Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-09-06
u. S. POSTWAR POLICIES
BLAMED AS SLUMP CAUSE
Senator Shipstead, in Radio Forum, Sees
100000 Winter Jobless-Asks
Extra Congress Session.

she can make the indemnity payments
no longer, if at the same time she is to
pay interest on other borrowing. Ger
many is therefore in the plight OF the
steamboat that could either move up
stream or blow its whistle, but not do
both these things at the same time.
Under the treaty of Versailles she is
expected to go on paying indemnities,
and OF course those who have loaned
her money have required and expect in
terest on the loans. In her position as
debtor unable to go on with too eX-
tensive burden, Germany is in the
same position as other governments and
millions OF private persons corporations
and communities the world over, unable
to pay interest on loans made on the
oasis Of inflated credits. The mounting
Ialue OF gold, with its accompanying
decreasing price level. has increased the
burden of debt for all debtors alike far
beyond their ability to pay.
Governments Bankrupt.
Governments the world over, includ-
ing the entire Western Hemisphere lex
cept Canada and the United StateS)
are in similar condition of insolvency
The state of affairs in Australia is as
bad as that of Chile. Brazil. Spain or
Austria. Japan suffers acutely. China
is bankrupt. India Seethes because of
economic chaos. We keep reading of
the flight from the mark and the pound
We have also seen the flights of cabi-
nets from London to Paris, from Berlin
to Paris and London, and from Wash
ington to all these capitals. Why all
this hysteria of flight?
If one prefers to consider the world
by occupations and classes. he will find
the agricultural and live stock industries
everywhere in the same destitute con-
dition. Swamped with debts which they
cannot pay, blinded by conflicting re-
ports of governmental policies, those
engaged in them are ready. in many
instances, to throw up the sponge.
Mining and related industries, such
as petroleum, ere loudly calling for
governmental operation. regulation, price
control and tariff protection-for every
thing. in short, except the traditional
economic principle of untrammeled free
competition This is as true of Europe
as Of Asia. as true OF South African
mining as Of Chilean nitrate, as true of
copper as of coal and Gil
Turn to the manufacturing and trans
porta ton interests. One finds them in
all countries in the same whirl of I'M
certainty confusion and controversy as
to public policy or their own trade
policies.
The hotels Of Europe and America are
filled with representative Of all these
industries nervously arguing with each
other about remedial action.
The investing classes are in trouble
Their railroad securities and building
bonds are daily shrinking in value in
spite Of the fact that they have for
years enjoyed the highest rates and
rents in history. Unbelievable figures
are quoted to us in recent discussions
of proposals to take care for some years
of cefaulted building and construction
bends. AT the present price level. rail-
road rates, certainly in large portion
of our inland territory. are almost con-
ifs catcry on agricultural products.
The clamor for wage reductions goes
on throughout the world. The theory
seems to b. that because the cost Of
living IS alleged to have declined. the
decline. The basis for this belief, of
course. is the assumption that wage
earners have no inherent right to aspire
to higher relative standard of living
than they can attain in periods CT de-
preston. This assumption is again
based on the orthodox principle that
the income to capital. even though such
capital structure be heavily inflated,
must be maintained at all costs. and
Sop4GoL 4OSoSo GIG Gu
to labor by reduction CT wages.
Sinking in Sea of Debt.
The amazing thing about it all is
that here We are. - years after the
war ended, two years after the
present depression began. without a
glimmer of consensus rs to what the
connection has been. if any, between
the war and the depression. or between
the depression and policies pursued
since the war. We have had endless
consultations. and nothing has come
out of them but feebly pious hopes and
endless temporizing. Bankers meet and
meet again, and out of each conference
comes some formula that has for its
object the liquidation of existing obli-
cations as quickly as possible, and then
the creation of more Indebtedness as
means of stimulating revival But
the world is already sinking in sea of
debt. To add to these debts seems like
pouring water in a pond where a man
is already drowning.
officials travel about looking owlish
and suppressing their sense of great
Importance and responsibility. Econo-
mists sit around tableS-round and
square and other shapes-like astrolo-
gers of the Middle Ages trying to divine
economic heavens. In spite of it all,
the peoples of the world have so far
been given no clear. single and compre-
henSive formula for the intelligent IN
derstanding of the signs of the times.
One is reminded of the blind men
who were asked to describe the ele-
plant. One grasped his tail and said
The elephant is like a rope" An
other grasped his leg and said, The
elephant is like tree" The one who
felt his trunk said, He is more like a
snake" Another. feeling his ear, said.
This animal is like a big fan" But
the man touching his body said, "You
are all wrong; the elephant is like
house" In this sense we may say that
We have an economic elephant on our
hands.
1t Is natural that we should first
think of our own troubles in the United
States. We have a lot of them, some
implied in what I have said generally
regarding world conditions. some that
relate to our special situation. We have
certain problems of transportation,
trade. agriculture. labor and finance
that are complicated and serious, reach
ing cut over the entire life and activity
Of our Nation. Those problems can
hardly be more than enumerated in a
brief radio address. but that does not
mean that they are unknown and I'M
explored In point of fact, we shall
have this Winter to face them all, and
to do so at the worst possible time
when the rest of the world is facing its
own desperate situation and turning o
us for help, and when urgent difficulties
are crowding in upon us from every
angle. The years of our alleged pros
perity and, unfortunately, OF our SNUG
complacency passed by without any eff
fort on the part of our responsible lead
crs to marshal the facts and discover
the nature and significance of these
problems. vet the problems were there