Show grassroots government aid destroys constitutional freedoms AN N OLD ADAGE tells us we should not look a gift horse in the mouth we apply that adage too literally when it comes to a so called gift from the federal government ern ment we whether as individuals or as state or local governments accept what is offered without careful scrutiny of the string that is tied to the gift with it we accept conditions that deprive us of the freedoms guaranteed by the american constitution As individuals we accept with that so called gift regulations that deprive us of the privileges of f tr r e e citizenship 71 4 which have been our heritage the tha farmer V who accepts a go government V handout is told what to raise when to plant how to cultivate and when to reap he is no longer a free agent in the conduct of his farm he is regimented he is told what to do by government that is too much government the school teacher looks longingly to washington tor for a salary increase and washington is holding out 8 an 11 inducement for acceptance when the increase comes there will come with th it instructions as to what she shall teach her pupils and how she shall teach it she will have become but a cog of a vast educational machine she will have lost the opportunity f for or individuality that has endeared her to her pupils what has happened to the individual also has happened to the state and local government units As an illustration the state of california needed irrigation water tor for her inland valleys the interior department would provide the needed dams and ditches but with a string tied to the offer the irrigation system when completed would be operated by washington washington would make the rules would say to whom water might be supplied and how much it would be operated by a washington bureaucracy california no longer will be boss of her water supply when completed the irrigation system will be a gift from the federal government who pays for these lavish gifts made by the federal government ern ment the money that is supplied so generously comes from the pockets of american citizens from maine to california f tom pom the canadian line to the gulf of ale mexico I the people of 0 other states do not benefit from the water supplied to california farms but they pay for it f too much jover government rim nt leads to regimentation and a bureaucracy to operate that too much government from a bureaucracy can come coma a totalitarian dictatorship it did happen in germany italy russia and spain from it all comes partially at least the threat ot of a third world war the same dictatorship could come to america through the regulations and the bureaucracy born of too much government fords minimum wage many of us can recall the wall that went up from industry and especially the automotive industry about a quarter of a century ago the occasion was wa henry fords announcement no of a minimum wage in his plants of 5 for each eight hour day to wage earners it seemed like the arrival of the millennium to industrial management it seemed like the forerunner of dire catas batas the lowest paid man in a ford plant would take home for each six eight hour days a total of 30 automobile manufacturers especially saw ruin staring them in the face it has not worked that way for last year 1947 general motors paid to its hourly rate rata plant employees an average of for each six days totaling an average of hours that is twice tin the ford rate of some 25 years ago improved technology plus a 20 per cent increase in the price the public paid for cars made such wages possible it was not pal paid d out of profits to offset any additional raise in wages improved technology cannot again provide a considerable portion of the increase the public will pay for all of it in the prices they pay for cars the hardest job of the tax klevyer and the tax spender Is to fool the taxpayer taxpayers are not smart enough to stick together historians may probably will dig out an unbiased account of the place harry hopkins filled in the activities of the roosevelt administration the story as it appeared in colliers prepared by a new deal friend was interesting but not especially convincing a A profit Is not merely the difference between the buying and selling price it is the difference between the buying price plus the cost of selling and the selling price it takes 15 gallons ot af water to produce one gallon of beer and americas water supply is drying up rapidly |