For Whom Will the President Use the Great Power He Holds?
Cohen, Joseph EL
By Joseph EL Cohen For Whom Will the President Use the Great Power He Holds? The NIRA Is Not a Fairy Tale, to Drop Prosperity Into Waiting Lapa—There's a Big Conflict Just Ahead. "piIOSE who...
...Yool calling sttssj tion to lettori from the Boo) quarters to Al reminding tM was a "bM...
...This is no time for a fairy tale of what ' the Recovery Act is meant to do...
...It is I she says, "vl gentlemen 1 France, whs corrupted fl Roumania, | scenes in 1 United Stat...
...Oh, I get you," Bill replied...
...Even with hours out to make work for all there is to be such boosting of wages as to buy the goods made and keep industry going...
...not exactly...
...Or will the law 3 step in and,say that he is not fit . to engage in business...
...That he l may not have power over the t property-and lives of other people...
...A bottle isfll do...
...President Roosee velt will have to use those powers v on the side of mercy and fair deale ing, under the Recovery Act...
...Well, I can see the importance of conditions in determining administrative measures after your social revolution," Joe replied, "but haven't you a general social ideal at which you aim upon which Socialists agree...
...By Joseph EL Cohen For Whom Will the President Use the Great Power He Holds...
...Notice that article of his on Socialism a few weeks ago...
...With which apologia, if you wish to consider it such, I proceed once more to talk about women...
...Nature of what...
...I'm a two-fist, hairy-chest, American he-man...
...But the management inside the open shop offices are violating spirit and letter of the act by drawing up codes which ignore the unions and do not pretend to deal with organized labor...
...That appears to be reasonable to me...
...If it is a peaceful transition this will 'determine many of the leading measures regarding distribution and management...
...And what is the purport of this testimony...
...I can't open a magazine without the ads half scaring >' me into a premature decline with 1 their impertinent questions about * my tooth brush, body odor, gray | hair and falling arches, to mention only a few of the liaj bilities which are waiting to > clutch me with their bony fin. gers if I don't use so-and-so's i paste, pad or paraphernalia, i And in the ^ news columns H...
...What's th« excitement...
...Under capitalism that is a pretty fairy tale...
...ji women figure I equally promi- H 1 I nently if not Hra a r, so fearfully...
...Joe scratched his head, scanning Bill with a quizsical look, and Bill continued...
...Have you ever known of a revolution in which its leading spirits tried to provide a blue print of economic, social and political arrangements following the conquest of power...
...it was a product of the conditions j, that faced the ruling aristocracy in each state...
...It seems that dictatorship does not permit of being all dressed up and no place to go . Of Lincoln it was said by Robert Ingersoll that "he had the powers of a virtual e dictator, but used then, only on the side of mercy...
...As the> 1 rise from the ground they become ' their old slaves...
...You know me, bo," said Joe...
...The clouds hiding the sun sr< " the giants of industry...
...Consumption is to match production...
...The Constitution did not follow any blue print...
...Instead of even reading their handcuffed codes he could call upon the unions to draw up the charts for their trades and leave it to the open shop crew to come on board by "mutual agreement...
...You're also an artful dodger," Joe replied...
...Certainly not...
...Mama's he-man seems to have a tender skin' to make a roar about that...
...Even if it could all be thrown into the market for goods and labor at one time it ¦ would not be nearly enough to swing the balance of production up to where it has to be for real recovery to be felt...
...he said that discussion of those problems now is speculative and provisional and that while much had been written by Socialist-: about them these forecasts and provisional solutions could not be binding on future generations...
...Bill continued...
...Why such an indictment as that...
...asked Bill...
...y But will he be permitted to cony tinue to conduct his bank and . handle millions of dollars of other people's money...
...These discredited pilots of industry would take the nation for another ride—and another shipwreck...
...he asked...
...asked Joe...
...It is up to the President...
...t And when he has brought the open shop and anti-union employt ers into line he can turn his attent tion to the conservatives in his , cabinet who have thrown the an, chor overboard...
...Business depends upon , individual initiative, because if it were not for individual initiative the conduct 6f the people's affairs | would fall into the hands of incom. petents and mediocrities...
...asked Bill with surprise...
...Aw, he was kidding you," said Bill...
