Show k L r rl su I 1 washington afis it Is only a few short weeks until the seventy luth fifth congress convenes work for and so naturally congress the ithe i preliminary grf grinding riding of legislative wheels Is now being heard of course thero has been no legislative program formulated formu jated little of a specific character can be done in this direction aunill the fog and the smoke of a carn campaign alan drifts away nevertheless beneath it all there are definite signs to guide us to show some of the important questions that will na naturally tu rally force their way to the front rank of consideration by congress as ad soon as it is formally orgin organized lied january 3 while I 1 do not take much stock in many of 0 the ideas or schemes that are receiving consideration or to which sponsors are trying to direct attention it ic perfectly evident one of the major questions to receive congressional attention this year is the plight of business I 1 mean that there are countless governmental ern mental policies that directly affect business and the dell debate ate of the recent presidential campaign has awakened such widespread interest in general business that congress cannot avold debate on the subject there are many members of the house and senate including a goodly number of those lately elected or re reelected elected who feel eel that the washington government has been messing too much into the affairs ot of private business they feel and I 1 believe with justification thit that unless many of the government handicaps are withdrawn unless many of the restrictions and the superfluous rules and regulations are removed business cannot go ahead as it apparently antl v would like to do it Is said that many corporations would like to engage in plant expansion and increase their pay rolls by many thousands of workers but they are afraid to do st sl under pro present s laws and policies they cannot feel a sense of safety and corporate funds after all ar are ejust just like many belonging to an individual those who manage it or own it will not invest it unless they can be assured of policies by the government at washington that give them an equal chance at least to fo obtain a return an the money they invest ivest ft aln othet other words corporations are just like individuals who will not risk their money unless they have confidence that the odds are favorable to them word came to me the other day through official channels to io the effect chaa that a gigantic and well known corporation was ready to expand its whole productive capacity it if it could be certain that federal tax laws were going goin 9 to be revised ed so that they consisted of tax lax laws rather than tax penalties on business chances the word was that this corporation expected to spend about ono one hundred forty two millions that the authorization for the work had been approved by tile the corporations board of directors end and that blue prints of 0 the plans had been drawn but all of this had been done upon a contingent basis that contingency was that federal government tax policies were revised so that tile the government would not be ba taking more of the ilia reve revenue ribe than the stockholders received and further that assurance must come against regimentation such as that which c h had occurred under you ou will say that this Is an tio ser case rand it ls Is but itis it is isolated only to fo the extent that chati 1 am not able to name names and identify directly hundreds of other corporations thit that a are rb exactly in the same boat to on extent information that other corporations are following I 1 the h a samo same policy is hearsay j yet I 1 have every caithin faith jn the reports concerning general plans along these lines and I 1 a am m firmly convinced of the sincerity sin cert of business managements girle generally rally to go ahead atthe if the washington go government permits them to have confidence confidences that they will not be destroyed by i taxation later 6 it ill seems seems to me there ore are three phases of federal government poll cles cies and laws that spending pending serve to retard pol policies business recovery I 1 mentioned taxation and government regulation or bureaucracy there is a third it is the spending policies that have been followed and that have resulted in the enor enormous motis federal debt with a budget still unbalance 1 I do not know which of the three is held to be the most important among business generally regimentation and bureaucracy breed a fear in the minds mind of so many business leaders that as long us bureaucracy in washington continues to be as widespread as it is this segment of the business structure is going to remain quiescent another segment will do nothing ira in the way of expanding operations when the tax laws are taking such a tremendous toll and actually serve as an impelling force against the desires of business to increase its it s own revenue the third factor or influence that of government spending thrya a fear ear into the hearts of ct every business man As longas long as the budget is unbalanced and spending even wasting of money continues there is an un unsettling g influence at work which keeps busine from making new plans the reason is that an unbalanced budget and wasteful expenditures constitute aa a continual threat qt of inflation especially is this ibis true when the chief executive has the power to orange change the value of money such as is the case now in this country the business men as tar far as my information goes take the position that it t is I 1 worse than useless for f them to attempt to indrea 3 their production or mold plans regarding their business as long as they cannot icel feel sure that the value of the money they usa will be the same tam tomorrow orro w that thatis it Is s today fr frequently bently I 1 have heard evidence substantiating the observations I 1 have hake made above these business interests provide the outlet for tre tremendous amounts of money now lying idle in banks in other words these business interests are the potential borrowers of billions of dollars that are not now being used and the fact that they are not borrowing this money simply cuts off the use of n very important force in our economic life further the fact that business is not borrowing money and engaging in expansion of production has the very vital result of preventing t ing em of labor the american federation ot of labor announces that there are something like eleven millions of workers still unemployed yet the question must be asked how or why business would want to do a better job in behalf of 0 itself and help labor by employing additional workers at the same time when its own government continually harasses it in one way or another no amount of criticism by those responsible in the government can force business to take a n chance with its money it must have a reasonable guarantee that its government will allawat allow it to have at least a reasonable profit or else the honeywill money will continue to remain idle 4 undoubtedly we will see a very great many bills p popping around the capitol bills do dc expect signed to relieve many bills business oi othis this or the other handicap now believed to be hanging over it the bulk of them will receive no consideration because the bulk ot of those bills will be loosely drawn and will be representative of the desires of a particular segment ot of commerce or industry but as the situation now appears we can expect to io see something done about the tax laws in the forthcoming congress it appears fairly certain to me for example that the ridiculous surplus earning tax enacted by the last congress must be rewritten because the bulk built of our bu bushiness bus Liess is handled by corporations it ought to be important to give corporations consideration as a class they had specific attention from tile the new dealers and this despised corporation tax on surplus earnings was the vehicle upon which many of the nitwits among shenew the new dealers attempted to ride business generally speaking opposed enactment of the statute but business was not able to overcome the roosevelt control in congress hence the tax law was enacted and corporations are paying the penalty but it might be asked whether i anything any thing better can be expected I 1 in n this session of congress the answer Is that there ore are more members of the house and se senate nate now who recognize that the competitive system of doing business always in opera tl alon on in the united states heretofore should not be destroyed it can be expected therefore that something will be done about that tax law and just as certainly something will be done in a legislative eway way about the numerous rules and regulations that constantly interfere with the free transaction of business these rules and regulations of course were dratted drafted under authority given by congress but my conversations among house and senate leaders convince me that these men see the error erro of their previous enactments they are willing to be somewhat more bold coming as they do fresh from the elections and they are rather lather likely to insist upon legislation which will help rather than hinder it ailt maybe may be of course that organized labor will be powerful enough to force consideration of legislation shortening au all hours of labor I 1 do not know how it can be done because there is every evidence that such legislation would be unco unconstitutional it probably can bo be done by the state legislative bodies but not by the federal government while as I 1 said organized labor may force consideration of this sort of thing there is little doubt in my mind that congress will stand out against enactments of this type first because of the app ant lack of constitutional support and second because it would constitute a further harassment of business during a period when everyone who Is sane wants to see business get going again a 0 western nc unton |