Evening star., 1933-03-30
The Political Mill
By C. Could Lincoln.


Franklin d. Roosevelt, thirty-second
President Of the United States, ham
mering at the despoilers OF the public,
calls wildly to mind the attacks of
Theodore Roosevelt, the twenty-sixth
President. upon monopolies, trusts and
the railroads. Both these outstanding
Roosevelts have demanded return to
morality in dealing with the public. In
the earlier Roosevelt's time the phrases
were the moral uplifts" and the
square deal" The Roosevelt OF today
started off with a declaration for a
new deal" In his latest message to
the Congress President Roosevelt goes
more fully into his demand for honest
dealing. No theme sorg has ever ap-
! pealed more surely to the American
| people than the demand for morality IN
business.
Theodore Roosevelt called a halt
| temporarily-to the exploitation OF the
people by big and unscrupulous inter-
ests. The exposure Of the manner in
which this exploitation Of the people
| was continued In the boom period after
the World War has shocked the coun-
try again into a demand for more
morality in business. President Roose-
velt struck popular note in his demand
| for regulation of the issuance OF In
vestment securities in interstate COM
merce. His declared purpose is Ito pro-
tect the public with the least possible
| interference to honest business" His
program for compelling greater morality
| in business goes much further, however,
| than the securities bill which 1t Is ex-
! pected will be passed by the Congress
with little delay He is going to tackle
| the job of legislating to regulate stock
| and commodity exchanges, and then ne
will undertake to separate commercial
banking from trust and investment
banking, and to correct unethical and
unsafe practices on the part OF officers
and directors Of banks and other cor
porations."
| Other Presidents have warned the
! country against the evils which have
arisen. They have demanded legisla-
ton to correct these evils. But lew, II
any, of them have been able to drama
! tie so completely the picture for the
! people as have the Roosevelts. When
President Franklin D. Roosevelt entered
the White House less than a month
ago the stage was set, the stage prop
| for him to launch upon his present
crusade for greater morality in busi-
ness. Undoubtedly more can be accom-
| plished to bring about this desired end
by an awakening of the people and a
popular tide Of moral feeling than
through the enactment of laws. But
the Presidents program can serve to
throw emphasis upon the need for such
revival. and his messages to Congress
will be read in every part Of the coun-
try.
When the Democratic administration
gets round to the job Of passing legis-
lation to relieve the mortgage-burdoncd
American farmer-as il will very soon
according to r5portS-it should give
Acknowledgement to the sole rcprescntc-
tive of the Farmer-Labor party in the
Senate, Senator Henrik Shipstead Of
Minnesota. The bill dealing with farm
mortgages which is being worked out
now under the direction of Henry Nor
genthau, newly selected to head the
unified farm credit agencies of the
Government, had its genesis in the
Shipstead farm mortgage bill originally
introduced in the last session of Con-
gress. Badly speaking the Shipstead
bill called for the issuance of Gov
ernment bonds. bearing an interest
rate as low as 2 per cent. with amor
tization charges to be added. These
bonds would be substituted for the
farm mortgages, thereby making it pos
sible for the farmers to have their bur-
den lessened by reducing By half the
interest charges on their mortgages and
to help the creditors, the owners of
the mortgages, by giving them securities
on. This is the principle which is be-
ing worked out in the ad,ninistration
bin. 1t IS reported. though there is still
at issue the interest rates which the
bonds shall bear and also the question
as TO whether they shall be in reality
Government bonds or quasi -Governme Mt
bonds. on which the Government would
guaranty only the interest.
During the last Congress Mr.. Morgen-
thau became interested in the proposal
advanced by Senator Sh,pstead and was
IN conference with, him several times.
Democratic leaders in the Hcu-e also
were impressed by the Shipstead plan
for aiding the farmers. Representative
Marvin Jones CT Texas. chairman of the
House Committee on Agriculture, intro
ouced bill fashioned after the Ship
stead bill. Speaker Rainey of the House.
then the Democratic leader of that body.
after conferring with Senator Ship
stead and Mr.. Jones. declared in an
interview that this plan of aiding nct
cnly the mortgage -burdened farmers
but the holders of the farm mortgages
would become one Of the major legis-
lative measures in the new administra-
ton, II not in the session of Congress
which closed last March A. Mr.. Rainey
was enthusiastic in its praise He still
believes strongly in the plan and re-
Gently declared that whenever the
President should send his farm mort
gage bill to Congress it would be given
the right Of way ever all other measures.
x X
The farm mortgages in the entire
country have been estimated at approxi-
mately $4,000 100000. The mortgages
are represented in part by bonds OF the
Federal land banks and of the Joint
stock land banks Some of the holders
of the bonds CT the Federal land banks
are insisting now that when the Gov
ernment puts out new issue, through
whatever agency finally decided upon.
they be given the new bonds to the full
face value of the bonds of the Federal
land banks. The difficulty here, how
ever, lies in the fact that some of the
present holders of the bonds of the
Federal land banks purchased them far
below par, very far. One school of
thought, to which Senator Shipstead
belongs. insisted that the old Federal
land bank bonds be turned in for the
new bonds, representing the purchase
price paid for the Federal land bank
bonds, with perhaps slight increase
allowed 1t In contended that it would
be absolutely unfair to give the holder
of Federal land bank bonds, who pur-
chased them for a few dollars, new
securities valued at $l00.
X X
The administration at present domi-
mates the Congress. This includes the
Senate. In the interests o. speedy ac-
ton on the reconstruction program ad-
vsnced by President Roosevelt the situa-
ton is probably ideal. If. for example,
the three living Democratic candidates