Show THE PRESIDENT OUGHT TO TELL EM by richard L strout in the christian science monitor president roosevelt is writing a speech for congress next tuesday on the state of the nation and what he has seen on his trip to no africa with churchill chiang ana stalin mr roosevelt must be wondering what to say in his speech there are rumors that he is thinking of dealing with the home front fresh from talking c with leaders of the indomitable chinese the heroic tommies commies Tom mies the rugged soviet troops and after seeing at first hand the american doughboys dough boys in in foreign service mr roosevelt might well ask the question now he is back home who is making a profit out of this war what would the answer be 1 I says the big corporation cor borate profits after deducting taxes are at an all time level they amount to 85 billions in 1943 compared to only 4 billions in 1939 even in the all time peace year of 1929 my profits were not as big as they are now I 1 am making a profit out of this war 1 v I says the farmer farm prices are at a record level I 1 am hampered by lack of help and machinery I 1 am aiding patriotically in the war effort just as business is doing but I 1 am aim making unprecedented profits net agriculture re income in 1943 was billions the highest in history it was only 45 billions in 1939 1 I sell my products for al 81 per cent more than I 1 did before the war and the cost of the things I 1 buy has gone up only 45 per cent I 1 am making a profit out of this war 1 I am making war profits says factory labor when the great war started I 1 averaged 63 cents an hour at theand the end of the week I 1 had 23 in my pay envelope now I 1 am working overtime I 1 am working harder my son is in n the army y just as is the son of the e big ig indus u s and my heart is in the fight but I 1 am making profits like them with overtime included I 1 get al 91 cents an hours hour and my weekly payroll averages 45 it is true the cost of living has risen something like 25 per cent or maybe more if my calculations are correct but my take home pay has risen 95 per cent ceni I 1 am making a profit out of this 11 war so sc we might imagine the president saying you are fighting a war and making a profit out of i it atoo too you are pretty fortunate but chos the quiet little man over there ther the e one with the white collar 1 I am not making a profit out of the war wan says the white collar worker 1 I represent school teachers clerks millions of salary workers whose pay has not increased in proportion to the cost of living I 1 represent widows living on insurance dividends old people who have fixed sources of revenue taxes on an a 2500 2500 income tor or a single person have hake jumped from 50 to 1 I am paying higher taxes at one end and the cost of living is biting into my income from the other I 1 have never been very vocal in national affairs and I 1 hate collective action I 1 have been a quiet law abiding citizen I 1 ani am wearing old clothes now n ow and am economizing always economizing om izing that is my contribution to the war effort theres somebody else that ought to be accounted for too says the president 1 I saw him in north africa speak up bill 1 I am not making a profit out of this war says bill the soldier 1 I am the son of the businessman the farmer the trade unionist the white collar worker sometimes I 1 had a business of my own I 1 have b been een taken away from my family I 1 have been put into uniform been bedded down in barracks had a gun put in my hand I 1 have lost education and the chance to get rich I 1 have been set down in fever jungles and march ed through slogging mud with my friends shot about me i t t 1 I used to think a good deal about the future now I 1 think just how good it would be to have a dry bed tom was hit in the chest the other day he gave me a last desage for his girl for all this I 1 am paid fifty a month with keep no I 1 am not getting rich out of this war well what do you thing about these other people asks the president 1 I think you ought to tell em 11 says bill maybe I 1 ought says the pres aident |