Evening Star Newspaper, May 16, 1937, Page 37

# shackles of military ~ > Editorial Page Special Articles Part 2—12 Pages ECONOMIC AXIS WAR CLUB . OF U. S., BRITAIN, FRANCE| Agreements of Democracies Aimed to Counterbalance Political Understand- ing Between Berlin and Rome. BY CONSTANTINE BROWN. laid for an economic axis around Washington, London the Rome-Berlin political axis. Norman H. Davis, President Roose- affairs, has just returned from London full of enthusiasm. He has succeeded national pact in many years—an agreement to limit the production The implication which the inter- national optimists want to read in henceforth the road is open for bigger and better economic agreements which derstanding that may solve current international problems. other matters than the limitation of sugar production. He had long hours Chamberlain; pleasant rounds of golf with Anthony Eden in which both and discussed how clubs other than those used in golf might be next few months; and he listened to the persuasive whispers of Ambas- | As a result of those conversations Mr. Davis' reports to the President European scene. There is a persistent danger of war in Europe despite the | United States alone can solve the war | problem of Europe by throwing her the side of the so-called European democracies. Since there is a distinct Jments among the people of the United States, a comprehensive economic serve as a warning to the authori- tarian states that they had better not is left in Furope today. What may appear to the men in the street as an facilitate trade between this country, Great Britain and France, will be Mussolini. They realize that there is | only a short step between economic | trality bill served as a warning of | things to come. Premier van Zeeland of Belgium is | expected to visit Washington around coming here to sound out the Presi- dent about an international economic once more the wheels of international exchanges of commodities and . . . conferences with the British Secretary of State, Anthony Eden, and with the French cabinet. He has talked | to Dr. Schacht and is the father of the | northern bloc composed of Belgium, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Holland ! pose, Van Zeeland today represents a | strictly neutral country, since Belgium | alliance with France. But Van Zeeland, who has against the Belgian fascists, has no tender feeling for Germany and Italy. much as do Blum and Chamberlain. The European democracies are states. Italy and Germany have al- ready formed the Berlin-Rome axis, European states to revolve. The German-Italian agreement covers assistance. There is no doubt that the Central | with their satellites, Hungary and | Austria, are financially better pre- But the economic element is destined to play in the next imbroglio a far last war. This fact is being exploited by the German leaders in telling their ring of steel which France built around Germany, an economic ring, cious, is being organized against the Reich. And the German people have Col. Thomas, heac of the economic warfare bureau in the German war March 6, showing to his listeners— officers and high government officials Germany in the last war probably! was more effective in defeating the » of ‘the allies. Thomas said: “The ‘World War was for us a severe and the men who fell on the field of honor, we lost 800,000 men because We were compelled to abandon cer- tain important military operations— view—and delay others, as in the case of Verdun, in order to go into by force, cereals and oil. We lost the war because we did not realize the ‘we overestimated our own resources and underestimated those of our nq longer entirely tactical or strategic; they are industriel and economic.” ‘The statements of many observers recently returned from Europe, that undoubtedly correct; yet, it is equally true that the people of Europe may & time since 1914 when people have been more resigned to the inevitability It is for this reason that French and British diplomats in Washington and abroad are doing their utmost to create the Washington-London axis France as well. It is for this reason that Mr. Roosevelt and Secretary Poincare letter, written to the late King George V of England on July 28, |ing effect on Mussolini and Hitler, to declare publicly that in the event of a German aggression against France or Russia, the Reich would see Great Britain on the side of these two allies. | The United States, Mr. Roosevelt | is being warned, holds today the role Great Britain played in 1914. A dec- laration in the House of Commons at | that time by Lord Frey to the effect | that military and naval power of th Empire would be thrown on the side | of the allies would have prevented | the last World War. A similar declara- | tion from the President of the United | States‘today will have the same effect. | So, at least, urge the diplomats from | Downing street and the Quai d’Orsay. And it seems to observers that these talks have impressed our Chief Ex- ecutive. The sweeping powers granted him under the new neutrality law, at his insistence, are intended to warn Germany and Italy as to how the wind might blow in the event of