...What chance under capitalism the nation has to recover is being destroyed in the cabin of the crew who upset the boat...
...Never in all my life have I been accused of sipping at a soda fountain...
...Well, I'm going to get his goat," Joe replied...
...they ) are to prove that no matter what he did he didn't know what it was ¦ all about and was unaware of the e meaning and the consequences of his crazy actions...
...It was cool lager beer," said Joe...
...A ] hungry, haunted and aroused nation is watching and waiting...
...If it comes during or at the end of a disastrous war this will provide a different and more difficult set of problems...
...How beautifully he dodged the necessity of explaining how things would be arranged under Socialism...
...They would not accept it anyway and would be foolish to attemp| it considering that their course must be shaped by the conditions of their time, not ours...
...Did the leaders of the revolution even know i the kind of government they would set up and the powers they would give it...
...The President is challenged by them to show his hand...
...t- Ah, then he will go scot-free, uns whipped of justice despite his if criminal mismanagement of his bank...
...How do you expect people to follow you if you can't solve those problems now...
...piIOSE who still believe in fairy tales watched the Industrial Recovery Act drop into the slot and looked for prosperity to fall into their laps...
...That's what I mean by the nature of the situation...
...There's th< rub...
...They discuss such problems but not in terms of finality...
...U "Beer or ice cream...
...Sure we have," said Bill, "and whether we have a peaceful transition, whether it comes through a disastrous war or after a harsh dictatorship, the social ideal or aim will remain the same...
...I almost forgot what he wrote," said Bill...
...Let's get some refreshment," said Joe, as they entered B] a drink parlor...
...I'm a he-man...
...Did you notice that that editor swept us out of this column last week saying that we were discussing the CaneraSharkey fight and eating ice cream...
...This time it is a national leader of the Young Women's Christian Association, and not a Socialist, who ,t pulls the turers out ii s at their f« - bility for wt e is chairmsi committee I national Orj V returned to e stay of thr t conclusions I i Conference . the efforts i , cieties to < j bitingly inti t "While 40 in fifty-six she said, "si ' a table in 0 the world, I ' swinging tht Represent...
...A FEW weeks ago the Fourth of July was being cele¦** brated...
...f Oh, nol Government has no place i in business...
...Or is it the tearful testimony of a family seeking legal power to lock him up where he can do no one any harm...
...117HO prates of starvation in America, Who is the fool...
...It is up to the President to ' spend every last dollar of it and ' at once...
...1 The kernel of the Recovery Act is the buildin...
...And if you believe that individual initiative should be supi planted by collective effort...
...The"President could handle them in the twinkling of an eye...
...From the very nature of the situation they are speculative and provisional and while valuable they are not final...
...cJtarvaiion by oPeo Seen . IF an airman were stranded On a bleak Arctic island 1 And word were sent to "civilized satiety* j Announcing his plight, j Not only would hundreds of organisatiotn . Including the Red Cross, 1 Ten admirals from ten countries, s Destroyers, ice-cutters, ¦ Blimps, planes, 1 Hospital-ships, ' Dog-sleds And the Pawtucket Ladies' Society [ For the Spiritual Upliftment [ Of Starving Aviators , Send him food, Medicine, cognac, Newsclippings and The National Geographic Medal, But they would take infinite pains To bring him batk to some metropolis To be tendered dinners, ovations, The adulation of bare-shouldered Cadaverous old ladies And newsreels with the President Looking very embarrassed and muttering Some stock tripe evidently written By his under-secretary's office-boy Ten minutes before...
...He's a big bum...
...t "What happened...
...Not so fast," said Bill...
...Prosperity will be a good thini —only when it comes...
...For the captains of the sunken ships of industry are drawing up the codes of "fair competition," as required by the Recovery Act...
...The purpose is to prove legally in a United States court that Mr...
...Bill Tries to Explain '"THE general conditions in which the social revolution is ' effected," Bill replied...
...I ' "> I There's hardly X^JLS^ a week that ^ 'iSJB some one isn't '""i' ¦ publishing a ^*4Ht' "-' history of ^ 1' f women I^mJIHibH I o m e period ; yy K|,.m or other, the latest being Inez Haynes Irwin's "Angels and Amazons," in which she comes to some highly flattering but wholly undeserved conclusions...
