The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1920-04-08
AMERICA RUNNING
ON HER NERVE ONLY
THIS COUNTRY MUST FIND PLAN
TO EQUAlIZE WAGES AND
COST OF LIVING
NO CHANCE S0VItTS FIND foOTHOlO
Attempt Of Communists to Corrupt
American Federation OF Labor
Failed Utterly.
BY !. T.. Jones

BY J. T.. Jones
That the country has been turning
sharp corners without running into
the ditch is simply another proof that
the American nerve keeps steady even
though there are nnumerable ruts and
washouts endangering the highways
marked by the milestones Of property
destruction, decreased production, in
tiation. rising prices and enormous ex-
pansion of debts. Half the world has
been brought to bankruptcy and very
heavy burdens have fallen upon the
other half through the enhanced cost
of living. But the American spirit and
inclination to play the game Of life
fairly and to throw everyone out who
tries to stack the cards, have tri-
umphed. A few months ago the coun-
! try was prepared to view with grave
apprehension any attempt to upset the
government, while today the situation
is entirely different The state de-
i'partment at Washington has just made
public a foreign plan of Soviet Rus
sia," which was outlined in captured
documents that were being smuggled
into this country, proving that the
| American Communists were being
urged to seek as their goal the over
throw of the American Federation of
Labor and unite with the I. w. w.
and other "red" organizations, ."for
the purposes of the projected armed
revolution" The proposal has created
no uneasiness, even though it divulges
purpose to incite the workers of all
countries ito rise against their capi-
talists. and to wrest the power from
the capitalistic state" through armed
insurrection.
When person reads such stuff now
adays it Is only to wonder how these
Russians smoke such explosives with
our burning off their long whiskers,
but really their foreign plans" do not
cause any great concern. We do know,
though, that there was a period of
unrest In the United States when such
schemes created intense uneasiness in
Washington. 1t Is unfortunate, how
ever, that SO many trouble-makers still
survive.
The bank clearings outside of New
York are running about twenty five per
cent above what they did a year ago,
and the clearings in the big city are
even more than that There is no
mistaking the activity existing in In
dustrial affairs. Agricultural products
show decline and the farmers are
complaining that they are the first TO
suffer from falling prices. Merchants
are approaching the summer and fall
buying seasons with great caution, as
there are strong indications that food
and wearing apparel will be cheaper,
and in any event most buyers are not
taking the hazard Of laying in big
stocks
CommOnScnse and the practice of
/ the old virtues, industry, seJf-restraint,
prudent forethought and spirit OF CO.
operation have apparently succeeded
unrest" and gradually the nation is
getting in step again after several
years Of fictitious grandeur accom-
panying the open season for hunting
men
There are indications that we are
approaching the period of reaction in
temperament and disposition; and it
is going to be good thing to have
general season of politics, since 1t is
game that the American people love,
and it is semi-harmless form OF ex-
element that has just about enough
mental cocktail in it for tapering off
a war.
This Is going to be campaign in
which there will be no quarreling
about "the gold standard" "sixteen-to-
one" or any other forms of money
no matter whether Mr. Bryan runs the
democratic party. or his antithesis,
Senator Bailey, comes back" in
Texas. The flying dollar" has sue
ceeded the gold dollar, and gold coins
have hidden themselves out of sight.
That they exist and have proper
place in che world of finance and trade
is beyond question, but with bank
credits high and everybody bond
holder, and tens of thousands of new
investment accounts opened, who
wants to carry around load of gold
to make their clothes baggy? II
would be atrocious had taste in these
affiuent times when so many people
are busy trading of their last years
automobiles to get the latest spring
styles in 1920 cars, with the result that
automobile manufacturing shows an
increase OF nearly twenty-seven per
cent, Notwithstanding the fact that this
years cars cost from twenty-five to
forty per cent more than those OF a
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