another general European conflict. We might send no men abroad, but since a war must be lost by the powers who lack sufficient raw materials, the significance of the neutrality act can- | not be lost to the gentlemen from Wilhelmstrasse and the Palazzo Venezia. have to join another international conflagration, in case the econmic axis fails to have the expected pacify- seem inevitable to the British and French diplomats. These two governments are being informed by their representatives in the United States of the overwhelming feeling for isolation which today pre- vails in every section of the United States. The answer from London and Paris is: “Don't worry about it. President Roosevelt can do almost anything he wants with his people. Furthermore there are economic ties | among nations today which will make | it impossible for America to remain | an indifferent spectator in the event of another war. It is certain that the | United States will not join in an | affray at the outset. But should such a conflict be prolonged, we have rea- sons to believe that that country will come to our assistance for self- protection. Public opinion in America, more than in any country in the world, can be quickly changed. The debts will be forgotten as soon as Congress and the press want to forget them.” The European democracies have no doubt that we shall be “somewhere near” in the next conflict. But in ! order to get us there, it is necessary for more than one reason, that this | country should become deeply in- terested and associated with those democracies in an economic agree- ment. As a foreign diplomat put it in a heart-to-heart talk over coffee and liqueurs a few days ago: “Dollars and idealism mix well in your country where cocktails of queer mixtures have been originated. Democratic ideals and financial and economic interests will mix just as well.” (Copyright, 1937.) Poles Are Aroused Over Bismarck Statue | Poland is planning to pull down the famous Bismarck column at Birnbaum, in Posen, now a part of the Polish Corridor, but before the World War in the German Empire. In Germany many express indig- nation. They argue that the hero of the Germans is an historic character Wwhose monument would grace any country. But to the Polish people @rince von Bismarck is simply the chief ex- ponent of the “blood and iron” despot- ism of a nation that joined with Russia to divide Poland in the days of the heroic Kosciusko, before Bis- marck was born. Two Bombers Added To Dublin’s Defense To add to its air defense the Irish Free State has acquired two twin- engined bombing and scouting planes of the latest design to be stationed in the Dublin area. They were built at Manchester, England. They have a cruising speed of 220 miles an hour and are fitted with audible warning devices for ex- change of messages among the crew. They are also equipped with wireless for ground communication. Another plane just purchased is fitted with apparatus for towing a target for the training of anti-aircraft batteries. England Constructing Biggest Land Planes LONDON (#).—The first of 14 giant airliners—some to weigh 20 tons and carry 42 passengers—is building at Hamble. These planes, to replace out-moded models on European and India routes, are said to be the world's largest land planes, The European planes will carry 42 passengers by day; the Empire type, with a larger cargo of mails and freight, will carry 27 passengers by day, with sleeping berths for 20 pas- sengers, India Ready to Fight Malaria With Flower NEW DELHI, India (#).—Malaria, which kills so many of India’s millions every year, will be fought with a new weapon—a flower. Government research has discov- ered that a certain flower, which proves fatal to the mosquitoes, can be grown among standing rice, one of the chief breeding grounds for the malaria-carrying insects. —_— London Is Preparing For Water During War If air raids cut its water mains, London will have & defense. Experi- ments are being carried on by the fire department in relaying water from the Thames over long distances. The water is pumped through a series of i FOUNDAT!ONS are now being and Paris to counterbalance velt's trusted adviser on international in putting through the first inter- of sugar. that significant document is that eventually will lead to a political un- But in London Mr. Davis talked of with the future British premier, Neville hit a number of international balls swung in Europe in the course of the sador Corbin of France. contain valuable enlightenment on the apparent lull which now prevails. The tremendous prestige and wealth on feeling against any political entangle- agreement with Great Britair would try to disturb whatever peace there innocent economic arrangement to clearly understood by Hitler and | and political co-operation. The neu- | Visit of Van Zeeland. the middle of June. He, too, is conference which might set in motion good will. Van Zeeland has had many Blum, Yvon Delbos and Daladier of new group of future neutrals—the | and Finland. For all intent and pur- has officially freed herself of the Jjust emerged victorious from a fight In his heart, he fears dictatorship