Show Bruc Bru karts charts washington digest some conclusions predictions afterthoughts as 1940 starts many signs 0 of awakening lead to optimism for new year work of labor board criticized SEC weaves A tangled web too much aluch federal government by WILLIAM BRUCKART service national press bid lV washington ashington D C ft washington DEAR FOLKS there are some things that I 1 want to get off of my chest some facts some conclusions some afterthoughts some predictions just odds and ends consequential and inconsequential cons equen tia 1 that tha t ought to be said the start of a new year strikes me as a good time to do it also this marks the start of my ninth year as a columnist and I 1 am grateful to you who have done me the honor to read my observations you folks may have disagreed with me many times during the last year I 1 have no n quarrel about that if however the product that I 1 have sent you each week has failed to cause you to think more 1 deeply about the problems of government the problems of the united states I 1 am forced to conclude that I 1 have the president not done my job very well confidentially I 1 have believed for a long time that it is up to you folks out there to do the thinking that is followed up by governmental policies the brand of thinking that is is dominant in government now has gone sour it surely is getting us no place very fast I 1 am rather optimistic about the new year however because there are so many signs of an awakening it is the kind of an awakening thai that causes voters to sweep out panaceas and blue printed programs the count rys trend definitely is I 1 believe towards its old conservative base after aimless wanderings around in the garden of isms iams we have been pestered with fantastic phrases that have disappeared each time with the rainbow fortunately tuna tely there were comparatively few who made or followed those preachments preach ments yet there were some who believed them and all that they have left is an unhappy memory the reason there were so few out of all the millions in america who strayed off from sound americanism lies in the fact that the nation has grown great by restricting government to government functions M members embers of labor board simply became dictators we have seen only recently what can come from excursions of government into fields where it does not belong consider what has been exposed by the special house committee in its investigation OL of the LLA labur labor relations board I 1 take some pride in recording the rottenness of that federal agency because more than a year ago I 1 was severely criticized for saying that the labor board and the labor relations act would do as much harm to organized labor as prohibition had done to the cause of temperance now we can read sworn statements of how some members of the board and many of its employees simply became dictators how they threatened to get private employers or employees who disagreed or disobeyed the federal command how attempts were made to suppress news stories that were unfavorable to the board and the silly law under which the board operated how representatives of the board refused to hear statements from those who were charged with violation how one union faction was given almost complete freedom of action and another was told in effect to go jump into the river river and how union leaders and racketeers had played politics to maintain their dominance in legislation and when you look through the roster of employees of the board and exam examine i ne their history you plainly see what the isms iams have dragged in much of SEC rules edicts seem wholly unnecessary I 1 get pretty disgusted with the mou things of those folks who would change us all over night and make us into robots to be governed by the voice or by radio the securities and exchange commission has issued so many rules and regulations has entered so many decisions has made so many investigations that appear to be wholly unnecessary that it has put the federal government in a position from which it probably never will fully untangle itself I 1 had quite an argument the other day over the statement that most people believe a permit by the SEC to sell a certain stock amounts to federal approval of the shares i involved n of course I 1 know that a permit by the commission does not give that approval the damage Is that people will be influenced by knowledge of such a federal permit they will think the shares are good whether they are or not the wages and hours division of the department of labor is another adoth fir example like the securities and bic exchange commission of too much federal government it was bid bad enough gha to combat all of the mess made by the brand of thinkers in the labor department the wages and hours gang strikes me as being much worse frankly I 1 doubt that those folks know enough to come in out of the rain yet they are striving to expand their power they will bring farmers small town businesses and everything else under the death hand of government it if they can get away with it mr ickes must not be forgotten he is secretary of the interior but honest harold has not missed an opportunity in in seven years to attack anybody and everybody who happened to disagree with him recurring demands that F D R give 3rd ard term stand this is a year of national elections there will be a lot of snarling as indeed it already has started there was that recent incident of president roosevelt messing into 5 an already badly messed ohio re 1 liet lief situation facts that situation has since developed ind indicate irate that mr roosevelt criticized governor bricker brick er of ohio either because the president was given a lot of misinformation or because the ohio governor is mentioned frequently as a dark horse for the republican presidential nomination there are those recurring demands and by republicans and some democrats that mr roosevelt announce right away if not sooner than that whether he be is going to seek a third term AU all that Is accomplished by that sort of thing is to show definitely how foolish a politician can appear when he talks out of turn such public statements demanding that mr roosevelt announce are no more ridiculous however than the action of numerous would be democratic C candidates for M their bartys top nomination when they said they are candidates if mr roosevelt does not run that shows something too it demonstrates that vice president those who have tak garner en such a position are cheap and are not willing to rise or fall with the tide of politics I 1 liked the way cactus jack garner announced he said he was in the battle to win because he wanted the nomination no mention was made of mr Roosevel ts possible candidacy there were no its or ands or buts hopes republicans will soon show signs of sense and while I 1 am taking down my hair and combing out the bangs I 1 wish that the republicans would begin to show some signs of sense but here they are three candidates out and only one shooting straight from the shoulder senator Vanden lerg of michigan has been riding two or three horses at once ile he apparently stin still has a package of liberalism in his pockets and district attorney dewey with one big time speech that I 1 could not understand however I 1 reckon the speech had something in it because a lot of new dealers made fun of it if they had not been hit they would not have squealed the other republican candidate senator taft of ohio has tangled a time or two with president roosevelt and my guess is that he took off some white house bark because he was pretty close to the mark but in the background are a lot of hopefuls who are sticking out their tongues among them fo former r governor landon of kansas who once ran against mr roosevelt on a program and platform that he could do better than mr roosevelt the very same things that mr roosevelt was doing well anyway folks I 1 think we may live through it that is we will survive if rural america keeps its head and uses it |