Evening star., 1932-11-01

precedent, the most destructive unQeTIn
of Government yet proposed by pres
bands hand and rushed to the near
est provision store to spend it quickly
before the rapid depreciation had cut
its purchasing power in two
Wanted Stable Currency.
when the chairman Of the syndi-
cate Of the German trade unions Herr
GraSeman, appeared before the Dawes
Committee, put to him this question:
What can this committee 90 for Ger
man labor?'
Il expected the answer to be some
one OF the slogans Of labor. An g.
hour day, old age or disability pensions,
insurance against unemployment
something OF that kind Much to my
surprise the answer came promptly:
What your committee must do for
German labor, Is to give us a stable
currency Do you know, Herr GraSse-
man said, that for many months 1t
has been impossible for q wage Garner
in Germany to perform any Of his moral
obligations?
Knowing that a child was coming
to the family at certain time, there
was no way by which the husband
through effort or sacrifice or savings
could guarantee his wife a doctor and
a nurse when that event arrived. One
knowing that his mother was stricken
with a fatal disease could not by any
extra effort or sacrifice or saving be in
a position to insure her decent burial
on her death.
"'Your committee must Herr
Grasseman added. just as basic hu-
man thing give us a stable currency
and thereby insure to the worker that
his wages will have the same purchaS
| ing power when he wants to spend them
as they had when he earned them. :"
| And I ask Is that the preservation
Of opportunity and the protection OF
men by government.
Personal Banking Business.
/ Third In the last session the Con-
gress. under the personal leadership Of
the Democratic vice presidential can
| didate. and their allies in the Senate,
enacted law to extend the Govern
ment into personal banking business.
This l was compelled to Veto out of
| fidelity to the whole American system
of life and government l may repeat
! part Of that veto messag-and 1t re-
mains unchallenged by any Demo-
cratic leader. I said
1T would mean loans against secur-
| ity for any conceivable purpose on any
conceivable security to anybody who
| wants money. 1t would place the Gov
eminent in private business In such
| fashion as to violate the very principle
of public relations upon which We have
builded our Nation. and renders inse-
cure its very foundations. Such action
would make the Reconstruction Cor
! poration the greatest banking and
money-lending institution Of all his
| tory. 1t would constitute gigantic
| Capitalization OF banking and finance
to which the American people have
been properly opposed over a hundred
years. The purpose of the expansion
is no longer in the spirit Of solving a
| great major emergency but to establish
a privilege whether 1t serves q great
national end or not"
I further stated.
1T would require the setting up Of
a huge bureaucracy. to establish
branches in every county and town in
the United States. Every political
pressure would be assembled for par
ticular persons. 1t would be within
the power Of these agencies to dictate
the welfare Of millions of people. to
discriminate between competitive busi-
ness at will. and to deal favor and dis
aster amongst them. The organization
would be constantly subjected to con-
spiracies and raids Of predatory inter-
eSts. individuals, and private corpora
tions. Huge losses and great scandals
must inevitably result. 1t would mean
the Squandering of public credit to be
ultimately borne by the taxpayer"
I stated further that:
This proposal violates every sound
principle of public finance and of our
Government Never before has SO dan
gerouS suggestion been made to our
country. Never before has SO much
power for evil been placed at the un-
limited discretion of seven individuals. .
They failed to pass this bill over my
| veto But you must not be deceived.
This Is still in their purposes as part
Of the new deal.
Would Reduce Tariff.
Fourth. Another proposal Of our
opponents which would wholly alter our
American system of life Is to reduce
the protective tariff to q competitive
tariff for revenue. The protective tariff
and its results upon our economic
structure has become gradually embed
ed into our economic life since the first
protective tariff act passed by the
American Congress under the admins
tration Of George Washington There
have been gaps at times Of Democratic
control when this protection has been
taken away. But it has been so en-
bedded that its removal has never
failed to bring disaster. Whole towns,
communities. and forms Of agricul-
ture with their homes, schools and
churches have been built up under this
system of protection. The grass will
grow in streets of a hundred cities, a
thousand towns; the weeds will over
run the fields Of millions of farms if
that protection be taken away. Their
churches and school houses will decay
Incidentally another one Of the pro-
poSals OF our opponents which Is to de-
stroy equal opportunity both between
individuals and communities, Is their
promise to repeal the independent &C.
tion Of the bipartisan Tariff Commits
sion and thereby return the determine
ton Of import duties to the old log
rolling greed of group or sectional inter-
ests of congressional action in review
of the tariff.
Fifth Another proposal is that the
Government 60 into the power bust
ness Three years ago, in view of the
extension of the use of transmission of
power over State borders and the diff
culties of State regulatory bodies in
the face of this interstate action, !
I recommended to the Congress that such
interstate power should be placed under
regulation by the Federal Government
in cooperation with the State authori-
ties.
That recommendation was in accord
with the principles Of the Republican
party over the past so years, to provide
regulation where public interest had
developed In tools Of industry which