Red Lodge daily news combined with Carbon County news., 1934-07-04
UNCLE SAM UP TO 1888

One of the points frequently made by Prof. Tugwell
and other prophets of the new order IS that we are now
living in a new era, that everything before 1855 was
"done wrong and only now are we commencing to get
government in the interests of "the people, Before the
time of the 'New Deal'' the country was owned, or con-
trolled, so they infer, by a few robber barons represent
ing predatory interests.
Well. let's see about that. Nothing speaks so well as
the record. Our country had lived quite awhile before
1888. We have Travelled quite a distance since the days
back in 1T6 when our foretathers decided that they were
tired of being regimented by the London Brain Trust,
tired of being told what they could and could not raise or
manufacture, what they could sell and with whom they
could or could not trade. Then our country was a handful
of poverty-ridden colonies scattered along the Atlantlc
coast. But in spite of the then poor outlook and despite
the robber barons and predatory interests which the
Brain Trusters now talk about, We did fairly we'll.
In a century and a half we became the richest and po-
tentiallv the most powerful nation in the woodworking
s record which has never been equalled since human his
tory began. AS a nation of individualists we assumed
world leadership in industry. Ne paid the highest wages
in the world, and we had and still have, for that matter,
the highest standards OF living III the World-standards
that were the admiration and envy OF people all over the
globe. Our people wore the best clothes, ate the best food,
had more automobiles, more iceless refrigerators, more
radios and other items Of comfort and luxury than all the
rest of the world combined. The homes OF our workmen
were the best in the world, our telephones, railways, air.
ways and other systems of communication and %transpor-
tation were the finest the world had been able to produce
All of this, according to tile prophets Of the New Era,
was accomplished by a nation of slaves driven by robber
barons and predatory interests!
1t is true that something serious happened in 1929 but
not as the fault of our system of government. 1t was
worldwide and a financial and economic crash perhaps
the worst the earth has ever known, produced by the.
worldwide initiation and speculation which followed the.
war that was to "make the world safe for democracy. -
The people themselves, those connected with big business,
and thousands whose incomes were modest, were not en-
tirely without blame. They became dazzled by prospects
and imbued with the idea that they might become rich or
richer by spending rather than saving, by gambling rath-
e. than by working. 1t is a result which inevitably fol
lows when a great portion of the people forget their God
and the sound traditions on which their greatness and
prosperity have been founded. And it is to be remem-
bered that the rich lost along with those who were not so
rich, and the poor as is usually the case, when mistakes.
are made, have done their full share of suffering.
There is a way out, but it is a way which leads back to
sound principles OF government, to economy and sanity,
to balanced budgets, national, state and individual, not
to a new spending orgy or to flights into the realm of
fancy in the fond belief that Uncle Sam owes us a living.
If we follow the right path we shall recover. If we leap
into the flying trapeze and make a grab for the rainbow,
Providence alone knows what will happen to us before
our problems are finally solved.