But underneath the public ex
pressions of dissatisfaction there
was apparent a certain feeling of
gratitude that the President had
gone as far toward reassurance a6
he did, and had left unsaid some
of the things a contrary character
which a hasty temper might have
written into his speech.
PICTURED AS ‘RADICAL’
The truth is that in certain busi
ness circles Mr. Roosevelt was
being accused of the most extreme
radicalism.
He was being pictured in whis
pered consultations as wholly out
of sympathy with organized indus
try, bent on destroying the “profit
system," verging directly toward
a nationalization of property close
ly resembling socialism.
Various recent events were cited
to prove that thesis: his speech at
Green Bay,, the reception he ac
corded Upton Sinclair, the resig
nation of Lewis Douglas as budget
director, the delay in lifting NRA's
regulatory powers over business.
There were those whose specu
lated whether he was not now
ready, in the presence of continu
ing evidence of his hold upon the
people, to take the decisive plunge,
openly defy the industrial groups,
and roundly denounce “big busi
ness as a public enemy.
PLEDGE OF GOOD FAITH
Instead of the unmeasured re
buke which might conceivably have
been inspired by the questionnaire
of the Chamber of Commerce of
the United States, for instance, the
business world heard a pledge of
the government’s good faith in an
effort to help business, not destroy
it.
Besides mentioning the magic
word 'profits,"—a thing the Presi
dent's right-wing advisers have
been trying for some time to get
him to do unequivocably—he hinted
at NRA relaxations and proposed a
capital-labor truce which easily
might have a very wide signifi
cance.
Certainly the administration has
been accused often enough of hav
ing gone over to the labor unions.
