Yesterday

Mr. Richberg, in his recent Boston speech, reflected the attitude of New Dealers which is most persistent and most absurd. In effect he said, "We have done all we can to help industry. While it was on its back, we filled its place by hiring millions. When destructive competition threatened, we stepped in and fixed prices and wages, thus helping industry last through its troubles. When banks were weak, we lent money to them, we bought their assets, we guaranteed their deposits. But we cannot do this forever. Now is the time for private industry and banks to take the burden off our shoulders. The government has done its part. Let industry muster its courage, take risks again, expand."

President Roosevelt recently said the same thing, "At the beginning of my administration," he declared, "I asked the people to have faith in the banks; now I ask the banks to have faith in the people."

Even Jesse Jones, who is not usually so half-baked, showed the same trend of thought in his speech to the National Education Council. "If we are to have lasting recovery," he said, "banks should be more considerate to prospective borrowers, and those who are able should borrow and invest and take a reasonable risk. The time has come when people should begin to rely on themselves and on private sources of credit. We cannot go on indefinitely with the government doing everything." Nothing could be more true.

But did it ever occur to Mr. Richberg, Mr. Jones, and President Roosevelt that the cause of the timidity of private industry and private banks lies in the policies of the government. Men of business, whether they be lenders or borrowers, do take reasonable risks. Their whole activity is the taking of reasonable risks. The fact of the matter is, that owing to New Deal policies and to the unreliability of the President, and despite Mr. Richberg's promises to the contrary, to the serious threat of inflation the present risks are not considered reasonable. Since business men think the risks are unreasonable, the risks automatically become so. As Mr. Jones says, "We cannot go on indefinitely with the government doing everything."