His view of the enormity of the progress made
under President Roosevelt and the NRA is voiced
by Arthur Brisbane, who commenting upon the
activities during the first year of NRA endeavor
declared there is absolutely no doubt, "whatever your
opinion of NRA and ‘Government interference in
business,' that 'Government interference’ has stirred
up activity in what was a stagnant business and
industrial swamp of despair.” He cited some of the
outstanding results of this phase of the President's
recovery program at the end of its first year of
work and worry, for which, he said, NRA executives
feel a justifiable pride:
Manufacturing production up 50 per cent;
department store sales up 46 per cent; var
iety-store sales up 86 per cent; general
country-store sales up 66 per cent.
And most important as a test of national
recovery spending power optimism, in March
1933 the American public bought 118,000
automobiles, and in March 1934 it bought
336,013 automobiles, an increase of 184.8 per
cent. Also, iron and steel prodution in
creased 200 per cent during NRA's first year;
bituminous coal, 62.5 per cent; electric-power
production, 14.9 per cent; freight car load
ings, 15.3 per cent.
These are evidences that more and more factories
are producing as a consequence of well over $3.
000,000.000 increase in Industrial pay rolls to be
tween three and four millions recruited to regular
work from the ranks of the unemployment.
Continuing, Mr. Brisbane said:
Important to publishers, magazine adver
tising increased during the year 23.5 per
cent and newspaper advertising lineage 35.7
per cent. In April United States exports were
70.9 per cent above April 1933, and imports
increased 59.6 per cent.
