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Show EfGENERAL HUGH S. JOHNSON M Jour: Washington, D. C. 'FOR WHAT?' What is needed by our war-minded men is some slogan of high purpose pur-pose like "Make the world safe for democracy." That one is just a little like offering cheese to the mouse caught in a cheese baited trap. He doesn't want any more cheese. So the trial balloons are going go-ing up on another one "Union Now." I wrote a piece on the ballyhoo for a federation of English speaking speak-ing peoples. In it I used the expression ex-pression "Union Now" and said that what is now proposed is to unite us with the British empire under something like the Articles of Confederation Con-federation under which the 13 Colonies Col-onies fought the Revolution which means, of course, In addition to "Union Now," "War Now." I argued ar-gued that all the "Articles" made was a league of nations proved by both of them and the later international inter-national league to be futile and unworkable. un-workable. That column drew Indignant denials deni-als including one from Clarence Strait, the author of "Union Now." These denials complained that the proposal is not to entangle ours with the destiny of other nations in any futile league. No, sir. We are going go-ing all the way Into an United States of Earth, in which America is' to be only one state among many bound, not by weak articles of confederation, con-federation, but by a document like the Constitution of the United States. The distinguishing features of that Constitution are no secession; control con-trol In a superstate of interstate commerce, all foreign relations, taxation tax-ation and spending, the right to make war, to keep troops and ships of war and the denial of those rights and controls to the several states-including states-including the U. S. A. AH right If I misconstrued Mr. Streit I am sorry. But I didn't misconstrue the others and I didn't misconstrue Mr. Streit very much. They say, and so I think does he, that this is only an eventual result Right now all we need is "articles of confederation" with these other nations but (as in and after our Revolution) "as soon as the war is won" under the new confederation, we shall create with them a real federation, on the plan of the American Amer-ican Constitution and rub Uncle Sam out as an independent entity. It is all consistent First these people sell us into a war when it isn't necessary and, without waiting for Mr. Hitler to sell our country down the river, they want us to do it ourselves. We commit national hari-kari, dilute our strength with the weakness of the world and dissipate dis-sipate the wealth and advantage our fathers fought and labored to create here, to the four winds of heaven and the five continents of earth. GOVERNMENT CONTROLS So my old buddy Leon Henderson told the lumber Industry that $50 a thousand was an outrageous price for southern pine, that $23 was enough, that if they didn't get the price down he was going to do something some-thing about It and then stamped angrily not only out of the room but out of Washington. I think Leon was about 100 per cent right on his facts and intentionsthat inten-tionsthat somehow, this tendency toward soaring prices must be socked every time it sticks its head up and that exactly as in World War I, it has already started, among other places, in wholly unjustifiable unjustifi-able lumber prices. But to control this danger, government govern-ment has got to get In step with itself. Leon must have forgotten that he was not back in his old NRA days, when government could talk to industry as a unit and tell it as Leon frequently and properly did, to police and discipline Itself and. In the public interest to purge its membership of Improper practices. He could do that then because NRA made such joint action by government govern-ment and any organized industry lawful. It is lawful no longer. Leon should hope a little talk with Thur-man. Thur-man. The latter, Mr. Arnold, is trying to put Industrial gents in Jail or at least getting grand Jury indictments in-dictments against rptctable citizens citi-zens for potential Konies if they act as an industry to do, for example, exam-ple, what Leon commanded the lumber lum-ber industry to do. It Is and has been declared by all our courts to be just as flagrant an offense to the anti-trust acts for Industrial gents to corrfblne to put prices down as to put prices up. The former practice has proved to be the most effective weapon of the big fellows to slaughter slaugh-ter competition of the high-cost production pro-duction of little fellows In business. There Is a basic fault here which NRA tried to solve. No other nation na-tion condemns outright all industrywide industry-wide agreements as "combinations In restraint of trade." Atl other industrial countries condemn only such agreements as are "not in the public Interest." That is a realistic recognition that every principal contract In business is in some respects re-spects a restraint of trade. The NUA formula was that such codes should not be regarded as violations of the Sherman and Clayton acts. |