U.S. at War: Milestone

Government bureaus, once established, are the next thing to immortal. Thus noteworthy last week was the death of the Electric Home & Farm Authority, set up in 1935 to help farmers and homeowners buy appliances on the installment plan. Like the only other significant New Deal agencies to pass away before it (NRA, killed by the Supreme Court, and CCC, abolished because all physically fit youths are needed in the Army), EHFA died of an incurable disease: there are no more electrical appliances to buy on any kind of plan. Its epitaph was written by the New York Sun: “The manner of its death illustrates how death will come, if it ever does, to other Federal agencies.”