THE GENERAL IS OUT

The resignation of General Johnson has not answered the questions concerning the future of the NRA. While radicals are acclaiming it as a swing to the left, conservatives hope that the machinery may be disintegrating and that the checks to business may cease. At any rate, the resignation brings to a head the constant criticism which has been launched against the NRA this summer as a fomenter of strikes and as a hindrance to recovery.

Certainly the organization has not fulfilled the high hopes which its sponsors shared as its inception. The trouble may not be laid alone to the famous 7a clause which has been partly responsible for the labor troubles. But its interference with prices through wage regulation is being blamed for the slowness of recovery. With minimum wages set so high, manufacturers have raised their prices before the consumer could meet them. The result has been that leaders of industry have been losing confidence in its success, and once this happens success becomes practically impossible. No matter how splendid the ideas may be that the leaders of a democracy may hold, they become useless if the citizens of that democracy do not believe them too. Thus, the final test in this country depends upon what the President and his aides can make the people think, not what they believe.

General Johnson's share in the disappointment is hard to estimate. He has sincerely fought for its success and has been one of the few men who would tell the President what he thinks. Nevertheless, bomb ash has not been able to combat the inefficiency of his administration. This is a time when it would be wise for the administration to back down frankly and regain the confidence of "daunting Thomases" and theoretical die-hards. In the process it should retain the value that lies in the NRA. Not only has codification been excellent for large industries, but minimum and maximum hour legislation has great merit. The NRA should relieve itself of the tremendous meal which it has been unable to digest and should try to regulate competition, not destroy it.