings on the second de- flciency appropriation bill, which went to the Senate today with House ap- proval, Capt. R. 8. Moore of the Army Finance. Department, told a House Appropriations Subcommittee that the Army had the money to pay the bill, but lacked the authority. The me: ure granted the suthority. vavia Lawrence. News Behind the News Farley Appointment to Communications Body Reported Blocked by White House. BY PAUL MALLON. RATHER grave unpleasantness of state developed over the selection of a secretary to the Federal Communications Commission. The job is a delicious political plum, paying $7,500 a year. Several well-backed candidates reached for it, including men of the caliber of John Carson, who was more-than-secretary to the late Senator Couzens. They had to be eliminated first. It was quite a task. The Carson candidacy was handled by his appointment to the better job of consumers counsel of the Bituminous Coal Commission. The others were taken care of in other ways. The road was finally cleared for Jim Farley's candidate, & man named Berger—Mr. Robert I. Berger, radio director of the Democratic National Committee. Arrangements for Mr. Berger were completed. He even went down and introduced himself around the commission and every one knew he was to be the man, Mr. Farley’s man. Just as everything was all set, the commission received an unexpected telephone call from the White House. Jimmy Roosevelt, son and secretary, was on the wire. His advice was substantially this: Papa wants you to hold up that Berger appointment. He has another man in mind. * % ok x This was upsetting to Chair- man Prall of the commission. He did not see how it could be done. Berger's selection was about to be announced. Orders had come from Farley. If Jimmy wanted to countermand Big Jim’s orders, he had better get in touch with Big Jim. Mr. Farley was out campaigning for Supreme Court packing at the moment and could not be reached, but Jimmy got hold of Farley’s secretary, Bill Bray, on the telephone. Jimmy told Bill also that the Berger appointment was out, that papa wanted another fellow. Bill said, whoa there, wait a minute. This is beyond my jurisdiction. If Mr. Farley's man is out, you had better get in touch with Mr. Farley. That left matters in a very unsatisfactory state. * ok x % Chairman Prall decided to go over to see Jimmy. He went into the White House, walking fast. Perhaps Jimmy did not realize how far this Berger thing had gone. It was too late now to hold it up. Such action ‘would entail embarrassment. Jimmy was adamant. Papa said the appointment must be held up and they would just have to wait until they could get hold of Farley. ‘That's the way it goes. Economy is developing into one of those great reforms which every one is for—for the other fellow. Many a Congressman is complaining that his mail on the budget and relief expenditures is & puzzle. The legislators get letters one day from business organizations, including Chambers of Commerce, asking support for public buildings in their locality, protesting against abolition of some Federal offices, etc. The very next day they get letters from the same or similar groups of well-grounded people demanding that the country be saved from in- flation by rigid economy. An Jowa Congressman received a letter from a man on relief strongly indorsing economy. But he wound up the letter by saying he needed more money and wanted the Congress= man to help him get it out of the Federal Government, * ok ok x The august Senate is never like that, or almost never. Leading Senators took their courage in hand the other day and squeezed $3,000,000 out of the bill making appropriations for the Commerce, State, Labor and Justice Depart- ments. They were quite proud of themselves and did considerable bragging about their handiwork. Sev- eral Senators actually arose and congratulated themselves publicly. No one pointed out that, while the Senate did cut the bill $3,000,000 under the budget, it granted the Bureau of Air Commerce a $4,000,000 contract authorization, which was not counted in the totals. If this amount had been counted, and it should have been, practically speaking, because the amount will be spent, then their proud savings was a minus $1,000,000 instead of plus $3,000,000. * ok ok % Young Henry Cabot Lodge, grandson of the illustrious Massachusetts Senator, tells this on himself. During his successful campaign last Fall, he delivered an address on peace, setting forth a carefully studied plan, At the conclusion, & few handclaps were heard. His disappointment was %0 keen he confided in an old politician, who said: “Son, forget your philosophy. Next time just wave your arms and shout: ‘I am for peace.’” Lodge tried it at the next meeting and brought the audience to its feet cheering. (Copyright, 1037.) 