Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1931-12-31

finished products or the mdnuIaC-
turing industry. Without equal po-
litical and economic organization on
the part of the raw products and
the raw products producing states,
the people of these 80 states will
doubtless continue to wallow in the
present mire of discrimination
which has all but brought insol-
vency to the millions of people liv
ing in the raw products producing
sections of the south, the middle
west, and in the Rocky Mountain
states.
Political and economic equality
for the raw products and the raw
products producing sections will
serve the national welfare; in the
long run, even the manufacturing
industry will be on much sound
er basis than it is today In this
world, we should live and let live
and above all, we must let live in
! order that we ourselves may live.
This is something that selfish mo-
nopolized industry does not under
J stand. The failure of monopolized
industry to understand and practice
this rule is probably the Outstand-
! ing cause of the present common
distress in the nation. This, which
we call depression, did not acct
dentally happen. No lesser person
age than the Honorable Frank A.
Vanderlip, former president of the
National City Bank of New York,
in an address before the Los An
geles University club in February
of this year, in speaking of the pres
ent economic conditions, said:
'It is the most stupid ever known
because it is man made and not due
to national causes"
Tonight, INDUSTRY throughout the
land is in distress, yet, it is only
reaping the whirlwind which it
sowed When it dealt unfairly with
those engaged in the production OF
raw products of the farm, the mine
and of the oil field, it ultimately i'm.
poverished some 40 million people
on the American farm, in the coal,
lead, and copper mining districts
and in the oil fields. These people
| impoverished are now unable to buy
the products of industry. Industry
destroyed it's best market. In
dustry is in distress tonight be-
cause it can not sell it's products.
1t simply dealt from the bottom Of
! the deck until it has broken the eco
nomic game, and it has no one with
whom to play. Industry is down,
and it is never going to come back
until there is some reasonable par
| ity of prices between the finished
produces of industry and the prod
ucts of the farm and of the oil, coal,
| lead and copper industries. When
producers of the farm and of the
mine are able to sell their products
and buy back the finished products
of industry at price commensurate
with the price they receive for the
products which they sell, industry
will have a market.
There is still another reason why
the income of The nation is reported
from a few financial centers rather
than from the producing section:
$hat is absentee ownership. A great
portion of the income, which is re-
ported from the centers of finance,
is actually produced out through
these western and southern states,
yet, the ownership of the profitable
institutions in these states is in the
hands of the barOnS Of wealth who
reside in the few eastern financial
centerS.
Chain stores in these agricultural
and mining centers are but agencies
used to drain daily the wealth of
these sections into the few financial
centers. The profits earned by chain
stores are not kept in town to build
and support the community, but are
daily shipped out of town to New
York, Chicago or some other east
ern center. The profits derived
from the merchandising in a home
owned store remains in the COM
munity and are used to build up the
community.
The chain store is only part and
parcel of monopoly and autocratic
wealth, however, if the chain store
can succeed and drive out of busi
ness the individual merchant, then
will have completely confscated the
opportunities of the individual
American citizen to engage in busi-
ness When the time comes, that
the individual American citizen can
not successfully operate retail
store on the main street of his home
town, then there is no opportunity
left in American life for the Amer
ican citizen to be free Independent
business man. The chain store i'm
poverishes local communities and is
a contributor to unemployment. II
you cannot engage in business. If
your sons and daughters can not
engage in business, if you are un-
employed and at the same time
have been contributing to the chain
store system, you have little right
to condemn your government Tor
an economic condition which you
have helped to bring about.
Monopolized industry through
ruthless competition has driven out
of business thousands of individual
owned smaller industries. Monop-
olized commerce has driven out of
business thousands engaged in COM
mercial activities Autocratic and
monopolized wealth through CEN
tralized banking has confiscated the
credit to the individual citizen and