Evening star., 1932-07-15
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

reaSoningS and rationaliZatiOnS
which are the invisible back
Il ground of this weird march OF
death''-noW in its third days
a curious enigma.
1t is a combination of hundreds of
minds whose reaSonings flow in roughly
parallel channels And these thou
sands of minds cover the wide range
from the highly original economic
philosopher to the purely parrot-li like
creature of mass suggestion, from that
of the man who would bring mankind
new gospel to that of the man who
does not look beyond the immediate
uses of few hundred dollars.
There are real thinkers among these
men. Some of them have grappled
with the lncomprehenSible question Of
what is wrong with the world as pro-
foundly as any college professor and
have evolved what appear to be highly
original ideas.
"A WhirI in the Mind"
Take, for example, the man who,
sleepless for To hours, sat wearily on
the curb in front of the Library of
Congress yesterday afternoon and ex-
pounded his philosophy. He said:
Its whirl in the minds of lots of
these fellows. A whirl in the mind is
about the most dangerous thing know
of.
Here's what I mean. A man sees
clearly in his own mind just how and
why the bonus should be paid. He sees
clearly that he is entitled to it. But
he just can't express himself. He
hasn't got the words to present the
full force of his thoughts to anybody
else Somebody argues with him. He
knows where the point is missed, but he
hasn't got the words to bring it out
to rebut the argument. Take Maj
Glassford-the speech he made the
night we came in was good. The fel-
lows recognized that he was friend
and smart diplomat, but they also
knew that he was on the other side,
that something was missing. Each man
knew what it was but he couldn't get
it into words.
Now, when that happens there Is
a whirl in the mind. There is lot
of energy stirred up which should be
given vent through words. Since the
words are not available it becomes a
pent-up energy. expressing itself in un-
rest, dissatisfaction, feelings of rebel
lion I probably can put it in words
better than most of them. I have had
very little schooling, but I have tried to
educate myself around libraries and
economics has been my hobby l took
a course in economics under Uni
versity Of California professor.
"Dollar" Meaningless.
"Now. about the Government not
being able to pay the bonus. Congress
must be awful dumb not to see the
pointer misled by the pernicious dol
lar psychology with which American
education has been polluted for the past
generation There is no such WORD
as dollar in scientific economics. The
word has no intrinsic meaning. A tree,
a. rosebush. a house-these are entities.
They mean something. But our whole
education has been in terms OF dollars
mere symbols-instead of real value.
AS a result the professions have been
prostituted Every profession has be-
come a business.
Now Congress can't seem to see the
distinction between dollars and real
values. 1t can't see that it should pe
thinking in terms of houses and po-
tatoes instead of in terms OF dollars.
And when the bonus question is trans
formed into such terms, it takes on a
very different aspect. The duty OF
Congress is to restore to the people real
values, and to do this it is entlreiy
justified in Juggling that mere symoCl'
the dollar. in any way it wishes.
Now. when we talk of the condition
of the country in terms of real values,
the way becomes clear. The one pos
sible road to restore those real values
to the people is relief. and then more
money is juggled to
make it possible. Any one who saw
what I did coming across the country
would realize that-who heard the
mayors of cities make speeches that
would have put them in Jail as bolshe-
viSs a few years ago. who heard little
children at the railroad stations shout
ing to us not to come back without
wiping out the Capital. 1t shows how
the spirit of the. country is running
and Congress doesn't realize it. Man
is a creature of his environment. He
thinks according to his environment.
The environment of the Congressman
is one thing-that of the underdog an
other thing. So they can't understand
each others thinking.
Slaves to Machines"
"The Government claims it has no
money to pay the bonus. If it hasn't,
that's its own fault. The American
people have become slaves to ma
chines-to automatic machines. That
Is the one fundamental element in the
present situation. These machines have
The Shade Sh,