Show DOES WEALTH CONTROL the statement is frequently made that men of great wealth possess an undue influence in our government and it is even sometimes asserted that they control the government such statements seem to overlook some rather obvious facts if multimillionaires multi multimillion millionaires aims controlled our government is it probable that they would so have arranged the income tax that no family having an income of less than shall pay a federal income tax while figures covering 1930 income tax payments rece recently fitly published show that people with incomes of a million dollars a year pay nearly neaily twenty per cent of their incomes in federal taxes doubtless they pay as much more in local and state taxes if the multimillionaires multi millionaires were sc running the government is it to be assumed that they are so philanthropic that they ha have ve ordered these graduated burdens put on themselves would taxes of all sorts have hake doubled during the past few years would a half billion dollar fund have been voted for farm relief it is probable that half the bills passed by congress and our state legislatures during the last few years have imposed some sort of burden or restraint on property such bills as an organized property interest would have opposed what then is the justification for the repeated assertion that the rich run the country the truth is that most men of great wealth aie notoriously ing borant and inept in the f field of politics and public affairs many of them are radical rather than conservative in their views r except in matters immediately affecting their own incomes or interests in te rests the two biggest newspaper chains in the country owned by rich families are for government ownership of about everything but newspapers and make a specialty of knocking all the other malefactors of great wealth recently former ambassador gerard handed out the names of some fifty men nearly all of them multimillionaires multi millionaires who he said are the real rulers of america those who know these men and are able to measure their real influence in politics and public affairs know that the only way most of them could help a candidate for office would be to declare for his opponent in the presidential nomination campaigns of 1928 scarcely one of them exercised any influence most of them backing the wrong horse ambassador gerard flattered these multimillionaires multi millionaires too much if these gentlemen were to get behind a single candidate for the presidential nomination in 1932 and the fact became generally k known he would be left at the post undoubtedly business interests at times exercise too much influence but usually they are in such cases driven to the expedient of hiding their tracks or starting a ballyhoo to make people believe that they are against what they are ready for it is not to the credit of rich men that most of them are too keen on the dollar to give time enough to acquire any broad comprehension of public problems or eNer exercise cise any real in influence in their solution to exercise such an influence it would be necessary for them to disregard any class interest and work broadly for the general good of the country there are some such rich men but not very many |