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Show ' ' 'trmi- ' 'L1'.'"'. '"J1! s THE FACTS WE FACE Again the United States has come to the end of a year of epochal importance in our history; again our 125,000,000 people enter a new year with hope and ambition and courage. During the year just closed industry and agriculture, the only sources of wealth and employment, recovered some of the ground lost during the worst of the depression. Most industries made progress; some even came close in the production records attained during 1929. Nearing the end of 1935, business as a whole reached the highest point since early 1931. Business commentators are almost unanimous in expecting 1936 to show improvement over 1935. Even so, business does not feel the jubilance it would normally feel under such circumstances, cir-cumstances, nor does agriculture. The upturn in business is encouraging, en-couraging, yet there is very little to give a feeling of confidence that we are approaching stability. While the financial and industrial in-dustrial barometer continues its climb, unbiased and far-sighted observers are gravely wondering what the future holds. Why should this be so during a period that, measured by figures atone, cannot be called other than a period of recovery? There are many answers but this, to put forward a generality before approaching the specific, is unquestionably true; Industry is afraid! . It is afraid of gevernmental policies, principally of federal origin, that seek to negate the spirit, and often the letter of the Constitution. It is afraid of the spending policy, in which the federal government gov-ernment has led. and has been followed by many local units of government, that has caused our national debt to- reach an all-time all-time high, that has greatly increased taxes, and that must inevitably inevi-tably make still higher taxes necessary. It is afraid of political programs which, carried to logical conclusions, make it impossible for industry to earn profits. A number of industries have had a taste of this already; they have sold more goods, employed more men, kept factories in operation, opera-tion, yet have enjoyed no comparable increase in their earnings. It is afraid of persecution of industry, and of measures that, in effect, transfer management from the owners and executives of industrial properties to officeholders in .Washington, and, to a lesser extent, in state capitols. A notable example of this is the Public Utility Act of 1935, now in the courts, which marks a revolutionary departure from our time-honored concept of the proper relation between industry and government. Under the terms of this Act, "electric companies can be forced out of existence with loss of billions of dollars to their stockholders, at the whim of a commission, and can be federally regulated in every phase of operation. Leaders of other industries, seeing this, know that such a trend, once started, will not be long confined con-fined to a single industry, but will be gradually extended to others. ' Business is afraid that private initiative and enterprise, the foundation stones of the repubic, are in danger; that our democratic demo-cratic theory is becoming tinged with alien theories which have sounded the death knell of liberty and freedom in other lands; that even a dictatorship looms on the horizon. It cannot be disputed that the old status of State's Rights, for example, has been drastically changed, that the federal power has crept steadily into spheres that we used to believe were the sole province of state and local powers. .This, whether we realize re-alize it or not, and whether those responsible for the change realize it or not, is the first step toward dictatorship. Under our constitutional set-up of government, no dictator could seize absolute ab-solute power because the seats of power were purposely made many and widespreadone each in the 48 states, and one in Washington. As powers of states are abrogated or lessened, and as the central power is augmented and strengthened, the opportunity op-portunity for successful establishing a dictatorship whether it tears that name or another is immeasurably improved. It must not be forgotten that a short time ago a number of men holding responsible government positions advocated either directly or by ir.tlmation, Constitutional amendments and changes which would have given the federal government unprecedented un-precedented powers over individuals, over agriculture, over all the rights and liberties for which our forefathers fought. Less is heard from high sources of such changes now but the kind of thinking that first advocated them remains. The fears nd uncertainties mentioned here, plus too much politics from all factions, are the greatest bars to real recovery, and to permanent stability. America still has her fertile soil she still has her industries and her factories. She still has the machines which can produce the things that create genuine jobs and that raise the standard of livirrg of all the people. She still has the American spirit that faces great obstacles gladly, that approaches the most difficult tasks with jubilation. Let the clouds of doubt be scatterel, aVid we can go no way but forward! |