Show national topics interpreted by bruckart national press building waft hington D a washington congress has been doing a deal of talking about helping business to get mu much ch talk on its feet but it no action b has as not yet accomplished complis hed much the house ways and means committee it is true is making some headway and a number of senators including the powerful senator harrison of mississippi are asserting the necessity for a reversal of federal policy but again there is much more talk than action and in the meantime the count rys business is sliding lower and lower the difficulty in a the present situation and the thing that probably has been more responsible for the business slump than anything else is that business heretofore has been unable to tell what the federal government is going to do it has become evident already that with a somewhat changed atmosphere in congress there are many business men who are more hopeful than a month ago business men big and little are quick to note that there are senators and representatives who think the time has arrived for business to receive some consideration and it ought to be added that unless business does get some consideration this current depression is going to be as bad as the last one the federal government must give attention to the agricultural ri problem and it must fit that job into some consideration cin of the other halt half of 0 american life namely the commerce and industry outside ot of agricultural life it will be recalled that di iring during the first two years of president roose belts administration there was a flock of laws passed that were of great value to the country many abany of them were of a temporary character and were enacted on that basis that would have been fine if the administration had stopped there but it did not the roaming herd of so called thinkers who were scattered tar far and wide in federal jobs had to have their innings at least they thought they had to have a turn at bat all of their pet theories had bad to be tried out the result many laws that were purely experimental dangerous damaging and a burden to business with many millions of others I 1 expected at that time to see lee these queer looking laws shaken down corrected or repealed where it was found necessary that has not happened again the result the coun arys business from the smallest general store at a cross roads or a garage or a gasoline station to the greatest corporation like general motors or pennsylvania railroad has had to suffer under the heavy heel of the national government the reason that congress is showing signs of a movement that W will revise the tax structure is because these smaller businesses out through the country have now got their fill of government red tape complex reports visits of investigators new tax forms and levies or what have you those people are making themselves beard here in washington so if congress takes some action looking to a fair deal for business just as it is quite determined to do something tor for agriculture I 1 erter ecter tain no doubt about the response it will get from the business interests As tar far as business has made itself felt it is apparently asking only to be treated equitably with labor every one knows that the last three or four sessions of congress have been frightened to death every time a labor leader showed up on r anitol hill the reward given congress was the C 1 I 0 strikes violence and a general mess the condition has left a goodly number of senators and representatives senta tives a bad taste in their mouths there is plenty of 0 dirty linen in the business closet it has a hard wash day ahead to lessng restore it to the in in business respect of the bulk of the people business has been smug it has thought too little in many instances of its obligations to the public at large but surely there is a point beyond which federal punishment ought not go since there Is a responsibility also in the other direction unless business gets a reasonable chance to stand on its own feet how is it going to re employ workers and reduce the relief relict rolls every individual wants to earn some money lie he wants a return tor for his labor he dreams some day of f a retirement a lay oft off when he can watch the world go by I 1 can tee no reason why the federal government should not encourage rattier rather than discourage such a thing it is the conviction of a very great many an increasing number ot of people that the federal government is messing too much into business but aside from that phase there are a number of things happening that are difficult to understand at a time when business is sliding off like a snowball going down hill the president steps out and orders at an investigation by the federal trade commission into high prices thi the inquiry of course Is directed a at monopoly I 1 have no doubt at all al that there will be a blast from sonn some government official pretty soon in li which big business again will bi be told it is ii crushing thi the little fellow and that the public Is suffering from the h high agh prices maintained by a trust there may be even a t fireside chat because a presidents voice penetrates everywhere at a time too when the prices of bonds and shares of corporation stock are sinking like they have double pneumonia ou out t bursts chairman douglas of the securities and exchange commission with a small carlo cargo of dynamite about crooked dealings underneath the stock exchanges of the country fortunately for the hundreds of thousands of small investors the stock exchange quotations did not fall fail much further as a result of mr air douglas learned remarks the prices already had fallen below the knees but the douglas statement certainly gave no confidence to those who were beginning to believe that congress would try to undo some of the wrongs previously done just about the same time and during frequent appeals from the senators and representatives that the tax laws had to be overhauled the president sent a report to congress it was a report by the new york power authority charging the power interests with some weird mis doings I 1 happen to know some of the folks on the staff of the power authority and I 1 feel that they know just about as much about the power problem as I 1 do which is to say they are pretty dumb about the situation of course those alleged economists have brilliant ideas about reforming america and I 1 am dumb about that too further while this power authority report was being em blazoned upon the front pages of 0 newspapers president roosevelt was holding long conferences with wen wendell dell wilkie and fred carlisle who personalize the power trust if there be a power trust mr roosevelt was talking with those men in an effort to get the large power interests to go ahead with construction and expansion programs to provide work for unemployed 0 0 0 the political strategy ot of blaming everything on big business bori worked ed well for a different time just as the picture old demagoguery a about b 0 u t wall street used to inflame thousands when a politician orated and slapped his legs with widely swinging arms but the picture is different now the attack on business has become a mill stone on business and it has crushed little as well as big and since there are so many more smaller ones than there are trusts and monopolies members of congress are hearing about it from men whom they went to school with at home but what is to be done let congress repeal about five hundred laws that force business to pay more for the privilege of doing business than it gets out of its whole volume reduce or revise the direct taxes and bring the thousand and one items of tax out in the open so the people can see and know what they are paying cut out forty or fifty of the silly experiments that were worked up by the coterie of individuals who are constantly feeding mr roosevelt halt half baked and cockeyed schemes for spending money and thereby reduce the federal expenses these and many more of honest purpose can be done it if they are docic business again can employ workers and as it employs workers they come oil off the relief rolls and as they get wages they buy this means profits and profits mean tax receipts by the treasuries of state and nation to show how some ot of these taxes come about I 1 am told that herman oliphant general counsel to the secretary ol of the treasury promoted the ridiculous tax on undistributed profits 0 of corporations to declare dividends of all of their earnings and he was tor for it it did just that but when the corporations had bad distributed tri buted everything to their shareholders and their volume ol of business fell ell oil they had no money left to tide them over until business picked up again hence some ot of them are on the verge of 0 bankruptcy I 1 do not know where mr oliphant got the idea or how he sold it to mr air roosevelt I 1 do not know ol of any business connection that mr oliphant ever had with any important corporation it is important however to note that mr oliphant has made no move whatsoever to defend this brain child that turned out to be such an unwanted baby and while writing about mr air oliphant it may be noted that until secretary came onto the scene there was never any need tor for a general counsel to the secretary ol of the treasury Q western newspaper union |