YOUTH AND THE NEW DEAL

Speaking before the National Conference on Students in Politics, Secretary Wallace did not neglect the old temptation to shake his finger at the colleges, at those who direct them, and at those who are studying in them. In succumbing to this temptation, Mr. Wallace has not avoided its usual corollary of general and unfocused abuse. The straw men of football overemphasis and college dances are laboriously set up, and laboriously knocked down again. But in the conclusion of his address, Mr. Wallace showed that he has gone a stage beyond; he believes that the youth of America is instinctively persuaded of the "philosophy of the New Deal," and that our present crisis will produce a youth movement comparable to those of France and Germany.

It well may be that the youth of America believes in the New Deal in this large and generous way. But the New Deal will have to state its "philosophy" with greater coherence before that belief can have any practical consequences. Belief in the New Deal, so far as it has been disclosed to us, may mean any number of undirected and unrelated things. It may mean aimless activism, or sentimental sympathy with labour, or sentimental dislike of the rich, or a simple and natural urge to have prosperity once more with us. It may be joined, as it is often joined by men and women outside the colleges, with a pious hope that the President will save our present economic system over the misguided heads of its leaders. It may be joined, as it is joined by men high in the councils of the Administration, with projects, such as the platted farms, which run counter to other projects, such as the stabilization of agricultural prices.

Mr. Wallace, in complaining that America has not a youth movement, suggests that the New Deal should induce one. The colleges can only reply that youth movements do not thrive on a leadership multiple as well as diverse, that they demand more than good intentions as the price of their allegiance. They have already replied to the New Doal's bid for support by asking the New Deal which of the things that are burgeoning in Washington they are being asked to support. Many of them will give that support to an administration willing to face the implications of government control, and to answer the question of government ownership that is the central and most challenging question of our society. Those supporters the New Deal has alientated by its policy of compromise. If Mr. Wallace really wants a determined and unified youth movement, he may have his wish before long. But he must be reconciled beforehand to the very strong possibility that the first act of such a movement will be the enunciation of a social creed to which the New Deal at its boldest, has provided only a fondling and inconclusive prelude.