as following the lcad of the authoritarian around which they expect the other p-litical, economic and financial European group, Germany and Italy, pared for war than the democracies. more important role than it did in the people that since the collapse of the which might prove even more perni- good reason to believe this. department, spoke on this subject on ~—that the economic blockade of | Kaiser than was the military power instructive lesson. Over and above .they could not get the proper food. important from the strategic point of Rumania or the Ukraine to obtain, importance of raw materials; because enemies. The problems of the war are Resigned to Inevitable. « European people don't want war, are not want war, but there has not been of another conflict. the heads of these governments which by necessity must include 4 Oordell Hull are being reminded of the 1914, in which the latter was urged - # collapsible tanks. Motor cycle dis- patch riders aid in the work. That the United States will | § h EDITORIAL SECTION ¢ Sundlny Stad WASHINGTON, D. C., SUNDAY MORNING, MAY 15, 1937, After Stanley Baldwin Chamberlain, Rigid Anti-League Tory, to Succeed Prime Minister. k BY LORD STRABOLGI. TANLEY ; Britain, though long expected, will make a profound difference to British politics and, therefore, in- directly to international politics. Baldwin is perhaps nearer in men- tality to representative American statesmen than any British prime minister for more than a century. Yet he was brought up and nurtured in big business, his father being a prominent steel manufacturer. His own fortune is in the steel industry. Though he has the clannishness of the English public schoolboy, having been educated at Harrow. and pre- ferring to be surrounded by men of like upbringing and culture, he nevertheless has kept what his cousin, | Rudyard Kipling, described as the “common touch.” There is a strong streak of liberalism in his make-up; in fact, if he had been in active politics 50 years ago he could not possibly have worked with the Tory party of that day, but would have been regarded as the typical Whig, with even radical—using radical in the English sense of an advanced liberal—tendencies. He has always been a compromiser, has always seen both sides of a ques- tion. He is not a violent partisan, and therefore his whole policy has been directed toward the middle course. This has had disadvantages, for it has meant wobbling and appar- ent inconsistencies in the foreign politices of the governments that have been under his leadership. Nevertheless, his make-up contains some idealism, and he prides himself on his just dealing. He it was, above all men, who strove for Britain to shoulder the burden of her debt to the United States as long as possible. He it was who made the original debt settlement and persuaded his cabinet colleagues to indorse it. Coalition Inclination. He broke up the Lloyd George coali- tion formed during the Great War and responsible for the peace settlements; yet he has the coalition mind himself. Without him the national govern- ment in Britain would never have been formed in 1931, when Mr. MacDonald's second Labor acminis- tration broke up. And with his depar- ture, British politics will revert to the old-fashioned party line-up. No other leader of the first rank of the Conservative party could have L BALDWIN'S resigna- | tion as Prime Minister of Great | U; fishing on the Don River. Lower: Baldwin. the same time to keep friendly with Italy, not risking any quarrels any- where. His real reason for opposing oil sanctions was fear of complications with the United States. The result of all these actions and reactions has pper: Chancellor of the Exchequer Neville Chamberlain Characteristic poses of Prime Minister Stanley —Underwod and Wide World Photos. appeared to be a policy of drift, and much mischief may yet result. In the same way he has tried to keep strong personalities out of his cabinet. Men like Winston Churehill, who know their own minds and want SIMPLIFYING MONARCHY BIG COMMONS WORRY Labor Party Proposal to Be Discussed in Terms of Cash, and Opinion Is Divided for BY A. G. GARDINER. ONDON.—When, a few days hence, the House of Commons discusses the monarchy in terms of pounds, shillings and pence, chief interest will be centered upon the proposal of the Labor party that the monarchical institution should be simplified and democratized. With all the tumult and the shouting of the coronation over and with the metropolis stripped of its gay attire, it may be assumed that Parliament will be in & suitable mood to consider the future of the monarchy in its practical relations to the public and the public purse. The subject will arise out of the report of the Civil List Committee, which reveals for the first time for many years a division of opinion on the conditions of the monarchical institution. This is the natural outcome of the events that culminated in. the abdi- cation of Edward VIII and the crown- ing of his brother, George VI, in- stead. Not for more than a century worked 80 long and so harmoniously -has the monarchy sustained so heavy with Mr. Ramsay MacDonald. No Conservative statesman of first rank has the same notions for dealing with organized labor. The firm of steel- makers where Stanley Baldwin served his apprenticeship was run on patriarchal lines. As he himself boasted in public, they never fired & man and they never had a strike. Yet it was under his premiership that the worst labor troubles Britain has ever experienced broke out—ths great strike of 1926. Once that was over, his whole idea was to placate, mollify and soothe organized labor. 