Omaha daily bee., 1921-05-22
By SHELDON S. CLINE.

4 washington, May 2l.-Tne pendu-
lum of sentiment in Washington
against class legislation and class
favoritism of all kinds in government
| is swinging far. Members of the ad-
| ministration and leaders in congress
are determined to root out this evil,
and any organizations or propagan-
dists seeking such favoritism in the
| future may as we'll make up their
| minds in advance that the going will
| be hard
The evil had its beginning back
generation or more ago, but these
| beginnings were so slow that for
long time it was not recognized as
thing which might become menace
to the government and people. But
during the last few years growth
pressure for class legislation has be-
come well nigh intolerable.
Not only will future efforts to OBJ
tain special privileges for the few at
the expense Of the many meet stone
wall opposition. but the swing of
sentiment may lead to the wiping out
of laws now on the statute books. An
indication OF how the national law
makers feel on this subject may be
found in the proposal that, In the
projected reorganization Of the gov
ernment departments, the Depart
ments of Labor and Agriculture shall
be abolished, on the ground that they
are run in the interest Of special
classes. Some difficulty may be had
in understanding why the activities
OF the Labor and Agricultural de-
partments are deemed class favorit-
ism. while those of the Department
of Commerce escape that stigma, but
abolishment Of the two departments
has many strong advocates.
At the present time the farmers
and organized labor are the worst
offenders in the matter of seeking
class privilege, and the situation they
have brought about is arraying
against them interests which ordi-
narily would be, and always ought to
be, friendly to them. 1t is to the
interest of the great body of the peo-
pie that agriculture should be pros
porous and that labor should be we'll
paid and steadily employed, but as
belief spreads that in the interest of
these two classes efforts are being
made to set aside the economic law
of supply and demand there Is bound
part of the general public. And 1t
Is easy to conceive that this resent
ment may. grow to a volume which
will overwhelm the organized farm
ers and organized labor costing
them more than they ever could
hope to gain through the special
privileges they seek.
Nor is this newly aroused senti-
n1ent against class favoritism con-
fined to the statesmen and law-mak-
ers in Washington. 1t is attracting
the serious attention of thinking men
in all parts Of the country and in
all walks Of life. and there is insist
ent demand that a stop shall be put
to It,
George e. Roberts, former direc-
tor of the mint, and now vice presi-
dent of the National City bank of
New York, in an article published in
the May issue of the Nations Bust
ness. has this to say on the subject
Of class privilege:
There cannot be general state
of activity in the industries unless
their products are being taken off
the market and consumed There
must be a free, full circulation of
goods, and that can only be when
the mass OIL tle people are DuylHR
freely. and the compensation of
workers and prices of products in the
principal industries are adjusted fair
ly to each other. No class can gain
anything by throwing the organiza-
tion out of balance, but the efforts
to promote class interests tie so
many knots in the channels Of cir
culation that the exchanges are
stopped. Industry and trade are |
strangled by the efforts of organi
tions to promote special interests.
THE Industrial organization Is
very much like great machine
which will not work unless all the |
parts are in order and in proper re-
lations to each other. If your auto
mobile goes back on you, you know
that something is wrong. and you
must find what it is and adjust it be-
fore you can hope to go on. 1t does |
no good to swear at it: you cannot |
force it; you must fix it. 1t works |
only when certain conditions are |
complied with, and, that is just as
true of the industrial organization.
Furthermore this law Of the !