BLIVEN SAYS THAT NRA HAS FAILED IN MAIN AIM

"The National Recovery Administration is a failure in its main purpose, that of increasing consumer purchasing power," said Bruce Bliven, President of the board of editors of the New Republic at a joint meeting of the Harvard Inquiry and the Politics Club, presided over by Arthur N. Bolcombe '06, last night in Lowell House Common Room. "As a matter of fact," continued Mr. Bliven, "there has been a decrease in purchasing power, rather than the expected increase, although there has been in aggregate purchasing power."

Concerning the farm situation, Mr. Bliven said, "The strikes amount to very little, the strikers are a minority, and the strikes as a whole are on the wane. They have been caused mostly by populist agitation taking advantage of the desperate condition of the farmer." Mr. Bliven also brought up the monstrosity of plowing under perfectly good crops when twenty-five million people are starving, and said that the farmer clearly realizes this.

"The center of the strike belt is situated in small areas in lower Iowa, especially around Sioux City, where the trains--mostly freight trains. In general the government has solved the situation, but the solution is only temporary, and conditions will probably be worse when a year is up."

He closed by saying Roosevelt's actions were hardly revolutionary in scope.