8o with tariffs. He believed in tariffs, but he clung to free trade. When he had to accept protection on & large scale for Britain he resisted & straight tariff on foodstuffs. Under his successor we may expect that American wheat, pork and other foodstuffs will be subjected to & tariff. So in foreign affairs Baldwin's whole attitude has been one of caution. He shrank from mortally offending the Japenese at the thn:h or_ fl’ile original aggression in Manchuria in 1931-32. He could not bring himself to choose between the United States and Japen. In European affairs he could not make the choice between an alliance with France and friendship with Germany. He hopéd to bring Britain, Germany and France together and help in the pacification of Europe by that method. In the Italo-Abyssinian dispute, Baldwin tried to stand by the cove- nant of the League of Nations and at a blow as those events constituted, and the absence of the Duke of Windsor's name from the provisions for the royal family, which the com- mittee recommended is a concession to public opinion which, in the cir- cumstances, is eminently “‘wise. The resources for the former King will be forthcoming from arrangements for which the royal family itself is re- sponsible and in which the public exchequer will have no concern. System Unshaken by Ordesl. The significant fact is. that the monarchy as a system has emerged 50 unshaken from so great an ordeal. If it had been seriously vulnerable or out of touch with modern constitu- tional needs, it could hardly have survived, and there would certainly have been a powerful revival of the republican movement, which was much in evidence 50. years ago. There has been no hint of such a revival, nor is there any suggestion of it in the attitude which the Labor opposition will take up in the coming discussion in Parliament. Apart from a charac- teristic gibe of that enfant terrible of Labor’s revolutionary wing, Sir Stafford Cripps, the acceptance of the monarchy as an essential part of the constitutional system would seem to have been strengthened rather than weakened by recent experience. It is felt that, if it can survive this, it can survive anything short of that revolution, which none but s negligible Oommunist faction desires. ¥ First Time. But while the monarchical prin- ciple has come through the ordeal unshaken. a profound change has taken place in the public mind, and of that change the labor resolution is symptomatic. Henceforth, the monarchy will be subject to a healthy and candid discussion to which it has too long been immune. Since the personality of the monarch is seen to be so subordinate to the institution itself, that institution will be dis- cussed with the frankness with which any other part of the governing ma- chine is considered. Monarchy Economically Run. It is not the cost of the monarchy to which the opposition criticism will be mainly directed. On that ground there is little room for outcry. The total provision for the monarch and the royal family, a matter of little more than $2,500,000, is'not & serious item in a budget that approaches the $5,000,000,000 mark. In view of the growth of wealth and of expenditure in other directions and of the con- stantly increasing duties falling to the royal family, the monarchy may be said to be an economically run in- stitution. Nor, I am sure, does the labor party wish to sweep away those an- cient usages, ceremonies and tradi- tions, centering in the crown, which add so much color and picturesqueness to the life of thé nation. If it did 80, it would certainly be out of sym- pathy with & people which loves the decorative and ornamental side of life to which the monarchical system lends itself so effectively. ‘What is in the mind of the tion. is the feeling that the life and entourage of the court™ ministers to ‘socisl ‘discrimination and class divi- sions and that, if its activities. were simplified and democratized, the ties uniting King and people would be strengthened and the monarch would be relieved of much idle and irksome ceremonial. It is an excellent ideal and. the expression of it will not be lost upon the new King, who, in this matter, as-in 30 much else, resembles his father. For myself, given a court system, I cannot conceive one more democratic in spirit than that pre- sided over by George VI's two predeces- sors. Indeed, there was much truth in the jest that George V and Queen Mary never sucoeeded in getting “into society.” They certainly were not associated with any social set and their lives in all essentials were as simple as those of the common people o 00 M % gt " | against all | down strike,” |a policy of principal adopted and | followed through—such men are anathema to him. He had to have some of the real 100 per cent Tories i in his cabinet, but wherever he couid | he kept the tharough men and the strong men out. He gave as much power as he could and the key posi- tions whereever he could to his Liberal and MacDonaldite allies, and because he preferred a mixed team, hoping that the different sentiments and points of view would cancel each other out, it proved a difficult team to drive. Baldwin has been industrious in that he has been a constant attender in Parliament, and has worked hard on the Committee of Imperial Defense, which is the kind of secret super. cabinet with immense power. the same time he has been indolent in that wherever a real dicision has been required he has avolded taking it @8 long as possible. In other words, he has been a man of thought, but not & man of action. And with his de- parture, the real basis of National Government in Britain departs also. He has been subject to continual attacks because, for the reasons al- ready given, while he has made good friends he has also made strong ene- mies, and the friends of his enemies have not spared him. And he made & serious blunder in allowing Sir Samuel Hoare to resign as foreign minister, without resigning himself, when the Hoare-Laval peace terms for ending the Italo-Abyssinian dispute were rejected by public opinion. His prestige would never have re- covered from this blow if it F'd not and December, culminating in the last word has not yet been written about that tremendous event, the greatest in English constitutional his- country and was replaced by Willlam of Orange, who married James's daughter Mary. The historian of the future will Judge the matter, and the part Mr. Baldwin played, better than we can; but the impression formed on the minds of the English people at the time—rightly or wrongly—was that in this situation, pregnant with the most dire possibilities, Baldwin kept his head, behaved with dignity and showed himself a strong man. His speech explaining the constitu- tional crisis and its terrible ending was & masterpiece of Parliamentary ora- tory and a clear explanation. It may be that he didn't tell the whole story; but who can blame him? The British peaple were worried, startled, shocked and bewildered. The majority rallied to Baldwin as the pilot who would see them safely through these dangerous waters. Even his weak and pusil- lanimous handling of the Spanish situation arising out of the civil war, which aroused great criticism, has not overshadowed the reputation he built for himself. : Neville Chamberlain was never ex- pected to play a great part in British politics. His mere spectacular half- brother was well in the running for the leadership of the Conservative party, and therefore the premiership, 30 years ago. Neville Chamberlain, the son of the great Joseph Chamberlain by his second wife, devoted the best years of his life to business, in which he was successful, and to local politics. Birmingham Political Caucus. In the city of Birmingham he in- herited from his father a strong polit- ical caucus not -dissimilar to the ‘Tammany organization of New York. In the City Council of Birmingham he was enterprising and progressive, continuing his father's work in im- proving the layout of the town, its amenities, its public buildings and the like. During the war he even fathered the innovation of & municipal bank. But when it came to national politics, which he entered immediatelyy after i m}fimmb-&) » But at | been for the events of last November | abdication of King Edward VIII. The | tory since King James II fled the| Part Tw Travel — Resorts (0] D NEW DEAL WAVERING HIT AS REAL PROGRESS CHECK BY MARK SULLIVAN. | While President Roosevelt was on vacation in the Gulf of Mexico Wash- ington had a feeling of confusion. “If you can't make anything out of what is happening in Washington }naw," wrote one experienced observer, | “don’t feel discouraged; no one here can make much out of it, either.” | A pro-administration chain of | | newspapers thought the reason was | that there had been too much of letting the President do e\‘crythmg,‘ too much “let papa fix.” Another seasoned commentator con- fessed he was at a loss to provide the | answers for a bharrage of puzzling questions about administration poli- cies and activities. “Nobody knows,” this writer sald. “Nobody’s going to know until the | court fight is decided. It looks like a | sit-down strike in the Gulf of Mexico functions of national government.” Possibly there is something in the theory that Mr. Roosevelt'’s fishing trip was part of a Presidential “sit- a strategy of tiring Congress out—keeping everything else up in the air until Congress | gives him the court change he wants. Some of the President’s partisans say | he'll win on the court issue as soon as he gets the help of a powerful ally, | namely, hot weather—and Congress- men want to go home. Grimly they add, “The Wnhite House is air- conditioned; the homes of the Con- gressmen are not; and Washington in Summer is a very hot climate.” More Than Mere Strategy. But there is more to the confusion than can be