Show w atT orial by alj ym 1 T washington A politician without a problem confronting him Is virtually unknown whether political no he be a bis big shot in problems political life or just a ward heeler his life Is constantly beset with difficulties cul cult curties ties les those difficulties always alays have and always hlll force him to wiggle and squirm and sprout additional gray hairs the newest problem worrying politicians Is the townsend old age pension proposal promoters of fit that fantastic scheme are gaining such a headway that even james jame 9 A parley postmaster general genera chairman of the democratic national committee and chairman of the new kew york tork state democratic committee Is currently reported to be developing ve frowns on his otherwise smiling face when mr parley farley begins to get worried there Is cause indeed for all of the other politicians big and little to get worried the republicans also are concerned about the townsend plan but it Is not quite as important to the republicans as it Is 13 to the democrats to take a stand on the townsend plan because the democrats are in control of the national administration and obviously they are on the defensive the battle being pressed by mr townsend and ills his satellites Is no small concern impossible as it Is of operation doomed to ultimate failure as such a scheme must definitely be it continues to expand in its scope of political influence and has arrived at the point where it constitutes a power that must be reckoned with by all I 1 am convinced that anyone who nho will analyze the townsend plan cannot help at the conclusion that it Is comparable to the fantasy of the mississippi bubble when the mississippi bubble broke not thousands but millions were disillusioned it not utterly destroyed and their economic econome C future so glowingly glowing gly painted pat a led was completely wrecked 0 0 the townsend plan which contemplates payment of two hundred dollars per month to the in townsend dicent Is one of those plan thins things that develops invariably in periods of economic distress it Is distinctly a product of hard times when people are out of work and without resources when they are suffering they are always prey to any and all argument offering them iclef the conditions exact even a greater toll a toll leading to crime only a few lays days ago the chief of the secret service W 11 II moran told me that it was a characteristic of hard times that counterfeiters counterfeit ers of currency were more active idle hands will find something to do and the clever crook will take advantage of the situation while every one who lias has talked with doctor townsend recognizes his sincerity his earnest desire to accomplish rel relief ef for the aged and indigent population I 1 believe it Is an indisputable fact that doctor townsends Town sends plan would not get to first base except for the fact that this country now has millions of citizens who ho are almost it if not quite without food the point I 1 am trying to make Is that doctor townsends Town sends scheme idle dream that it Is has been put forward at one of the few times in this nat nations lons history when it Is possible to amass a following of political importance it Is only in times such as these that people would pay attention to it it will die down and his organization will crumble sometime in the future but this will not happen until it has caused plenty of grief until it has wrecked political fortunes of countless scores of men and women who guess wrong and until probably it has produced a burden of taxation upon this nation the like of which never has been seen before in the forthcoming campaign I 1 believe we vie will see numerous political candidates otherwise sound in their thinking affirm the validity of the townsend plan they will commit themselves to its support because political maneuvers will force them into that position some of them probably mure more than we now imagine will be elected to congress and they will biln bring a gigantic headache to uncle sam who h must toot foot the bill townsend plan supporters in all of their preachments preach ments have consistently talked of their proposition from its beauteous side it Is susceptible of that because it Is easy to point out what a blessing it would be to have each aged person a monthly neck check of two hundred dollars from the government but there Is another side to the picture it Is basic where will the government get the money townsend spokesmen have figured out a visionary taxation scheme to raise the amount of money required but the thing they do not discuss Is the fundamental fact that by their heir taxation scheme they will depreciate our national currency and will load upon those who are willing to work such a burden of 0 taxation that soon there will be a clamor from three out of 0 four if i tho the population for some kind of 0 a government payment the end then would be obvious because after all government as such produces nothing all that it pays out must t be taken from those who brodu produce tee 0 0 in adverting to the townsend plan is as I 1 have done 1 0 e I 1 have attempted to set forth in a man another knotner ner what I 1 believe to problem ls be one of 0 the greatest dangers of the present day namely the absence of clear thinking in the townsend plan as in many other problems that confront the nation cation at the moments moment individuals seem prone to jump at conclusions without analyzing what conditions actually are and without considering what tile the ultimate effect would be it seems worth while to consider another national problem which though of an economic nature and less sensational in its outward appearance Is nevertheless very real tills problem concerns our transportation system shortly after president roosevelt took office we were deluged with argument that amounted to propaganda favoring government ownership of the railroads there was a reaction against this idea the reaction was so strong that few politicians dacej to unloose their demagoguery ery in favor of government ownership yet it la Is perfectly evident that those who favor perpetuating private enterprise which Is always more efficient and less wasteful than any government are in danger of being lulled to sleep crack pots and misguided theorists in great numbers still favor government ownership enship of the railroads they are st still 1 11 working the government ownership ip problem Is not dead it Is only concealed from the eyes of most of us for the time being certain developments of the past several months confirm the statement I 1 have just made taken singly these developments appear insignificant collectively they are very Import important it nt I 1 have heard it charged that government ownership advocates advocat rs have a well laid plan to wreck private ownership in the rail industry this charge goes further it asserts that those who seek to destroy our profit system are proceeding ce piecemeal to load a burden of charges upon the railroads so that in tile the end it will be a physical impossibility lity for the railroad corporations to earn a profit indeed it Is alleged that the scheme contemplates eventual burdening of the rail lines to the extent where they cannot make their expenses obviously if that end were attained bankruptcy would follow then there would be no aeterna meins five but legislative bankruptcy action placing the railroads in government ownership our wartime experience ought to be sufficient to demonstrate how the costs mount when the government operates the railroads it means more taxes on every one of us who ho h has a s income whether it be large or small cut but to get back to the developments mentioned earlier whether there exists an actual plan to drive the railroads into bankruptcy or not the developments certainly are subject su inject to that surmise one of the items of expense a new burden of cost that Is proposed to be loaded on the railroads Is the rail pension law I 1 have seen some statistical calculations calculation s which were convincing to me it at I 1 least east that tile the charges proposed to be levied upon the railroads by the law will not work out in the manner their proponents claim the bill would assess as sess each rail corporation per cent of its payroll and each worker would contribute a proportionate amount of his salary toward his pension when he retires like the townsend plan no one can argue against the fine spirit actuating a move to protect the retired workers but to go behind the figures at the start one finds certain astonishing facts almost any way almost any method one uses to calculate this cost forces the conclusion that after eight or ten years the pension system will have expanded to such an extent that the railroads will be carrying an annual charge on their payroll of not 3 per cent but approximately 15 per cent I 1 think it goes without saying that no DO industry can bear such a tax in addition to the pension proposition labor unions aided by their cats paws in congress have kept up a steady machine gun fire demanding first one thing and then another from the carriers for instance one of the current demands and it Is likely to succeed in some form forin Is the movement for shorter hours for practically the en tire list of railroad employees of course the railroads railroad cannot justify working their employees longer than eight hours except in an emergency it Is possible that a seven hour day might bight be practiced but enen eien a seven hour day would mean that the railroads must add to their operating costs and any item added to ope operating ratin costs reduces the chance ot of the corporations po rations for au an even break between income and outgo there are a number of other such demands or movements under way or in the hie offing hach each one means a new burden a now new tax tar on the railroad a western newspaper union 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