The Newest Deal The National Resources Board has now put
before President Roosevelt a plan of public works surpassing in daring anything that has hitherto been contemplated, justifying its scheme. on the assumption that the defect of the programme up to now has been that the expendi- ture has not been big enough. It would commit the central Executive to the undertaking of colossal public works involving an expenditure of about £1,000,000,000 a year, and outlines a theory of paper finance by which boom periods would pay for the deficits of depressions. The acceptance or rejection of the scheme depends, of course, not only on Mr. Roosevelt, but upon the willing- ,ness of Congress to confer unheard-of powers on the Executive, and the prospect of any scheme of finance being equal to the strain of so vast an enterprise. But the magnitude of these proposals may be helpful to the Presi- dent in enabling him to win support, if not for this scheme, for something very considerable indeed. -
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