Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-04-30
BRANCH BANKING
UNDER j. s. URGED.
Pole Tells c. of c. Plan
Would Decrease Difficult
ties Of Depositors.
Continued From First Page)

appeared to be consensus against the
Government trying to give unemploy-
ment insurance and that private inSur-
a11ce companies could enter the field
only in a limited way Leroy A. Lincoln,
vice president of the Metropolitan Life
Insurance Co. suggested that the COM
panies might better cooperate with in
divfdual business establishments to pro-
vide some sort of insurance benefit.
Hits Government Control.
In the opinion of Fred NJ. Sargent,
president of the Chicago 81 Northwest
ern Railway Co, no single thing could
happen which would give more courage
and inspiration to revival of prosperity
than to know the Government intended
to maintain a sacred regard for the
rights OF private property.
Speaking before the chamber today
on Government competition in business,
Mr.. Sargent said usurpation of State
rights through piecemeal legislation and
disregard for the Constitution had
brought Capitalization of Government
to the point of entering private busi-
ness
IF the Government can manufacture
and distribute electrical energy. as some
in Congress ardently want us TO. then
1t can mine and transport energy in
the form of COAL" he said. National.
ization of the power industry would be
merely first step toward the national
ization of all industry.
Violation of the Fifth Amendment.
mot only is the Federal Government
without authority to engage in private
business, but to do so Is a direct viola
| ton of the fifth amendment. which
provides that the National Government
shall not take private property for
public use without just compensation.
when the Government, with its I'M
limited powers and resources. enters
| into private business to compete with It's
own citizens, thereby destroying the
value of the property Of its citizens. It
is In my Judgment. Just as clearly TAX
| ing private property without compensa-
| ton as II it placed a sheriff in charge
and confiscated it,
When the public generally becomes
imbued with the fear that their Gov
/ eminent Is going TO destroy their in
! veStments by entering into private COM
| petition, then those investments Will
cease and seek refuge In other quarters
| and the main source Of prosperity will
be dried up
Asks Control Of Mergers.
Proposals for a Government agency
| to give advance opinions on the legality
of proposed industrial mergers was dis
cussed by G. Carroll Todd of Wash
! ington, former Assistant to the Attor-
I ney General
| THAT proposal" he said, has been
| before the country for more than 20
years, during four different admins
trations, without as yet enlisting SUM-
| Gent support to procure its enactment.
| The reasons are, I think, first, that the
country has not been convinced that
there is any need for changing the
\ N1N1 aAwnt - -.
| are serious objections to the proposal
| ITSELF
| The first objection, Mr.. Todd said, is
that any such agency would be for
midable addition to bureaucracy. An
| other he cited as the constant discus
sion which would ensue
IF transaction were submitted and
an opinion obtained" he declared
Controversies would inevitably arise as
| to whether all the facts had been
stated, or whether the transaction was
| put into effect in the exact form sub
mitted, or whether conditions f.=i so
changed as to make the opinion map
| plicable." q
Employment sterilization, the relA-
ton Of installment buying TO business
| depression, retail sales tax and trade
f, associations were among the subjects
| discussed before various groups Of the
chamber today.
M. B. Folsom. assistant treasurer of
the Eastman Kodak Co., in a round
table discussion before the manufacture
department of the chamber, told of the
measures adopted by industries in
Rochester, N. Y, to reduce seasonal
| fluctuations in employment.
| He said a survey of SO concerns, en-
| ploytng Al 900, revealed that production
and employment had been materially
stabilized by. sales forecasts, produc-
! ton scheduling, manufacturing for
stock, Standardization of products, di-
versif1cation Of products and intensity
| ing sales efforts.
Edwin C. Vogel, chairman Of the
Executive Committee of the CONNER
cial Investment Trust Corporation, in
speech before the chamber, defended
! installment buying against critics who
/ ascribe it as one Of the factors in bust
ness depression.
Defends Installment Buying.
The record of installment credits dur
ing depression, he said, compares IA
vorably with results of other forms Of
credit. He said that predictions that
| inStallment credit would collapse in
period of depression and unem-
ployment had proved unfounded in
the experience Of the past Is months
The assertion that installment buying
was mortgaging the purchasing power
of future years. he said, was unfair, as
ordinary installment credits were liuui-
dated within a year.
B. Earl Pickett, president of Freder-
lex Loeser & Co. of New York. speak
ing before the domestic distribution de-
tax as an unjust form of taxation, the
greatest burden of which would fan
upon the small consumer.
A general sales tax. he said is ad-
miniStratively impossible because Of the
wide ramif1cations and tremendous de-
tail involved in the collection Of a tax
on retail transactions.
He said 1t would amount to a wage
reduction, as it would lessen the buy~
ing power of the small consumers Inc
come, and would reduce consumption
by its psychological effect on retail
buyers.
Charles F. Abbot, executive director
of the American Institute Of Steel Con-
struction, Inc, said in a round-tabia
such organizations are the voice Of the
industry they represent. He urged that
trade organizations take the lead in
bringing about industry recovery.
Paul I. Aldrlch, editor of the National
Provisioner, Chicago, speaking on trade
associations. said that self-regulation Of
industry through trade organizations
must be based upon policy that con.
siders the rights Of the public, and that
there must be nothing in a self-regula-
ton program that stultifies Competition
or puts a premium on inefhciency.
Sees Need for Railways.
Henry I. Hartman of Boston, an offi-
cial of the New England Power Co. said
today the survival of the electric railway
industry in the face of automobile COM
petition testifles to its economic neces-
sity.
Mr.. Hartman spoke before the trans