Evening star., 1932-02-14
Confounding the Issues.

It is a strange mixture Of logic and
emotion that has been offered to slim
ulate sentiment in favor of the La
Toilette Costigan bill for direct Gov
ernment aid, upon which the Senate
may vote tomorrow The mixture takes
form in that argument so well stated
by Senator Johnson of California as
follows:
! say relief. and I do not mean re-
lief alone to the bankers and TO rail-
road people. Relief. l say, not only
to bankers and to railroads, but relief
Just 10 Gods common all, the common
people of this land.
That testimony shows what? Women
about to become mothers underfed
themselves
That testimony shows what? Little
children with rickets increasing in large
percentages.
That testimony shows what? Tuber-
culosiS rampant among the weak and
among the children.
Then, tell me that you will give
S2,0OO,000,000 to bankers and to rail-
roads and will deny 1915, 100000 Of d.
rect relief unto these children and
those who need it most?
Senator Johnson asks why it is that
We always begin with our relief meas
ures at the top" where obviously, ac-
cording to his point Of view, float the
bankers and the railroads, instead of at
the bottom where one finds the 'hu-
man beings, just like you, sir, and
Just like me, human beings; and among
those human beings are not only the
men. but the women and the little
children as well ~
OF course, it is not a fact that the
United States has given" or proposes
to give $4,000 100000 TO bankers and to
railroads, and it is manifestly miscon-
STRUNG the provisions of the Recon-
struction Finance Corporation legisla-
ton to say that any outright gift of
dollar in cash is proposed. 1t can be
said with truth that there is nothing
to guarantee that, even If the total
amount possible under this legislation
Is loaned, it will ever be repaid And
it can also be said with truth that
there is nothing to guarantee that to-
morrow morning the earth will not
split in half-nothing, in fact, except
the prevailing opinion and weight Of
evidence to the contrary.
But the analogy between the vari-
Gus efforts to loosen the flow of credit,
construed as aid to the Interests" p"
and the proposal for direct aid in the
form of Federal money to be dispensed
among the thousands who may need it.
remains false without resort to tech
nical distinctions between a loan and
. gift.
There may come time, and evidence
can always be amassed to indicate that
1t is here, when the breakdown of pri-
vate charity and the bankruptcy of the
States and the cities require that not
only the vaults of the Treasury, but the
granaries and the warehouses of the
Nation, be flung wide open that the
hungry may be fed and the naked
clothed. But it is nothing less than
willful confusion of issues to compare
that sort of emergent aid with the re-
construction policies now being whipped
into shape through bipartisan effort at
Washington.
One may with logic contend that
Senator Johnson has himself reversed
the order of things; that Government
aid is in reality being applied at the
bottom" and not at tie top For it
is surely established that it is not the
people, the human beings just like you,
sir. and just like me, human beings"
who have failed. What has for the
time being failed, and brought down
thousands of the people in its fall, is
the economic structure upon which the
people rely for their support. Before
the people can recover, this structure
must be brought back to proper balance.
If any lasting good could be accom-
plished by doing out gold by the mil
lions to the people, there would be no
question of doing it. But to envision
the banks" and the railroads and
the interests as entities above and
apart from the people, fawned upon by
a servile government that hands them
its money bags while men and women
starve and children die, is a task that
belongs to the fantast on soap box.
The Senate will vote tomorrow or
within few days on the proposal to
appropriate the s375 900 900 for direct
Federal aid. Those who sponsor the
measure have doubtless convinced
themselves that the money would al
leviate the sufferings that have been
described as demanding this aid; that
it will accomplish as much relief, for
instance, as the s1,1O0, 100000 in cash
already paid to the needy veterans
under the soldiers bonus; that 1t will
not commit the Government to re-
sponsibility that no government yet de-
vised by the hand of man has been able
to meet. But respect for these sincere
men prevents the opinion that they
have sought this money on the assump-
ton that the Federal Government Is
willing to help the bankers and the
railroads, but coldly refuses to feed the
starving man or heal the stricken child.