Roosevelt's Future at Stake

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 44, 15 November 1937, Page 7

Roosevelt's Future at Stake

■Press Aain.-

change of tactics? America's Insecure Recovery, "A House on Stilts" CONGRESS CONVENED

(By Telegiaph-

-Copyright.)

V. , WASHINGTON, Nov. 13. The special acssion of Congress wili be convened on Monday, not only in an . atmosphere rcminiscent of Harcii, 1033, the depth of the depression, but with the added aspect that the personal fatc of President Roosevelt is very much at stake. If the President Wisiies reelection in 1940 — and it has now bccome increasingly evident he is likely to seek a third term — thon what Congress does will have a very great eft'ect. There is no longer, any concealing oi the fac.t that recovery in America was appareqtly as insecure as a house on stilts, and whereas in the words of one observer, "to manage a slow and orderly reduction in the heights of our stilts ought not to be difficult, ' ' the situation is inflnitely more serious than Americans are apparently willing to admit .themselves, Mr. Roosevelt spent .the week-end writing a long message to -Congress, setting out the propesals in hi3 opinieu necessary .tp xectify the cpnditipns, but so many confiicting forces seem at work that. it may be questioned whether even a doeile Congress, adopting un-* questioningly his entire programme, would produce a solution. The measures which Mr. Roosevelt apparently will ask from .the Congress inclqde |arm relief, arising from large crops, Wages and Hours. Bill, national land conservatioa scheme, Governmental bureau reform, strengthening of anti-trust laws, a huge housing campaign'in order to stimulate business and ship subsidies. Mr. Roosevelt is apparently still taken np with the necessity of longrange planning and undertakings, but he may face a runaway Congress. from a wide variety of souyces demands are being made that something must be done immediately to xe-assure business, re-establish confidence and reduce taxes, notably on undistributed profits and capital stocks. Mr, Morgenthau's assurances of reduction in expenditures and the balancing of the Budget are taken in some quarters as an indication that Mr. Roosevelt is now seeing wisdom in changing his tactics. Mr, Walter Lippman, a noted publicist, said; "There is good reason .to helieve Mr. Roosevelt is no longeT acting on the assumption that his electoral majority gave him a mandate jto exeeute his personal programme." Mr Lippman continued: "We may look forward now to something much better than a vindictive, destructiye and indqcisive quarrel between the conservatives and reformers." The National Repubiican Congressional Committee to-night issued a statement demanding that the special session devote itself exclusively to the immediate business of amelioration. The Democratic Congressmen, with an eye to the Congressional elections in 1938, also widely urge that the GOvernment shpuld abandon reform, relax .the reins on private initiative and give business and industry the opportunity and incentive to expand. It is, however, far from certain that President Roosevelt has abandoned his long-range programme. His adjlresses pn his recent western trip indicate clearly that he is preparejl to make a few basic concessions to the so-called economic royalists and hopes to end the vindictive, destructive and indecisive quarrel with the Conservatives. The reformers probably will be disappointed because minor tax reform and otHer amelioratives may be insu^cient ' "to cure the sudden serious economic illness. Generally high prices of consumers ' commodities, plus grave shortages of meat and other staples, heavy recessions in steel and other large indqstries in seasonal merchandise, factories' output, which has suddonly shrunk to the Iowest point for years, the large-scale lay-oT of workers in many basic industries, extremely high taxation, which must remain high, due to the necessity of meeting the continued distress relief, and the sharp difetrust by "foreign business of Anjer^can conditions, seriouely aflfecti^ig "foreign trade and the de?p" psychological lag yrhich has overtaken the mihds of bnsinessnien — all thpse mfy compej. President jRoosevelt, under pressnre -from the weptern and southern Liberal groups, ,to re-intensify the New Beal fight. The crisis in Roosevelt's career may occur before the end of the year. i'