explained as strategy on Mr. Roosevelt's part—assuming he is practicing this strategy. which I do not know and rather doubt. Part of the explanation lies in Mr. Roosevelt’s temperament. He is an active, energetic, restless person. When he is in Washington every- thing seems to emanate from him, | and converge toward him. When he is away things go lax. This charac- teristic of Mr. Roosevelt has been described by his wife, in one of her newspaper writings “After the President and his party left Sunday evening I suddenly real- ized I was very tired—I might as well have been doing a hard day's | work! It was all the result of a cu- | rious sense of tension which follows the President about. The moment he goes the world around you let down Just as though it suddenly said: “There is nobody more to play up to, so let's be our real selves for a while.’ " ‘Whether Mrs. Roosevelt was tactful to write that of her husband; whether constant tension is a useful trait for & head of state to have; whether ten- sion is the best atmosphere in which to make decisions and carry on the public business; whether America and the world might be better served just now by a static, phlegmatic Grover Cleveland; or by a Calvin Cooliclge.; lacking in nervous force, whose rule | was to do as little as was called for and trust that many conditions can best | cure themselves if left alone—all these | are questions for discussion elsewhere | than here. But Mrs. Roosevelt's re-i mark explains in part what happens in Washington when the President goes away. The “Try Anything Once” Rule. Much of the confusion at Wash- ington is explained by a trait of President Roosevelt which is funda- mental with him, in which he takes pride, which he has proclaimed again and again. He put it in words in his speech to Young Democrats at Baltimore April 18 last year: “I say to you ‘do something’; and when you have done that something, if it works, do it some more; and if it does not work, do something else.” Repeatedly Mr. Roosevelt has of- fered that as guidance for others and as explanation and commen- dation of himself. Once he said a wise man had told him that the best way is to make a hundred de- cisions, and if seventy-five are right you'll be successful, you can forget the twenty-five errors. However that rule may work in & private career, it has disadvantages in man- aging a country, where mistakes are less easily cured, and one serfously erroneous decision may cause wreck, and where the mistakes of a Presi- dent are paid for, not by him, but by the rest of us. In one of his early figures of speech, Mr. Roosevelt described him- self, in relation to public affairs, as being like a foot ball captain or quarterback. Mr. Roosevelt did not push the figure of speech far enough to remind us that a foot ball captain frequently calls for movements backward or sideways, and for movements designed to mis- lead opponents and certain to mis- lead the bleachers, and that once in so often a foot ball team ceases to aim toward one goal and aims at the opposite one. All Right for Depression. It would not be fair to recall these self-descriptions and self-recom- mendations of Mr. Roosevelt without adding that when he made the most of them he was talking about re- covering from the depression. In struggling free from a depression, the “try anything once” rule may have something to recommend it. Fairness calls for adding also that most of the country liked the “do something” technique. Before Mr. Roosevelt took office, we had been following the orthodox method of getting over a depression, consisting mainly of ‘“let Nature take its course.” Many had found that method too slow for our patience, and were ready to welcome Mr. Roosevelt as a daring experimental- ist, even an insouciant one. But again it should be said, in rebuttal to the rebuttal, that a rule which is tolerable, even perhaps use- ful, in & period of recovery from a depression, may be less wholesome as times become normal. And also that Mr. Roosevelt's picture of him- self is that of a man who conspic- uously lacks continuity of intention —with which characterization Mr. Roosevelt's closest friends agree. A complete picture of Mr. Roose- velt's personality would include many more facts than are here al- luded to. It is pertinent, speaking of the condition that has arrived in L} Congress Rudderless Without Roose- velt—May Be Sweated Into Consent on Plan to Revamp Court. Washington, to say that Mr. Roose- velt by temperament likes to do things that are novel and exciting. And all the things he does do not add up to a consistent pattern. Washington, and America, are in & tangle of contradictory directions. About one fundamental policy after another, we do not know which direc= tion we are taking, or if we are take ing two directions at once. There is the old contradiction, in which the Roosevelt administration has always been involved, between recovery and reform. At this mo- ment, we don’t know whether steps we take are meant to facilitate re- covery, or to bring about reform. There are close observers who think that at this moment some of the ad- ministration’s policies are designed