President's Absence Badly Felt: Industrial Problems in Europe: A New Personality Front On Ow Consrontext Washington, July 19, Washington without the President like Hamlet without tke Prince of 'Denmark, or perhaps a better simile would be like' rehearsal without the stage manager, a rehearsal moreover in which every actor is reading from 4 different version of the play. The confusion is considerable and every government agency issues its own Publicity and interprets its own policy it pleases.
As an example, one might take the NIRA. attitude towards price levels. Before the President left he announced Mitte scheme to bring down prices for the benefit of the consumer Sespite the price control features of the' various industrial codes. When firms made bids for government con-hho said, those firms need not post their bids in the usual way with the code authorities, they could make them secretly and as much as fifteen per_ cent. below their previous their oficial prices and the general pu-bile' aswell as the government could take advantage of them. In spite of this explanation of the President, the R.A. lawyers have interpreted the executive order permitting the fifteen er cent, leeway as confining the reduction to government purchases. The private concern or individual will have as usual to pay the old price.
This may seem a minor matter, but there Is a fundamental principle behind. it. "The President's interpreta ton of his executive order would have ed to a decline in industrial prices, while the NIRA interpretation mai {ting prices over whether a policy of lowering or raising industrial prices should be pursued is not a matter which can be treated as trivial, it goes to the roots of the new deal policy. The President's original interpretation of his executive. or moreover, would stain amount of competition in industry, The qi tion' of whether the government. wishes. to emphasize the competitive of industry or impose more more "planning" and regimental tion is. another fundamental " issue over which there is complete confusion
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.