11134949904 Y04 NIAT ® ’ U4LNID U New B &O Train Consec- tion Motor Coach Station, Travel Bureau and Ticket OffceinRockefeller Centec. [l WASHINGTON D. C THURSDAY, THE opinions of the writers on this page are their own, not necessarily The Star’s. Such opinions are presented in The Star’s effort to give all sides of questions of interest to its readers, although such opinions may be contradictory among themselves and directly opposed to The Star’s. Republican Party Peril Missouri Regulars Veer to Senator Clark to Help Save Constitution. BY MARK SULLIVAN. HE Republican National Com- mitteeman in Missouri, Mr. Arthur M. Curtis, says that the Republicans in Missour! plan to help return Bennett Champ Clark to the Senate next year. As Senator Clark is a Democra striking news. It has more than j State - wide im- portance. It is likely to be fol- § lowed by the Re- # publican leader- ship in some other States. [ Though Sena- tor Clark is a Democrat, he op- poses President Roosevelt's meas- ure to change the Supreme Court. ‘This is why Mis- souri Republicans propose to help return him to the Senate. The Republicans take the ground that defense of the Supreme Court is paramount over all other considerations; and that Democratic Senators who help in this defense should have the support of all who are on the side of the court, includ- ing Republicans. ‘The Missouri Republicans, in order to help Senator Clark at all, must help him in the Democratic primaries. It is there that his danger lies. For it is anticipated that when he comes up for renomination, he will be opposed by the Roosevelt administration. Dem- ocratic National Chairman Farley has declared that the President’s court proposal is Democratic party policy; opposition to it is party treason and | will be treated as such. In the Demo- cratic primaries, presumably there will | be a candidate against Mr. Clark, one | who will be described as a loyal Roose- | velt man, faithful to the President’s | court measure and to anything else | the President proposes. The opposition of the administra- tion forces to Mr. Clark can be for- | midable: The local Federal office holders who owe their appointments and their fealty to Mr. Farley and | Mr. Roosevelt; the local beneficiaries | of relief who owe gratitude to the same source. All the beneficiaries of ad- ministration largesse and all the an- ticipators of it will follow the ancient rule: “Whose bread I eat, his song I sing.” All will do what Mr. Farley or his subordinates ask them, or what they think will please Mr. Roosevelt. To them will be added State office holders, who commonly follow the na- tional administration. Primary Victory Needed. Because Senator Clark’s peril is in | the Democratic primary, it is there | that the Republicans must help him. | It would do no good for Republicans to say they will vote for Senator Clark in the general election—because he cannot be a candidate in the gen- eral election unless he first wins re- nomination in the Democratic pri- mary. 8o, the Republicans must Mark Sullivan. | | enter, not their own primary, but the Now s .. when you go to New York on the Baltimore & Ohio, you step from the train into new Streamlined Motor Coaches that take you (and your bags) direct to Rockefeller Center—in the heart of the fashionable shopping and theatre district. No traffic worries. No stairs. No tips—and no extra cost to you. Leaving New York, you have the same con- venience ; . . Fast, frequent B & O air- conditioned trains daily to New York — including the improved “Royal Blue” — a new idea in streamlined trains, offer ing advanced standards in rail travel comfort. Four other B & O Motor Coach Stations in Greater New York: 42nd St. and Lexington Ave.; 35 W. 33rd St.; Columbus Circle ; 191 Joralemon St.q Brooklyn. Also stops enroute. D. L. MOORMAN, General Passenger Agont 15th & H Sts., N.W., Phone District 3300, or National 7370 A Democratic one, and vote for Mr. Clark to be the Democratic nominee for Senator. In Missouri it is easier for Re- publicans to do this than in some other States. About half the counties of Missouri are predominantly Demo- cratic, about half predominantly Re- publican. In the predominantly Demo- cratic counties the Republicans, though a minority, have considerable numbers. In Kansas City, for ex- ample, predominantly Democratic, there are about 100,000 Republicans; in Saline County, about 5,000. In these and some 60 other counties pre- dominantly Democratic, the Repub- licans will have no primaries of their own, will make no effort to set up local tickets, In many States besides Missouri it has been suggested that Republicans next year go into Democratic primaries and there support for renomination