Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1932-10-27
OPINION OF OTHERS
Continued from Page ~
THE RACKET SUPREME


events of the past twelve years can
hardly complain of not living In an
exciting age. Mark Twain In his fam
GUS Gilded Age could hardly visualize
the grand illusion we have seen. The
famous brand of optimism Of Colonel
Sellers was very modest in COMPARE
son with the stuff that the administra-
tion has peddled to us. Some of the
financial activities compare very
favorably with Colonel Sellers pro-
motion schemes and illusions.
If there is one thing the farmers
will hear for a long time, it will be
how much the government has done
for them, how much money has been
expended to stabilize prices. There
is no doubt but that when the farm
board goes out of business that there
will be large deficiency, which will
have to be paid by the taxpayers as
a whole. 1t might be worth while to
analyze a little and see where some
of this money went to. The first
crack out of the box thirty-five mil
lion dollars was granted the wine
growers in California. This was
granted to an association engaged in
making the socalled wine bricks in
plain violation of the prohibition
laws. Mrs. Mabel Wildebrand. one of
the better minds, who had been in
charge of the prohibition department
of the attorney general of the United
States during the Harding and Cool
idge administration, resigned and was
made the attorney of this outfit at the
tune of $4,000 year. A large part
of the 35 million was spent to pay off
Indebtedness owed to large banks in
Los Angeles and elsewhere. The loan
of this thirty-five million to help GER
tain favorites of the administration
to violate the laws of the country will
be charged to the farmers at large
throughout the country.
Another thing which will be
charged to the farmers from which
they received very little help. is the
high salaries paid to various men,
bers of the farm board organization.
which range as high as seventy-five
thousand year, the same salary as
the president of the United States re-
ceives. Nobody seems to get less than
twenty thousand year. 1t is safe
to say that you could hire any of
these men or one as good for less
than five thousand a year and the
common clerical hire for about fifteen
hundred. Why these high salaries?
Graft and nothing else. All will
eventually be charged against the
farmers and the better minds will
have one long laugh, they sure put
one more over I'm grand style.
Let us go back about twelve years,
on the entrance of President Harding
into the White House He surrounded
himself with what he called the bet
ter minds. 1t may not be out of the
way to see what happened to these
socalled better minds. First, there was
Forbes, a personal friend of President
Harding. He was put in charge of
the Veterans Bureau which was at
that time being organized to take care
of the disabled veterans. The ground
work was laid by him for this organi-
zation, the abuses date from that time
repeal of the entire veterans legis-
lation. He grated right and left and
finally ended up in the federal peni-
Tertiary at Leavenworth, Kan. DENLY,
the secretary of the navy, resigned
under fire when the oil scandal burst;
Fall, the secretary of the interior,
resigned under fire but was later con-
victed of graft and served year in
a penitentiary in Texas; Daughterty,
the attorney general, resigned under
fire, was later tried for graft but
acquitted: his brother, however,
banded in the pen; also friend of
his, Colonel Miller, the alien property
custodian, was convicted of graft and
served some time in the federal pen
itentiary at Atlanta, Georgia. The
great secretary. Mellon, greater than
Hamilton. finally resigned under fire,
Impeachment having been preferred
by representative from Texas.
These are only few of the better
minds, who fell by the wayside. They
all stuck together and If it had not
been for a few prOgressives | doubt
anything would have been done. The
thing to bear in mind, however, is
that there are a number of better
minds still at large, who sat with
these crooks and did not lift a finger
or do a thing to expose them. The
CapOne and Diamond Legs type of
criminals are far from being our
worst type. 1t is these better minds,
who with their high sounding phrases
mislead the people and with the other
hand rob them, who are the ones to
bear down on. After reading the
Wickersham commissions report it
is easy to understand why the coun-
try has gone to the dogs. Graft and
efficiency don't mix. The first job
that is to be done before any return
to prosperity can be accomplished is
to clean house, good and thorough,
and put such fear into those who
take charge, that they will have no
desire to graft. We are in comparison
a new nation of about $50 years, and