The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-02-02

erful f1nanc1erS 10 go on the board
of directors, McAdoo was able to
get the necessary money. He says:
AT the first meeting of the
board Of directors I was elected
president of the company. NV sal
airy was fifteen thousand dollars
per year, which was more than I
earned at my law practice at the
time"
Space forbids a detailed des-
cription here Of McAdoo's rela-
tionS with the Wilson administra-
ton but his realistic and I'M
ashamed approach to all questions
Of practical politics" made him
available for the simultaneous hold
ing of the positions Of Secretary of
the Treasury, US. Director of Rail
roads, director of the U. S. Farm
Loan Bank, director of the U. S.
Soldiers Insurance Company, man
ager of the Liberty Loan drives,
controller of European War Loans
and manager OF the U. S. Finance
Corporation.
CPEAKING of one of John Stuart
~ Mills essays on popular govern
nlent, McAdoo remarks, relative to
the course of certain legislation
during the Wilson administration:
Il fear the eminent philosopher
was too optimistic. The competitive
strife Of plutocratic interests is not
sufficiently violent to destroy their
prestige or influence; they have no
intention of committing mutual
suicide. Their battles are those of
professional boxers who split the
purse, in some fashion, between the
winner and loser"
Their various and conflicting
objectiYes do not cancel one an
other, as Mills thought, for at the
bottom, they rest on exploitation
of the public. That is the essence
of pluto democracy, and it does not
make any difference who the ex-
plolterS may be--Whether they are
financiers or stock manipulators or
shipownerS or landgrabbers or
tariff barons. The common boyd
between them is greed, often subtle,
plausible and insidious, but greed
nevertheless. They get all they can,
regardless of public welfare and
without regard to the actual value
OF their services or their comlno-
dities... 1t may be accepted as a
general principle, or political
axiom, that whenever a beneficial
measure is opposed by powerful fl
nanciaI interests, the real reason
for the opposition is never given"
my emphasize. d.
The ever hopeful liberal middle
class leaders could do worse than
chew over some of these remarks
which come from the experience
OF one of the outstanding political
manipulatorS of the World War
period. The proof of the pudding
is in the eating and the high
minded ex post facto reflections of
McAdoo do not prevent him from
referring to the noisome A. Nit
cheu Palmer of deportationS ILL
fame (l919-20) as IAN able man,
clever and resourceful, and devoted
heart and soul to the Wilson cause"
Elsewhere he refers to Palmer as
that honest Quaker" Well, Hoover
is also Quaker.
McADOO'S revelations regarding
N the war 90 not bring out any
thing not definitely known or that
revolutionists are not morally Ger
tain about, but they give important
confirmation to the fact that profit
making was the dominant note,
that making the world safe for
democracy" was an idea put out
only to get the acquiescence Of the
human cannon fodder.
These profits" says the writer,
ibid no reach all the American
people. They went into the bank
accounts of comparatively small
proportion of our citizens. A few
thousand people made fortunes
running into the millions. For
some of the remainder there were
higher wages; for the greater num-
Der there was little benefit. For
nearly everybody the higher cost
Of living increased the difficulty of
making both ends meet"
War does not bring prosperity"
for the masses as the imperiaIist
spokesman arc once more bcginn-
ing to claim.
McADOO does not make very
w good job of defending Amer
icap entry into the World War.
1.-THE British" he says, chad an
efficient and astute secret service
for American operations, with
headquarters in New York. The
French and Germans were also
well represented. Most cy the work