The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1922-10-11

excuse to experiment in the government handling
iof railroads. teegraphs, shipbuilding, etc., with
the resulting fearful waste of over 10 billions of
dollars which is now coming home for us in taxes
to pay
Mr.. McAdoo had made admirable record
in the driving of the New York tunnels, and
when President Wilson turned the railroads over
to him, he, without doubt, hoped that Mr.. McAdoo
would make such a good record that the presi-
dency could be kept in the Wilson family. Had
McAdoo been successful and the waste of over
one billion six hundred millions in the railroad
administration been avoided, Mr.. Cox, in all pro-
babilty, would never have been heard from. Gov
eminent control simply failed, and the like ex-
pertinent in shpbuilding, artillery, arplanes, and
nearly everything the government entered into
have resulted in such appalling disaster to gov
eminent finances only to emphasize the weak
ness of the socalistic idea. Had the Republican
party been in power the threatened strike would
probably have compelled them to take the same
course that President Wilson did with probably
equally disastrous results.
In North Dakota, Townley went into whole
sale experiments in Socialism. Governor Estes
now says that the reason Townley failed was be-
cause Townley did not honestly try out the Non
partisan league idea of government ownership.
Nestos now promises to try it honestly. We can
safely predict in advance that Governor Nestos
is going to make just as great failure of it as
Townley did. A principle that will not work out
in practice will fail, no matter where tried-by
Republicans, Democrats or Nonpartisan league
organizations
We now have multitude of both federal and
state boards and commissions, with overlapping
and conflicting duties, to regulate nearly every
activity of life We are commanded what to eat
and what to drink. We have organizations clam
orng for authority to tell us how we should dress,
what pictures we may see, what thoughts we may
think.
Surely there must be middle ground be-
tween the extreme anarchistic idea of abolishing
all law and the other equally extreme Socialistic
idea of having everything regulated by law, an
idea that has had but one result everywhere, and
that is the erucifxion of liberty
We well afford to abolish these tax eating
boards and commissions, both state and national,
by wholesale. We could easily discharge half a
million useless employees of the government alone,
and tremendous trimming around the Capitol at
st. Paul should be for the public good
We simply refuse to learn the lessons of his
tory. The disasters of Russia teach nothing.
Our own fearful war waste with resulting tax
burdens, the experience of North Dakota, and
lost of other states, have effect in teaching
our political leaders anything. Experiments with
Socialism must be continued and expense and
waste piled up.
The average farmer now puts in IA to 16
hours per day in good hard work. If the govern
nent owned the farms and sent the same farmers
% farm them we would at once have army
Icing the most slovenly and Indifferent work dur
ng the most scant union hours. If our present
armer breaks his binder he takes the broken part
o blacksmith, has it fixed and goes ahead. If
he government owned the farm this same farmer
would haul it into the grove and make the govern
nent get him one, with the result that the
public must always foot the bill
Where mankind gets the crazy notion that
the government does anything it costs nothing
question that is beyond us. If we could firm
Y get it into our noodles that every time the gov
rnment does anything for US it costs twice what
We could do it for ourselves, then would not
o ght-heartedly vote on ourselves the tax bur-
ems which you have graphically pointed out.
Editors Note: The above article, reprinted
rom the Minneapolis Tribune written by
Judge Laudon in reply to the editorial reprinted
rom the Tribune in the last issue of The Gazette.