...Harriman is incompetent and irresponsible and is therefore not legally to be held to account in ] a court of law for his conduct of ' the bank over which he presided...
...Ah the second part of the Re' covery Act is the program of pub! lie works and construction...
...It was a provisional arrangement till the j aim was realized but during this period the colonial politicians faced workers and farmers trying to get control of t revolutionary committees...
...Do we not aid our starving, By Gertrude Weil Klein While Nations Munition Ma \. J FIND myself writing a great l_ deal about women, and this * surprises and amuses me some,. what because it wasn't at all the intention of the editors or of myself to make this an exclusively women's department...
...asked Joe...
...Joe It Still a He-Man...
...you get the idea, i The Harriman business is a nice i picture of how individual initiative ! works out...
...What dictatorial power the President has may need to be used— against those at the helm who have sent the vessels upon the rocks...
...Certainly not.| They hastily arranged a i loose federation of the colonies and fought till they obtained < the peace of 1783...
...If it comes after years of a harsh dictatorship this will provide a third set of circumstances that will have an effect upon the measures relating to distribution and administration...
...try, are tht' the strings 1 I'm glad ! didn't pull J came to taW States...
...He suffered delusions, he had hallucinations, he had to be restrained by force from committing suicide, and his family was • urged to put him in a home fof r chronic dipsomaniacs, i He acted queer, he told dirty i stories, he was wholly and totally crazy and in' every way he is comi pletely irresponsible...
...We declare that aim and ideal but we do not try to bind the future revolutionary masses to a rigid scheme of attaining it...
...You get huffy over a trifle when there are so many things of much more importance to consider...
...d, If Your Honor Please, My Client Is a Drunk r IT now appears that Joseph W. r Harriman is a drunk, a nut, t a doddering old geezer suffering from the beginnings of senile I dementia...
...Get that, will you...
...Oh, . well...
...The proof of recovery is in the ' stomach of the nation...
...That sum is only a small fraction of what is needed to try to ¦ catch up with what should have ' been doing the four years of the 1 depression...
...What do you mean...
...For * this $3,300,000,000 has been set ' aside...
...Joe Puts on Fighting Togs "•THE mutt said that after we take over the industries *• the masses will then take up the problems of distribution and management...
...And they are using rotted lumber from the old craft...
...And they are not ready for new tricks...
...But the little elf vanished with the dawn, and - the sky is overcast...
...To Spend the Billions 1 The ship of industry cannot ' move with the iron deep in the mud...
...I think we can blame it on the fact that - women are so preponderately in L the news...
...up of buying power by the masses...
...This brought about the 8 reactionary Constitutional Convention which framed a form u of government that nobody thought of at the outbreak of n the revolution or during the fighting...
...Is it designed to protect a defenseless people against this dangerous lunatic...
...It wasn't ice cream...
...Bill paused till Joe caught up with him...
...why, i then you're a Socialist...
...About four years of ' struggle between the conservative politicians and the radical 1 masses in a number of states...
...Mutual Agreement" The act prefers that such codes be arrived at by "mutual agreement" between men and management, after stressing the need for collective bargaining by organized labor of bona firfe trade unions...
...And if the testimony proves what •~ nis lawyers intend it to prove...
...Letting the tories in the government drag anchor against spending the appropriation for public works is mutiny on board...
...manufacture) are invariabi armament 0 one of the i on earth, V the scenes bl less...
...To the extent the hostile employers sabotage, as they did in the war, to profiteer for their own selfish pockets they are violating ' the Recovery Act...
...UOW immeasurably noble this solicitude It is cheering to read about such thin And pleasant to shout oneself hoarse wtintrepid, Self-sacrificing, determined hero ]Vho advanced the progress of the race I least a decade In his singularly reckless attempt to fly From Kenosha to Copenhagen In twenty-three hours twelve minutes...
...i Only results will count j Joe Goes Gunning for the Editor Who Charged Him With Eating Ice-Cream By Autolycus 1 "|_|EV, Bill," shouted Joe running after his pal who ha< ** left the Rand School and was proceeding to Unior Square.| "Wait a minute...
...1 Indeed, the testimony of his i drunkenness and variegated luna- < V, cies is offered in his defense...
Vol. 16 • July 1933 • No. 3
