The ABC of the NRA

Any survey of the machinery set up for the administration and enforcement of codes of fair competition must take into account two fundamental facts: First, that the National Industrial Recovery Act was passed as temporary emergency legislation; and second, that the entire recovery program is declaredly experimental in character. By its terms the Act expires two years after the date of enactment. The experimental nature of NRA activity has been repeatedly emphasized by both the President and General Johnson. No one, therefore, can say at this time how long these codes of fair competition will remain in effect; into what form the administrative agencies will ultimately develop; who will ultimately exercise the powers of enforcement if they are not terminated at the date indicated in the law; or whether these powers will rest with similar agencies for all industries. At the present stage of development all the administrative and enforcement plans for approved codes are in such a state of flux that any detailed statement about them is apt to become rapidly obsolete. They are therefore dealt with in the following pages in exceedingly summary fashion.

The routine administration of the terms of a code of fair competition is not a function of the Recovery

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