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Show BRISBANE THIS WEEK Idle Acres, Idle Men The Townsend Plan Mrs. Roosevelt's Enterprise Another Slave of Man Ten million idle men and more in the United States. Ten million idle acres and more on either side of this railroad running along the Atlantic coast from southeru Florida Flor-ida to New York. Two of the acres, intensively cultivated, would feed a family. Texas alone, under intensive inten-sive cultivation, could feed the entire en-tire population of the earth as It exists now, and oil underneath Texas would run all the automobiles. automo-biles. There is an empire for you, in one single state. And we talk about "over-population" with so much land not used, and none of It used with full intelligence. The Townsend plan, ?200 a month to everybody sixty years of age, is solemnly discussed by congress, which ought to be passing a sound, reasonable old age pension now. The Townsend plan Is an interesting interest-ing plan In many ways. By taxation taxa-tion on every transaction, on producer, pro-ducer, jobber, wholesaler, retailer, manufacturer, buyer, it would practically prac-tically absorb all available money to turn it over to deserving, or otherwise, persons, aged sixty. It would soon become necessary for some other Townsend to organize a $200-a-month plan for all paupers. There would soon be twice as many paupers as there are people sixty years old. Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt Is meanly criticized, because, having interested herself in providing better bet-ter homes for poor people, It appears ap-pears that the undertaking may involve in-volve some slight financial loss, trifling In United States finance. Mrs. Roosevelt caused families to be moved from miserable hovels into comfortable homes. A woman with children, living last year in two rooms without windows, with nothing but raw carrots car-rots for her Christmas dinner, told Mrs. Roosevelt that she did not dare tell her children It w:as Christmas Christ-mas day. On this Christmas day, when Mrs. Roosevelt went to see her, the mother, with a new born baby, and her children, all happy, were living In a decent homestead, with modern mod-ern improvements, Including a cellar cel-lar full of canned goods. If that did cost a little money, It was money well spent. Other ladies and gentlemen who have spent money for the United States government have not done so well. A steel gate, 12 feet thick, weighing weigh-ing 3,000,000 pounds, was closed one day recently and the Colorado river, its water and power, definitely defi-nitely harnessed, made slaves of man. The stream that had wandered ns it pleased for millions of years, through the magnificent mile-deep canyon of the Colorado, through Boulder Canyon and Black Canyon, was now tied fast in Black Canyon. "The Boulder Dam" Is a reality. Hereafter the Colorado shall flow as man shall order, lighting cities, Irrigating deserts, supplying power pow-er far away. Chicago reports the latest "American "Amer-ican type'' murder. Thomas E. Ma-loy, Ma-loy, veteran head of Chicago's Motion Mo-tion Picture Operators' union, was killed In the usual way, as he sat at the wheel of his automobile. The government says Mr. Maloy's career as a "union labor leader" was profitable. He had been Indicted Indict-ed and released on bail on achaige of failure to report three hundred and fifty thousand dollars' Income before the assassin's "sings" canceled can-celed that and other accusations. If the leader of a motion picture union got that Income you wonder won-der how and from whom he got It, also what other motion picture operators op-erators who got no such sum think about it. It was time for somebody to say what Mr. Richberg says now, that he "does not propose to put the interest of the unions above loyalty to his government." It Is a friendly act to remind rnion labor again that If It wants to know what happens when separate sep-arate organizations claim the right to run the country they should study conditions in Italy. There are no Italian union leaders collecting millions mil-lions a year In dues. Former leaders lead-ers are working with pick and shovel, or tractor, or lathe, accord- Ing to their mechanical ability. Kenneth Neu, killer of two men, j hanged In New Orleans, entertainer i and singer by profession, sang gaily i the day before his hanging, sang In the morning before going to the gallows, s:iid he would sing all the way to the scaffold, "Love In Iiloom," and "When the Trumpet Sounds." F.ut when he saw the hangman and the noose he stopped pinging and only did a feeble tap dance on the scaffold. i . Klnc Fm'nr'-s Svndlcate. Ino. j V,:survi.,. |