Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-09-20

tration, and by the help OF which or IN
! spite of which governmental detectives
/ must be accomplished.
Business Man Remiss.
The business man, moreover, has not
put his own house in order as he
i might have done. This depressio ion
4 the fifteenth major one in the last
i century we are told on high author
ity-caught him unprepared.
| During the period of prosperity and
high profits, he paid big salaries and
large dividends, put aside reserves Tor
the depreciation or obsoleScence OF his
plant, a surplus for future DIVIDENDS
and sinking funds for his bonds. In
| those golden DAYS he looked ahead
when it came to his interest, his
dividends and his plant, and made
| provision for them, but. with rare ex-
| ceptions, he did not look ahead when
| 1t came to his labor, and he did not
make provisions for it against the
hard times which were around the
corner.
Happily, the business man is be-
/ ginning to do this now. He Is try
ing to work out plans for unemploy-
ment reserves, either cooperative or
otherwise, which must appreciably
minimize the effects Of the next de-
preston on forced unemployment.
I count this distinct gain, for the
problem belongs not to government but
| to industry itself, and whether you
regard it as an obligation on industry
or as something which industry should
do for its own protection and welfare,
the fact is that unless industry does
make provision for forced unemploy-
ment, the pressure on Congress and on
State legislative bodies will be so great
that some sort of legislative dole or
other unsound panacea, which may be
on our backs forever, will be inevitable.
Industry Seen Awakened.
It seems to me that this depression
has at least one happy angle. 1T has
awakened industry to a higher sense
Of its public obligations, and to the
necessity of a more enlightened eco
pomic craftsmanship. So believe that
industry will no longer look so much
to government to police 1t and subsi-
die 1t and cure the ills Of its own
making, and that it will realize that
| its future depends no more on the
brains in its office than on the labor
in It's shop.
Neither has the fnancier measured
| up any too we'll to his public oppor-
| tunities. In this age of consultations
and mergers and corporate pyramiding
! practices of sound American bankers
have not prevailed enough, and the re-
suit has been that stable business enter
! prtSeS have often not survived ambi-
/ tious schemes Of over-f1nanctng and
er-merging, with the alluring profits
they held out; and through a too-in-
| tensive salesmanship, securities of un-
certain value or Of no value have found
their way into the hands of the public.
. L. -. k1-AA 49,
can 11nancierS Of courage and patriot
ism, because financial leadership will
in the next few months be subjected
to its greatest test in history.
The truth Is that while there should
never be an unholy alliance between
business and government. there
should be an entente cordiaIe between
them. The cardinal mistake both
business and finance make is to re-
gard government as something apart
You can hardly think Of public
day, either at home or abroad, which
IS not shot through with political and
governmental repercuSsionS.
New Political Philosophy.
would like to see business and
finance embrace a new political phi
losophy. The collective mind of the
era shapes the era, and the collective
mind of this era Is the business mind.
It should understand that government
must not be looked on as a source Of
selfish protection or Of special privi-
lege. 1t realizes now that bad gov
eminent Is bad for business. It
should realize next that good govern
ment Is good for business, and the
power and training of business, the
ability. the energy and the fidelity that
go with it. should be made more
available to the State.
BY developing high order of self
government, business viii do much to
throw on the incubus of excessive
government interference. It can so
regulate itself as to relieve govern
ment largely Of the necessity Of regu-
lating it.
In this process the lawyer has his
distinct part to play. 1t is easy to say
that here he is too conservative, there
too much given to professional ped
antry, or that his training emphasizes
the rights of property too much and
the rights. Of man too little.
The lawyer Is the natural and log
ical leader in this Republic He may
not aspire to ONCE, but politics and
government can never be alien to his
work. The foundation rocks of poll
tics are liberty and justice, and the
lawyer translates them and applies
them. He applies them not as abb
stractions but as concrete realities.
The law itself Is not static. It flows
| ON In the streams Of time, and the
lawyer shapes and guides its course.
Responsibilities Of Lawyer.
The lawyer knows that most human
problems have two sides, and he is
trained to balance values and ex-
periences, so as to find the right side.
In this land, founded so largely as
an asylum for the oppressed, where
freedom IN religion and liberation for
the convictions Of others were to pre-
vail, who better than the lawyer can
check bigotry and intolerance when
they arise to poison the purity of our
most priceless heritage? Better than
any other, the lawyer can furnish
leadership which will show faith in the
efhcacy OF truth, and faith in the
courage Of the people to face 1t.
believe the people want the truth.
II politics has fallen from its once
high estate. think this Is largely
que to the fear OF so many in political
life to face the truth. Talk to men in
public life and see how different their
public and their private views often
are. 1t Is almost as If they think the
truth must be dressed UP. that it
must be camoudaged with sophistries
ana falacies. Side stepping and
pussy footing two soft sounding
names for political cowardice and
hypocriSy-are becoming a fine art.
II We would help the American
farmer to his feet, why delude him
and ourselves into thinking it can be
done by lifting him up by his own
bootStraps?
II you would yield to the cry Of
some militant minority to put its par
ticular panacea through the sumptuary
course of governmental mandate, why
not face the fact that whenever you