Roosevelt Must Take Care Not to be Football of Conservation and Radical Factions, Says Bliven

"Roosevelt said a few weeks age that he likened himself to the quarterback in a football game. He needs to take care not to become the football instead." Thus Mr. Bruce Bliven, editor and publisher of "The New Republic," who is spending a few days in Boston, one of the points in a survey he is making of New England, summarized the position of the President in Washington.

"Tremendously powerful forces are now pressing the President to be more conservative," Mr. Bliven continued. "Other forces, not so powerful, but strong, are pressing him to be more radical. If the administration is to succeed, Roosevelt must remain the master of his own destinies however strong the opposition."

An answer to the question of whether the President's plan is a success or a failure, Mr. Bliven felt, was impossible because there is not one plan, but five or six, and they cannot be judged except separately. However, he enumerated several of the accomplishments that have been made since the President took office. First, the confidence in the banking system, which was completely lacking last March, has been restored. In addition, the decline of business has been halted, and wholesale prices have turned up for the first time (except momentarily) since the depression began. Between three and four million persons have been reemployed. Foreign trade is at last increasing.

"For whatever reason," said Mr. Bliven, "the depression appears to have been definitely halted."

In his opinion, Roosevelt is neither a revolutionist nor is he making a revolution. He is trying to preserve capitalism, not destroy it. "If Roosevelt goes as far to the left as I hope he will and as some of his advisers urge, he will eventually attain something like state socialism."

Mr. Bliven feels that uncontrolled, disastrous inflation is unlikely, since up to now we've had no real inflation, but merely a reduction in the gold content of the dollar. This in other countries has been the end of inflation, not the forerunner. Charging that the people who are now raising the cry about the danger of uncontrolled inflation are creditors trying to protect their own interests against debtors, Mr. Bliven said that to him "it is unconceivable that the richest country in the world should go in for uncontrolled inflation. I don't believe the gold buying plan amounts to much."