Against the changing background of New Deal activities yesterday's presidential act creating the National Industrial Recovery Board probably looms as large and significant in its implications as any other specific act of the administration since NRA's inception. The change is, of course, in line with the President's oft-reiterated statement that nothing except the spirit of the NRA can be regarded as permanent, but the face-saving value of this statement now becomes evident as never before proffered though it was in all sincerity.

It still remains, of course, to be demonstrated with finality that the new Board superseding Johnsonian control will not have the significance in its relation to industry and the country as a whole as had the old one. But one thing is certain. NRA as administered under the NRB will not be Johnsonian in scope, however gifted its new executive director, Donald R. Richberg, may be. For President Roosevelt's action, despite the installation of an old left-winger as the guide and mentor of his refurbished protege, nevertheless is a symptom of subsiding idealistic fever and return to a more normal if prosaic realistic temperature. When governing bodies replace dictators not only do dramatics subside but therewith the chances of detection in case of error. It is true that the President still works the pedals, but obviously he cannot devote the time to the machine that the old autocrat could, and Richberg is not likely to run amuck as did Johnson. Debate and recommendations will ensue, and fertile ground for buck-passing cleared. In short, the indications are that NRA under any new combination of initials is on the skids, however inadequately they may appear to be greased at present.

The rising opposition of big business to governmental interference is becoming too insistent to be ignored or further flouted, and though the "United States may have its feet on the ground" all too many of the latter are still insufficiently shod for a hard winter. While it may be stretching things too much to say that the shake-up in NRA means that the President is subscribing to "recovery before reform," it does at least indicate that he may put recovery before relief. All in all, there is a strong presumption in favor of the belief that the National Industrial Recovery Board is but a means of tapering off after the Johnsonian jag.