Williston graphic., 1918-07-18
portance is the institution of sys-

portance is the institution Of sys-
tenn of personal credit. In the years
gone by the landless and penniless
man came forward and the govern
ment gave him homestead--a farm.
This established his credit. After
that he took care of himself. We
must rot lose sight of this fact. The
government can no longer establish
the credit of the individual in this
manner, 50 we must devise new meth
ods to cope with the new conditions.
A man without money or property
has no credit standing, but he has
potential earning power if he is we'll
and strong. His note cannot be dis
counted at the bank, but if hundred
such men, regularly employed, sign
ed the same note it would be an asset
of value and could be negotiated. Ma
chinery of credit must be establish
ed to care for the wants of labor, and
it will be. Industrial laborers can be
treated in class divisions. They can
be encouraged to save in common and
to pool their savings. These saw
ings, together with collective credit,
would permit them to either pur-
chase the factories in their given in
dustry, or to build new ones. This
would give them again the opportu-
nifty to save for themselves all the
returns of their labor, less the ex-
pense of operation. The government
may also find it necessary, in time
to take effective steps to control dis
tribution. This can be very effec-
lively accomplished by ascertaining
the actual capital investment en-
ployed; next, the total annual out
put and gross and net profits. From
the gross profits are deducted the
net actual expenses--no paodi, = to
be ;llowed. A sum will be set aside
for wear, tear and depreciation; next
dividend to stockholders not to ex.
ceed 10 per cent is paid-tfe balance
in peace times to be pro rated to the
employees and in war times it should
go to the government. Such sys-
tenn would be fair to capital and la
Dor and give each just return. This
would be a cooperative division of
profits. If such plan had been in
effect at the present time it would
have given the government an income
many times in excess of that derived
from the present income tax and
great enough to largely do away with
bond sales, and at the same time no
industry would be injured. In this
manner the problems of cooperation
will come up from time to time until
it becomes a great subject for study,
investigation and application in the
coming century.
have only limited of few Of the
problems of cooperation. l mention
these because they are imme 1iately
pending for solution. One could go
on stating problem upon problem in
endless succession that we know will
present themselves for solution in our
complex economic structure within
the next few years. One who does
not take up these questions and give
them serious study will not under
stand the age in which he lives, amid
the rapid progress and development
which we will experience after the
world war. This is what l mean when
I state that our individualistic sys-
tenn must and will be modified. If
the change is made in this manner
we can still retain the best in the
system that we have and it would in
effect be preserving equal economic
opportunity by different methods oc-
casioned by the new conditions. This
would be progress fitting and in
keeping with our American life and
institutions. It is, however, a fact
that progress, either political or
economic, meets with opposition. The
rule is that those who are we'll fixed
want to leave we'll enough alone, as
they term it. This is entirely losing
sight of the fact that while "well
enough alone" is we'll and gcod for
those that have, there are countless
millions who have nothing and their
equality of opportunity is gone. 1t
is wise statesman who shapes the
policy of government so that the po-
litical and economic rights and con-
ditions parallel and work in harmony.
We still have equal political rights,
but economic pressure is taking away
from the new generation equality Of
opportunity. This is plain to every
one who has given the subject any
thought. AS stated before, the po-
litical equality and economic equality
of opportunity are so interviewer in
our national structure that it is hard
for the average citizen to distinguish
the difference and as the pressure Of
population increases and the standard
of living decreases, he is apt to begin
to think that his personal liberty is
infringed upon. This would indeed
be a dangerous state Of affairs in a
democracy, and must be avoided at
all events.
Fortunately all these problems can
be solved if we will take them up and