Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1932-08-25
A CHANGE MUST COME

In his speech at the Pine county
fair Saturday, Einar Hoidale made 1t
plain that there must be a better
distribution of wealth, that this upper
crust stuff must go, and that we must
get down to brass tacks with less
sparring around and pussyfooting.
High salaries paid by the govern
ment were severely criticised. not but
that salaries paid by private corpora
tions are higher, but the public sal
aries can be lowered quickly and
many of the private salaries Will
come down when there is less OF
the favorable tariff program put over
for industry. Mr.. HOidale criticised
especially the salaries paid to APP
pointees of the Federal Farm Board
those salaries ranging between $4,000
and $4,000 annually. The man who
gets $4,000 annually-as much as the
presidents drawing more than $500
per day. An administration that will
permit such squandering especially
in these times when a dollar looks
like a mountain to the farmer and
worker will hear from home in the
coming election.
A good way to cut some of the pri-
vate salaries, method that has teeth
in it, was proposed by Mr.. Hoidale.
The Reconstruction Finance Corpora
tion is loaning money to railroads.
banks, and insurance companies prin-
cipally. The salaries paid to heads
of some of these concerns runs into
six figures. The government should
say: when you cut the big salaries
to a reasonable figure you can have
the loans and not until then"
Big salaries come out of freight
rates, or in short the consumer pays
the bill. This cry by the big corpora
tions of being hard up would get more
Of a sympathetic hearing if they cut
some of the big salaries. 1t is just
possible that a railroad president who
is now drawing 100000 annually can
skimp along on $4,000 or $4,000.
And he can get along on less than
that if he has to. But even with the
big salaries paid by those corpora
tions, they seem to get the sympathy
of the present administration.
A man of real ability and leader
ship-a man who has worked himself
up from the bottom, and who is will
ling to work is worthy of good wages
or salary. But big salaries have gone
too Ear and they have sort of become
fashionable. The fashion must be
changed. If $4,000 annually was
considered good pay for national
officer-that is an officeholder or
manager of a national organization
then there would not be so much talk
about $4,000, $4,000, 100000 or
more. But as it stands now leader
who gets only $4,000 is a piker when
others run up to ten times as much
or more.
The upper crust class will sheer at
SILLY stuff like this when in their
own crowd, they will call it kinder
garten talk, lack of understanding,
lack Of comprehension and vision.
Before the farmers and workers-the
masses-they will not make such ut
terances, they will keep it hid, though
it is within them. Such utterances
are not made openly as yet-that is
not very often-but they may come,
for money is powerful, it has no SYM
pathy and is autocratic. A financial
autocracy is worse than a kingdom.
Yes, the upper crust will either be
talking out more boldly-saying
things in public that they now say
privately among themselves-or there
will be a change from this system Of
one family having more to live on
than 10, 100 or more families.