Show gioi ton IF do digest as t national topics interpreted by WILLIAM BRUCKART NATIONAL PRESS washington D C washington throughout history unsound economic policies have had a way of demon experience cc their unas unai a teacher soundness by the results that eventually become understandable to the rank and file of the people likewise throughout history the rank and file of the people have learned their lesson each time and have avoided burning their fingers a second time that is fingers were not burned a second time until anew a new generation came along and refused to examine and take into account the lessons of experience lately we have seen another such suc h demonstration we have seen both bo th the results and the refusal of current current leaders to profit by experiences of the past I 1 refer particularly to conditions involving united states bonds those who have followed market quotations must recognize that united states bonds and other securities issued by the treasury have suffered from fluctuations in prices that portend if indeed they do not prove that federal financial policies of the last four years were unsound there was propaganda from official quarters during one of the periods of sagging prices that the condition resulted from market manipulations and the activities of tipsters hipsters tip stories to this effect came directly out of the treasury although they did not carry the identity of the official who made the statements I 1 the whole circumstance must be considered together however it if one is ii to arrive at any sort of a conclusion concerning the true state of affairs one must think of the total amount of government securities outstanding something like thirty four billions and one must recognize as well what is going on in commerce and industry in addition to these factors attention must be given to conditions of the last several years when the roosevelt administration was engaged and still is engaged in m the greatest orgy of spending that our nation ever has known when you add up these various factors you get an answer which seems to me to be irrefutable in the first place no nation nor any of its individuals can go on indefinitely spending money when it does not have that money that is is it cannot spend more than its in income over any extended period without suffering bad results our nation did that it made up the difference between its income and its spending by borrowing it gave government bonds to those from fro M whom it borrowed evidence of its debt the immediate result of this condition was that there are millions upon millions of government bonds held by banks corporations and individuals these bonds bear an exceedingly low rate of interest it is only natural that anyone with money to lend will look for the highest interest rate they can get it if they happen to hold government bonds those bonds will be dumped in favor of securities paying higher returns that has happened to some extent already 0 a it is to be remembered as well that these bonds were issued in the currency of t the he savely and devalued dollar demand the fifty nine cent dollar as measured by the value of gold now the law of supply and de mand that has always operated and which always will operate places a basic value upon commodities upon the services of labor it is operating again and has brought about a greater demand for commodities the things we need to eat or to wear and the countless items of modern day living the prices of these measured in present currency are higher because it takes almost two of the present day dollars to buy the same quantity as formerly could be purchased with the dollar that was good for one hundred bundred cents in gold the answer to this is that most of us can not help regarding gold as a commodity having a stable value so we see a result in this direction labor too is demanding mere of the fifty nine cent dollars for its share of production it has a right to do so if you measure wages as you measure commodity values and it seems to me there can be only one yardstick then labor is justified in asking for higher pay again a result of tinkering with the currency becomes evident because labor is forced to pay more for what it buys as a result of the reduction in the dollars gold value then finally I 1 am quite convinced that in addition to the factors I 1 have discussed as having weight in causing fluctuation of government bond prices no one can deny the influence that is being exerted by the radical labor element throughout the strikes that have been promoted these strikes have done more than just violate law by unjustified and unwarranted seizure of the prop erty of other persons they have developed among the strikers themselves a resentment against everyone who owns a farm or a home or a business the tragedy of this condition to leave the subject of currency for a moment is that the strikes show how little respect for law and order exists among icing aff a segment of our population ula tion it is not only a tragedy it is a dangerous sign and unless somewhere in our nation government asserts its authority and protects rights we may possibly be faced with a circumstance in which our nation will be held together again only by use usa of army guns back 0 to get back t lien to the bond market it seems to me there is a closely knit skein unsound of conditions that ground prove where our government ii has a s gone into unsound ground it can be pointed out how the tin tinkering kerin c with the currency has carried through to the ultimate consumer and the wage worker it can be shown how the national government has disregarded the rights of part of the population and favored another part of the population and in doing so has created a class hatred which is liable to cause trouble in the nation for the next fifty years notwithstanding the lessons to be learned from these experiences we observe how the same mistake is being made in another way I 1 refer now to the attitude of administration leaders who are supporting president Roosevel ts program to add six justices of his own choosing to the supreme court of the united states throughout the argument that has come from proponents of the presidents packing plan there runs a constant and recurring appeal that if we can only have six new justices in the supreme court we can do all of the things that are necessary to bring about labor peace and complete business recovery disregarding the merit or demerit of this argument it seems to me one cannot help looking somewhat into the future and determining on the ba basis sis of experience of the past what may happen if the supreme court is emasculated a as tile the dent proposes I 1 said earlier in this article that there has grown up a tremendous disrespect for law the continued I 1 prattle about the necessity for new blood in the supreme court is si simply IT and frankly another step in the direction of a government by men and not a government by law it is to be recalled that mr roosevelt was given by his rubber stamp congress more power than any president of the united states ever has exercised before I 1 do not make the charge that the difficulties that I 1 have attempted to analyze above resulted directly from according the chief executive so much power but history surely teaches the lesson that where one man has so much power available he always makes more mistakes than where that power is exercised by the properly appointed or elected representatives of the masses of the leonle I 1 recall a homely saying often heard in my youth that two heads are better than one even though one may be a cabbage head I 1 am quite convinced that the members of the house of representatives and the 98 96 members of the senate have more wisdom collectively than one man adverting again to the questions of currency and prices we have only to look across the atlantic ocean and see what happened in italy in russia and in germany where one man attempted to establish his own ideas on the currency from what I 1 have heard from official sources it must be true that in those three countries I 1 mentioned there are billions of pieces of paper money that are worth altogether little more than the cash value of the paper on your walls it always has worked out that way a a a some of the business interests of the country apparently are taking time by the fore take time lock iok and adjusting by forelock themselves to conditions where the government is by men and not by law A few days ago the distilled spirits institute announced that it had elected W forbes morgan as its president mr morgan an uncle by marriage of mrs franklin D roosevelt resigned as treasurer of the democratic national committee to enter the employment of the liquor interests while there was no na official announcement concerning mr morgans salary the gossip persists that he is to be paid something like five hund hundred red thousand and dollars for five years work in his new job his election raises two questions what can mr morgan do for the liquor industry that is worth so sc much money and secondly whether the selection of mr morgan does not show how stupid business in teresta rests can be interests Ite 0 western newspaper union |