Democratic Senators who have op- posed the President's court measure. Loss of Party Feared. Against the suggestion several points are made. It is argued that if in any State all the Republicans should go into the Democratic primary, the Republican party in that State would thereby disappear. This is a valid objection. It is valid not only from the point of view of the Republican but from the point of view of al good. It is not the disappearance of the Republican party that would be ominous. What would be sinister would be the spectacle of America having only one political party, Amer=- ica becoming a one-party country. For that condition, the one-party form of government is one of the essential features of the new authoritarian governments of Europe. It is as im- portant to save America from be- coming & one-party country as to save it from having the Supreme Court subservient to the President. But if in eight States or less next year, Republicans go into Demo- cratic primaries, does it follow that | the Republican party disappears na- tionally; that America becomes a one- party country? Hardly. For one reason, not all the Republican voters ! will take this course. Even in States where Republican leaders recommend | the course, even where more than half | the Republican voters follow it, there will remain in the primaries enough Republicans to preserve the party organization. This will be seen to by small local leaders who are not interested in the United States sena- | torship, but are very much interested | in having a Republican ticket for | sheriff and constable. If Republican leaders mean what | many of them say, if they believe that | preservation of the independence of | the Supreme Court is paramount over every other issue or consideration, then it would seem that they ought to follow the example of the Republican leadership of Missouri in other States | where the same condition exists. I ("fifi?/m@ d WASHINCTON D ¢ APRIL 2 1937, We, the People C. I. O. Advised to “Come A-Shooting” if It Invades South Carolina Mill Area. BY JAY FRANKLIN, HARLESTON, 8. C.—When, a3 and if Jobn L. Lewis and the C. 1. O. invade the South Carolina textile area, there will cer- tainly be trouble, probably considerable bloodshed, possibly civil warfare, 8uch, at least, is the considered opinion of well4nformed South Carolinians, including editors, labor leaders and peace officers, speaking s not for quotation and without any \%\\é“y personal bias against the idea of 2N% ‘unionization. G “They came along a-honkin’ and s-hollerin’,” said one man, in describing the massacre of the “flying squad” of A. F. of L. organ- izers oy plain-clothes deputies at the Honeypath Mills in 1934, “It looked mighty like bulldozin,’ and the damn fools didn’t even carry guns.” Of the men killed in this afiray, all belonged to the union. At another mill, where there was a riot, 60 men were arrested—all union members. Nobody has been tried for the Honeypath killings. The quick-fingered deputies represented community sentiment when they plugged the walking delegates. And if John L. Lewis and Stdney Hillman think that they can succeed where William Green Jailed, they will produce what one local labor observer described as “something like over in Spain.” * k% X ‘There are reasons for this, reasons which have nothing to do with the widely advertised docility of native Nordic labor in the Southern textile mills. Southern textile workers are human. They want shorter hours and higher wages. They feel that they have been unjustly treated by the employers, as many of them unquestionably have, and can work up a degree of indignation sufficient to launch a strike. In due time the South will be unionized, but it will have to be done by Southerners and for sufficient Southern reasons, The upcountry population of the Carolinas are not aristocrats or planters. They are mainly the descendants of those Scotch-Irish settlers Wwho fled south from the Indians after Braddock's defeat in 1755, They are decent, self-reliant people, of yeoman stock, and make good farmers when located on good lands. In the 1880s and 908, Southern capital began to develop cotton mills along the fall-line in the Piedmont area. The history of failures, re- organizations and gradual success is much the same here as in any other industrial area. The difference in South Carolina lay in the fact that the cotton mills offered the only economic outlet for large and ever-larger numbers of poor white people, fleeing from economic competition with the Negroes on the farms and in rough manual labor. * k% X So South Carolina’s cotton mills are a sort of human game preserve, a social wild life refuge, for the poor whites of the up~ country. State law actually forbids the employment