Evening star., 1934-12-17
THOMAS ATTACK
|RKS CUMMINGS
Farley Termed Symbol Of
Unnecessary at Town
Hall Session. -.

llleIlt ocoSlOfl VI tllC 4OWu I1dll, III
the Shoreham Hotel, labeled Post
master General Farley a symbol of
the unnecessary, the ire of Attorney
General Cummings was aroused.
Occupant of front row seat, the
blood of the Attorney General visibly
started for the boiling point After
the meeting he told Mr. Thomas:
You owe Mr.. Farley an apology, and
hope you write him letter."
Asked If he were going to enter
into correspondence with the Post
master General, Mr.. Thomas, the
perennial presidential candidate Of
the Socialist party. said: 'T'll do
nothing Of the kind. I think I ex-
planned to the audience why used
Jim Farley as a symbol. AS for the
Attorney General, he should be
thankful I did not go into Mr.. Far
leys career in detail. I don't think
the cabinet should be above criti-
cism."
Refuses to Shake Hands.
The Attorney General refused to
shake hands with Mr.. Thomas.
In passing reference to Mr.. Far
ley, Thomas said: Jim Farley Is a
convenient symbol for something
which don't think We need to have.
AS long as We have this system we
must have men to do the job that Mr..
Farley does" The speaker referred
to patronage, and the spoils system.
Thomas, the pleader for a socialistic
form of government, appeared before
a fashionable audience that packed the
ball room Of the Shoreham Hotel to
overfiowing, hundreds in the lobby
peering through windows. Nearly 2,00C
persons were present. They applauded
the speaker thunderously.
Socialism: Is 1t the Way Out?" was
the subject under discussion. Thomas
was f1anked on either side by members
of panel. In opening. he said:
II do not believe the American
people gave mandate to Mr.. Roose-
velt to go socialistic. They gave him
only mandate to throw out the pre-
vious administration. But the people
were willing to let him wear few cast
off socialistic red neckties. The Amer.
lean people want this administration
to keep within the limits of capital.
ISM"
Have State Capitalism.
Branding the New Deal as made ur
of assorted saviors assembled ir
Washington" Thomas said: "Whar
We have got is State capitalism-witl
the Intervention of the State ever NOR,
powerful in business, an Intervention
which resulted in the making of q
more millionaires last year than the
year previous" He compared the pres
ent yearning for a return to prosperity
as a backward glance at "the COLDER
age OF Coolidge, when Puritan leignet
in Babylon"
Thomas flayed "Silas Strawn's par,
ticular group of earnest thinkers,
Strawn having expressed opposition
to holding the Town Hall meeting
in the United States Chamber o.
Commerce auditorium and failing Il
accept an invitation to appear on th,
panel-platform with Thomas las
| night.
OF the present-day school Of eco
nomics. Thomas said that old Adam
I Smith would turn over in his grav
were 1t not for the fact that "he ha
turned over so many times he ha
now sunk to unquiet Iepose."
About the New Deal and its eco
1 nomic program, Thomas said: IN
evitably, whatever lip service the New
Deal may give to the economics o
| abundance, it has to accept scarcity
/ working on the theory that there cal
be more of everything because ther
Is less of everything. 1t becomes nee
esSary to examine briefly the success
tof the New Deal in answering tn,
problem Of poverty, insecurity, and tn
menace of war, in the naids. of 20
tential abundance"
Denies Equal Recovery.
While admitting that the New Dea
may have overcome certain aspect
of the Hoover depression" Thoma.
affirmed there has been no recover,
in America as there has in other ia
tions that have assumed other an
proaches to the same problems. H
said the tragedy of che American
people is in looking for recovery whel
the people never have had what the,
should have. I'm 1929" he shouted
I'VE could have raised the income O
every family to $4,000"
The New Deal is no answer. Thoma
said, branding it as the kind of IRE
covery which will lead to revolution
ary action, beating down men VIII
have hopes for something better"
About the only compliment Thoma
paid to present Government was whel
he compared it to private busines.
THE ethics of government" he sale
"is highly superior to the ethics {
private business"
On the platform with Mr.. Thoma
was the chairman, DR.. John w. Stu
debaker, commissioner of education
who introduced the panel. The mem
bers were: Edward Keating, editor G
Labor; John Finerty, counsel for Tor
Mooney; Ford Hinricks, Bureau {
Labor Statistics; Wilson Compton
head Of the National Lumber Manu-
facturers' Association; Albert Dean
author of the Deane plan and a men
ber Of the Housing Commission, an
Edward p. Warner, member of tn
Federal Aviation Commission and fol-
mer Assistant Secretary of the Nav
| -u~@- NNx An -nu-