The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1933-02-20
Foreign Representatives
SMALL SPENCER, BREWER
(Incorporated)
CHICAGO NEW YORK BOSTON
Business Following Farmer


Business Following Farmer
One OF the most unique suggestions
yet made for improving business Is
that by the head of a large American
manufacturing concern to authorize
the consolidation OF groups within in
dustries. and Of industries themselves,
either by fiscal amalgamation or by
cooperative agreement.
The idea Is based on the contention
that unrestrained competition, as well
rs being the life" of trade also can
be the death of trade; that cut-throat
tactics have created situation in
which only few strong firms will be
able to survive In some industries.
To meet this condition the author
Of the new scheme would let the pres
ent observation-disclosures laws remain on
the books and would license such in
dustries as wished to enter into COM
binations. Income would be taxed in
the usual manner and the books of
such corporations would be audited
annually by certified accountants ap-
proved by the government. Un.egis-
tered corporations would be permitted
to conduct their affairs in the regu-
lar way and would pay no license fee.
The admitted object Of the plan is
to make business profitable, the as
sertion being made that this would
be Of great benefit to both the people
and the government, since unprofita-
bic business pays little or no taxes
and is a poor employer.
That the suggestion will win i'm
mediate support is improbable. The
distrust of industrial and commercial
combination is pretty deeply Ingram
ed in the American public and this
proposal is one which has as its ad-
mitted intention the elimination of
competition with a consequent in
crease in prices.
Yet 1t is, in essence, little different
from the various plans to help the
farmer by inducing him to curtail his
production. If industry has suffered
once from competition, the farmer
has suffered hundredfold. If it were
not for the terrific Kansas wheat
crop q year ago, for example, the
North Dakota farmer would not now
be getting card price of 30 cents for
No. dark northern.
The demand from the farm for
some sort of government regulation
or assistance is not new. We have
been laboring under present condi-
tons for 10 years or more without i'm
provement Of the situation.
Now, however, corporation balance
sheets have been appearing in red
ink. The shoe is on the other foot
and it pinches. The commercial blood
transfusions by the r. F. G. have kept
the patient alive but have not re-
invigorated him. Industry is as be-
draggled as the farmer because it lacks
those things which give the farmer
staying power in the face Of adversely.
The call for industrial relief" is be-
ginning to be raised in the same man
ner and for the same reasons that
farm relief" has been demanded.
From the standpoint Of farming
community such as ours, there Is
something significant about this pro-
posal. isolated though 1t be at the
present. It shows q weakening Of In
dustry's adherence to the old order
OF og-eat-dog" which we have
known since the nation was born. It
points to . more sympathetic att
tude toward the farmers problem
which has been clearly one Of too
much competition.
Also, 1t has q broader national sig
nificance. With means to produce
untold wealth listed in our national
assets, we are not producing It. The
present system has been unable, as
yet, to adjust itself. Industry as we'll
as the farmer Is beginning to look
with friendly eye upon q so-called
managed economy" which would
make the government supreme in
whatever business fields came under
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