Evening star., 1928-05-23

S0ranCe 1nQeeQ. since no pOAru WOulQ
be able TO resist the pressure of the
political forces which could be mustered
| in behalf OF every staple commodity to
| demand that the Government should
undertake the responsibility of at
| tempting to legiSlate its prices above
| those fixed In the normal operations
| of the law of supply and demand.
III. Widespread Bureaucracy.-A bu-
reaucratic tyranny of unprecedentcG
proportions would be let down upon ~
backs of the farm industry and its
distributors throughout the Nation In
connection with the enforcement of
this measure. Thousands of contracts
involving scores of different grades,
quantities and varieties of products
would have to be signed by the board
with the 4.400 millers, the 1000 meat
packing plants. the 5000 or more COT
ton and woolen mills. and the 2.700
Gamers If this bill had been In opera
tion in 1925 1t would have involved col
lections upon an aggregate Of over
and cotton.
Bureaucracy Gone Mad.
The bill undertakes to provide in
surance against loss, but presumably
only against reasonable and unavoid-
able loss, Just what this might be would
involve Judgment on the part of Gov
ernment employees upon tens of thou
sands of transactions running into bill
lions OF dollars. This is bureaucracy
gone mad. Cooperative associations,
-four mills. packing plants and grain
elevators will cease to be private and
become public agencies.
II there is any conclusion that we
can announce as final with regard To
governmental business operations, par
ticularly after the bitter and excessively
costly wartime experiences with such
enterprises, 1t is that we can not MAIN
tain bureaucracy OF such vast propor-
tions engaged in buying and selling
without constant danger of corruption,
mismanagement and prodigious tax
burdens No private agency OF so
gigantic and complex character at
tempting to juggle with profound
economic principles in such fashion
could survive under such circumstances,
and the chances for governmental
trading organization would be even less.
Swarms of inspectors, auditors, dis
bursers. accountants and regulatory
officers would be let loose throughout
the land to enforce the terms OF these
contracts and to curb the inevitable at
temptS at evasion of the equalization
fee. This plague of petty ofiicialdom
would set up an intolerable tyranny
over the daily lives and operations OF
farmers and of every individual and
firm engaged in the distributing OF
farm products. intruding into every de-
tail of their affairs. setting up thou
sands of prohibitory restrictions and
obnoxious inspections.
Such autocratic domination over our
major industry. its dependent trades
and the every day activities OF hum
dreds Of thousands of our citizens would,
indeed. be profoundly repugnant to
every instinct of our institutions. 1t
would undermine individual initiative.
place a premium upon evasion and dis
honesty, and poison the very wellsprings
of our national spirit of providing
abundant rewards for thrift and for
open competitive effort.
The arbitrary powers In the hands OF
the IL members OF the board are almost
incredible, But even more extraordi-
nary would be the veto power over the
board which this measure places in the
hands OF the commodity advisory
councils.
Acting with the board, these men
could throw the entire machinery of
the Government into an attempt to
raise or lower domestic prices at will.
Even though such efforts would ulti-
mately be doomed to certain failure,
these men would meanwhile. during the
course Of costly experiment, hold in
their hands the fate of vast industries
using farm products employing millions
OF persons and OF great eo-operatives
with thousands of farmer members.
nels OF trade and commerce; they
could alter at will the cost of living
influence wage levels in all lines of in
dustry, and affect conditions of busi-
ness In every part Of the country. The
mere enumeration Of such powers Is
the complete answer TO the proposal
that they be granted.
Would Exchange Proflteering.
4. encouragement to profiteering
and wasteful distribution by middle
men.--As was pointed out In the veto
last year. 1t seems almost incredible
that the farmers OF this country are
being offered this scheme of legislative
relief in which the only persons who
are guaranteed to benefit are the ex-
porters, packers. millers. Gamers. spin
ners and other professors. Their profits
Cs
other words. no particular incentive
toward careful operation, since each of
them holding contract. no matter
how unscrupulous. wasteful. or inefii-
cient his operation may have been.
would be fully reimbursed for all OF his
losses.
This would be bound to encourage
wholesale profiteering at the expense
OF the farmer and OF the consumer.
Every one OF these professors could
charge what he chose to his domestic
trade and recoup the loss incurred on
any one of his products thus made un-
saiable at home through excessive
prices by dumping 1t at reduced rates
in foreign markets. With such COM
plete guaranty OF profit these concerns
would be entirely without restraint or
limitation as TO profiteering and as TO
siovenly and wasteful processing and
selling operations.
Surely there could be no more direct
means OF destroying the very germ of
American commercial genius which is
so frankly envied by our foreign rivals
the tireless search for better and more
efficient business methods. the competi-
tive zeal for superior service and for
adequate returns through large sales OF
better merchandise at lower prices.
The packers could be commanded by
the board 10 buy hogs enough to create
near shortage at home and then raise
the prices 10 fixed level. The unsal-
able surplus would then be dumped
abroad at loss. which would thereupon
be made good out Of the pockets Of oil
taxpayers, including the farmers The
operations would involve an impene-
trable maze OF contracts between the
board and hundreds of packers and
provisioners The result would be be-
wildering snarl of entapgled accounting
problems because packing houses buy
one kind Of product and sell wide
range Of highly differentiated specialtics
To "eauslizf'' the losses on these would
! indeed be q task OF overwhelming difii-
, Guilty.
These objections were raised against
| the previous measure and apparently
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