consciously to slow down recovery. Part of the administration is alarmed at the pace of recovery, wishes to re- tard it. They fear a boom, and later on what follows a boom. Hence the recent utterances and gestures de- signed to arrest rise of prices. This is explainable by a change of conditions. But many do not realize this, and are puzzied when they re- call that not very long ago Mr. Roose= velt was proclaiming that higher prices were the first of his economic objectives: “If we cannot do this (raise prices) one way, we will do it another—do it we will” We don't know whether we are moving toward enforced competition in business, or toward monopolistic price-fixing paternally regulated. R. A. looked toward monopoly, ine deed, made monopoly mandatory, and in some cases penalized competi- tion in the criminal courts. Believe it or not, less than two years ago, just before the unanimous decision of the Supreme Court ended N. R. A., it was & violation of law for a man to set up an ice manufacturing plant without first getting the consent of those al- ready in the business. Whether this is still an administration policy, we don’t know: there is frequent talk of a new N. R. A, which shall take advantage of recent Supreme Court decisions that seem to make a modi- fied N. R. A. possible. But at the same time the admin- istration moves in the direction of enforced competition, disruption of monopoly. reduced prices. The alu- mimum industry is sued as a mo- | nopoly, and Attorney General Cum- mings says he would like to at- tack the steel industry as a monopoly. Mr. Roosevelt tells a Sen- ate oommittee to stop considering e bill which would legalize some forms of price-fixing. Right when Attorney General Cummings says he 1s going to bust the trusts, the Guffey coal act goes the opposite way—let ‘em grow big and regulate ‘em.’ It's very hard to understand. States’ Rights or Centralization® We don't know whether we are moving in the direction of States' rights or centralization at Washing- ton. The Supreme Court in its recent decisions opened both paths. The States can now regulate business, and 50 can the Federal Government. Right at this moment is being detere mined which of the two paths Amer- ica is to take. It is being determined not by conscious intent but by events. Many States are hurrying to take advantage of their new privilege. State after State is passing minimum wage acts, and child labor acts, and acts designed for the broad regula- tion of labor and industry relations. Gov. Murphy of Michigan, though an ace New Dealer, recommends that each State have its own machinery for regulating labor relations. At the same time the administration at Washington preserves the Federal ‘Wagner act and contemplates improv- ing it. And Mr. Roosevelt urges that child labor be regulated on a national basis, by the pending eonstitutional amendment, which just now halts be- cause of uncertainty whether child labor should be regulated by the Na- tion or by the States. In this confusion between the path of State regulation and that of Fed- eral regulation, Congress is influenced by the fact that many of its leaders are Southern Democrats. They have become alarmed about measures which authorize the Federal Govern- ment to invade the States—especially the anti-lynching law, which author= izes the Federal Government to are rest and imprison a State official for acts done, or not_done, by the State official in the course of his Gtate duties. Many in Congress Hesitating. Much of Congress, without fully realizing it yet, is partial to the idea of expanding the function: of States, under the opportunity created by re- cent Supreme Court decisions. Con- sequently Congress hesitates and halts about enacting the Federal reg- ulation which is a New Deal credo, and which presumably Mr. Roosevelt wants. There is confusion of direction, actually contradictory direction, with Tespect to policy after policy, all fundamental. The Roosevelt admine istration has never known whether it is going toward collectivism or ine dividualism. Ome of the collectivists, formerly Mr. Tugwell and now his disciples, drops a collectivist sugges- tion in Mr. Roosevelt's ear. He does not realize it is collectivist, but it is novel and exciting. And so he tries it. The next day one of the old schoolers drops a suggestion into his ear, and he tries that. The two won't mix . . . The administration at Washe ington seems to condone the sit-down strike; Mr. Roosevelt won't say anye thing about them, Secretary of Labor Perkins is not certain they are illegal, and Congress halts and hesitates about passing even a mild resolution of dis- approval. At the same time several States—including Texas, where most of the Democratic leadership in Con- gress comes from—passes laws with teeth making a sit-down a felony . . . Does Mr. Roosevelt really mean it when he talks economy this time? He talked it even more vigorously in March, 1933, and then went back on it . .. And, of course, there's always the permanent conflict between the New Dedl and the real Democratic party. They can't mix, any more than ol and water can make a cock- tail. (Copyright, 1937.) »