of Negroes as textile operatives. This law would not stand up for a minute before any Federal court, but no individual Negro has a sufficiently ardent taste for martyrdom to challenge its constitutionality. He would be lucky to escape a lynching if he did. Moreover, low as are the standards of wages and hours in the South- ern mills they are infinitely better than anything most of the operatives have ever known before. And if they lost their mill jobs, there is almost no other form of industrial activity in which they could be absorbed. For the vast majority of textile workers down here it is work in the mills or competition with Negroes as day labor, since South Carolina has no mines and no other important industries. Add to this the fact that every little up-State mill town is the center of prosperity for the white farmers, who outnumber the textile workers locally almost everywhere outside of Spartanburg and Greenville, These farmers, together with the local shopkeepers and professiona] classes, depend on the factory pay rolls for a livelihood. This produces a curi- ous political picture: The farmers (who, we are taught by liberals, stand shoulder to shoulder with the workers) here actually outvote the workers, control the sheriffs, police and local courts, and use them to prevent any interruption of the factory pay rolls by union agitators. The situation at Hershey, Pa., where local dairy farmers ex- pelled sit-down strikers from the candy factory, may or may not have been a put-up job. A similar attitude dominates most South Carolina mill towns The farmers think the workers ought to be glad of the chance to get such high wages for so little work. They tote guns pretty freely in this part of the South. Human life is more plentiful, is cheaper, than in the North, and the climatic breeds homicide as well as alligators. So if the Committee on Industrial Organ- ization comes down here at all they had better come shooting. For shooting there will be if Mr. Hillman’s organizers presume to interrupt the even flow of the priceless local pay rolls of the South Carolina mills. (Copyright, 1937.) An American You Should Know Marguerite Wells Finds *‘Alpha and Omega’ in League. BY DELIA PYNCHON. For 17 years women have had a vote For 17 yea the National League of Women Voters, organized by Mrs. Carrie- Chapman Catt almost, immediately after enfranchisement, has been educat- ing women how to vote effectively. “There is no organization just like us,” says the national presi= dent, Marguerite Wells. Petite, ale most frail look= ing, with a halo of white hair and snapping black eyes, Miss Wells is no pale parlor theorist. Her definition of the league’s policy is “We try to promote participation in government in behalf of the public interest alone.” The League of Women Voters is a political organization. It is, how= ever, completely non-partisan. If this seems paradoxical, it is explained that pposition or indorsement of candidates for public office is not our policy.” Publicizing candidates® qualifications and views definitely is. Don't Believe in Patronage. Miss Wells and the league believ militantly in “party responsibili They do not believe in party patro age. They campaign vigorously that appointments to public office be placed under civil service on individual m They educate State legislators, as we as their constituents, in policies which are good for the community and the Nation. They follow the administrae tion of a measure after its enactment. They aim to give people to vote about? Miss Wi They have a natio leagues in 36 States 500 and 600 local leagues 3 phasize “State autonomy” in this re= d 10.000 meet= rnment. They d school boards. 6 measures in of which 156 were pported nine Federal Marguerite Wells. State Legislatures passed. They measures Her Fam Moved West. New England stock, Miss Wi oving west in pioneer 1 Wisconsin, she grew ta, and later moved , her present home. A and a | e for 16 years, Miss Wells taught school, traveled and became active on many boards in welfare and charity org: tions in Minneapolis. She describe elf “as no enraged ed suffrage must rk for it.” my genesis “though I be, and eager to “Welfare work either,” Miss Wells st worked hard When the League of Wo Voters took form, Miss Wells found her alpha and omega. She hopes that the organiza= | tion may prove “a leaven to raise the political lump.” Good appetite demands flavors that contrast ... yet harmonize. Whether it be an aristo- cratic broiled Pompano with a water-cress and endive salad or deviled crab with cole- slaw, enjoyment is made keener by the con- trasting yet harmonizing flavor of Senate Beer; because Senate Beer flavor is as care- fully and skillfully planned and achieved as a banquet by a master chef.