Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1931-06-25
"The American Standard of Living"
BY EINAR HOIDALE
of the Minneapolis Bar.


should work out of the present depres-
sion as soon as possible.
How is il to be done and who Is to
do it?
1t will not do to tell the laborer
or the farmer that he must work out
his own salvation.
A Duty to Perform.
You (the industrialists) have as
sumed leadership. You have taken
command. You sit in the saddle. You
have shaped our course. You have
led US to the point at which we have
arrived You have the benefit of
large experience, of high education,
of great wealth and of commanding
influence. Because of these advan-
tages in your hands and at your dis
posal it is for you to set in motion
the forces that will give US a more
substantial and enduring American
Standard of Living"
| 1t will not do to scold the common
man in the forenoon because he is too
extravagant and chide him in the
| afternoon because he boards his
money instead of spending it. The
| fact of the matter is that the average
American is industrious and econom-
| zeal, considered from the American
Standard Of Living"
We have plIaty of extravaganza in
America but that fault does not curse
the average American home.
When six millions are out Of work
| il will not do to tell the man ON the
street that he is unwilling to work
that he is lazy and that he only pre-
tends that he is willing to labor.
| That is no answer.
With no fair market prices for any
of the products of the farm, it is of
small benefit to the farmer TO tell him
to diversity or to fertilize his lands
in order to produce more.
Under these conditions what can the
| worker do to bring about prosperity?
What can the farmer do?
Remedy Is Square Deal.
There is only one way to bring
about lasting prosperity and that is
to seriously set about the task of
establishing justice and square deal
as a throbbing living force in our ma
tional and economic life, instead of
having so much futile talk about the
american Standard Of Living" pros
perity just around the corner" and
other meaningless phrases.
The plain outspoken truth is that
for years our political and economic
agencies have been bent to favor
privileged few. These few have
drained and absorbed our constantly
that the disparity between the earn
ings of the many who toll and create
wealth and the earnings of those who
garner and reap the annual increase
is so great as to cause men to gasp
in wonder. Through the years, with
the sureness of mathematical pro-
erosion, the holdings of the few have
increased and the gulf between them
and the common man, whose small
Individual contribution and production
goes to make up the national aggre-
gate, has widened to the detriment Of
US all
For years we have suffered from
this condition. Now, in a period of
serious depression, this disparity
strikes US full in the face. The aver
age man has no reserves to spend.
Fear of still worse conditions makes
him hang on to such small savings
as he may possess. He has wants that
he would like to satisfy but he has
little or no purchasing power. What
he has earned has been spent in an
effort to approximate the American
Standard of Living"
Common Folks are the Consumers.
On the other hand, those who have
cornered an altogether disproportion-
ate share of the wealth and annual
increase are too few in number to
constitute a consuming public. As
consumers they are entirely made
quate. They cannot eat the whole
pack of sardines. The rest Of the peo-
pie have the ability to consume but
do not have the means with which to
buy.
The dwindling income of the aver