Evening star., 1933-02-21
EDITORS PRESENT
RELIEF PROPOSALS
U. S. Rail Ownership and
Tariff, Tax and Farm Debt
Revision Urged.
Ry the Associated Press.


Representatives of the newspaper in
dustry today recommended to the Sen
ate Finance Committee Government
ownership of the railroads, and tariff
tax and farm debt revision.
William Randolph Hearst, in a vol
luminous letter. outlined program sug-
gesting Federal operation of the rail-
ways, expanded public works to aid
unemployment a sales tax and reason
able relation" of the currency.
Henry j. Haskell, editor of the Kan
saS City Star, gave the committee the
viewpoint of the agricultural Middle
West, suggested that the incoming
President be virtual budget dictator
and said:
Radically reduce all taxes; industry,
including the farm industry, cannot
carry the 1929 load.
Remedies Suggested.
Adjust and scale down farm indebt-
edneSS where necessary by Selective
treatment under which creditors and
debtors should share unavoidable losses
Depend for price recovery, not on
domestic allotment or government
rental of marginal lands, but first on
the upward movement that would come
Immediately through removing elements
of uncertainty and fear
To bring this about, he proposed ::
Balance the budget. reject imitation,
settle international debts, stabilize
currencies, encourage the farmer
through abatement of taxes on land
taken out of production, to continue to
adjust his farm production to normal
supply and demand conditions through
an intelligent land-use program"
He also called for "the lowering of
trade barriers by reciprocal action SO as
to give the farmer his necessary and
fair foreign market for his surplus
products"
Hearst suggested currency imitation
by increasing bond issues and CURRENCY
notes issued against them, contending
this would offset leaving home markets
open to an influx of cheap foreign
products" made under deprecated
money systems.
Favors U. S. Rail Ownership.
AS COR the railroads. the publisher
asserted apparently the only way that
the necessary complete reorganization
and unif1cation of the railroads Can be
accomplished is through Government
ownership"
Government ownership will admin
lister the railroads economically in one
co-ordinated system" he said.
Apparently referring to loans by the
Reconstruction Finance Corporation to
the carriers, but not naming that or
ganization, Hearst continued:
IF the peoples money is being paid
out in sufficient quantities to buy the
railroads, then the people should own
a dc fill
fit that would accrue from Government
reflnanc1ng, Government reorganization,
Government unihcation and Govern
ment operation"
To aid the farmer, Hearst suggested
regulation of sale and distribution Of
crops.
Dexter M Keezer, associate editor of
the Baltimore Sun, suggested efforts
must be directed largely toward get
ting the price structure Strengthened
out" and relieving financial fear.
Crop Loans Opposed.
The policy should be directed toward
relief frcm enormous concentration of
economic power, whose growth has far
outstripped the capacity to manage
them effectively" he said.
He also objected to crop reproduction
loans as working in opposite direc-
ticns" as a relief measure.
Efforts to bring Federal expenditures
within income and 20 per cent cut in
veterans benefit payments were urged
by Keezer, along with adjustment of
private debts.
He termed a "schochng and dan
gerous declaration" the principle of
the domestic allotment plan for farm
relief, which he ssw as meaning that
to gain decent livelihood under the
economic system prevailing in the
United States, it is necessary to re-
strict the production of much needed
commodities"
He also proposed lowering of tariffs,
enforcement of antitrust laws, and
"a long postponement of war debts
payments, if not outright cancellation"