Evening star., 1934-02-07
BY RALPH W. PAGE.

ID NhAA n
ANY idea I had that the United
States was going socialiStic was
hastily dissipated as I Travelled over
the country. I talked with labor
leaders and workmen in the forests of
the Northwest, advertised as warren
of radicals. and failed to find a genu-
inc Socialist.
One poor chap in Spokane, vacillat-
ing between Jail and the relief, was
addressing an audience Of 20 earnest
women on the coming revolution" p"
He was intelligent and serious. with
a high ideal and without any follow
ing, and should have been made pro-
fessor Of the under dog in some uni
yersity.
In Southern California they had
just been shooting and Jalling Com
munist' strikers and agitators. But
California's definition Of Commu-
mist, anarchist and enemy OF govern
ment is any workman who would
strike for more pay.
Trend to State Control.
The strike was conducted by cot
ton pickers. Some called themselves
Communists. What they asked was
more than so cents hundred for
picking cotton. Even a Negro can
do this much, in Georgia, without Of
fense. An impartial commission grant
ed them rs cents and the prisoners
were released on constitutional
grounds. A fair observer would con-
clude not that the strikers were pub
lie enemies. but that the employers
we're a feudal hangover.
In the Dakota, Iowa and Nebraska
region, headquarters of the farm
strike, there is strong tendency
toward drastic State control Of price!
and credit. Gov. LANCER OF Nortf
Dakota, acting under the pressure oI
events and supported solidly by the
population. issued proclamation for
bidding any sheriff to foreclose any
mortgage, and, dramatically giving hi:
attorney general a pistol, ordered hin
to see that the decree was carried out
He also placed an embargo on wheat
and cattle, and campaigned the ad.
joining States. calling for combined
action to fix the price of these com
ln0ditles.
But all that. even including the
Sta ate-owned Bank for Farm Credit
does not have its roots in orthodox
socialistic doctrine. 1t is the last de-
spairing effort Of an exhausted and
debt ridden capitalist homesteader tc
save his holdings 1t is what des-
perate men would have done all over
the Union if there had been no relief
in sight. Their plight is peculiar. 1t
is due more to the plaques Of the
drought and the grasshoppers, those
ancient banes of the giants of the
earth. than to the ramihcations OF
depression.
Fair Profit Is Principle.
These farmers are echoing a de.
mand that hits the whole United
States, for fair" price and fair
profit. This is no invention of Presi'
dent Roosevelt's or a brain trust ol
of any other man or group OF men. II
originated in public discussions lead
ing to commissions for regulating all
road and public utility rates, and il
the campaign against proflteers during
the war. In purely capltallStl;
state, under the laissez faire system
such a thing as a fair price is non
sense Supply and demand would ano
have controlled all prices and profits
This revolution in thought mad
crystalized before the landslide ol
1882. 1t was the recognized formula
in hearings before the Trade Com
mission, in the arbitration of strikes
in sales campaigns and arguments
over the antitrust laws.
During the last four years mer-
chants, manufacturers and workmen
have not contended for the privilege
OF unlimited profits or of getting into
q position to enforce exorbitant prices
or wages. Factories pleaded with
wholesalers to pay a fair" price.
Power companies asked a reason
able" return on capital. Retailers
elaborately explained to housewives
that their charges were necessary
Mill hands based their requests upon
the cost of living.
Now all this is the very essence and
foundation of every mans reaction to
the new deal" and the business
codes. Nobody seems to object to the
principle that the other fellow is en-
titled to a profit, and there is little
contention by any group that they
are entitled to get all they can, re-
gardless of others Capitalism that
leaves business free to make all the
profit it can has already been modi-
fed by public opinion.
Deciding to give every factory, mine
owner, distributor and farmer fair
profit, and every laborer a fair wage
was one thing. Doing it vas some
thing else.
Opponents in Minority.
That this could be accomplished
only by united action under govern
mental authority and supervision was
universally accepted. l am aware
there is a body Of respectable author
ity that says it cannot be done. an
other that says it is ruinous, and still
another that hates the idea and COM
bats it with cries of unconstitutional
and all manner of sabotage.
My effort was not to judge the
merits of these contentious. l went
out through the country to observe.
And what I observed was that those
actively opposing the general idea OF
fair profit under regulation are in
the minority. This opposition does
not originate in the active produc-
tive personnel Of the country.
The struggle and complaints Of the
operators of Americas myriad en-
terprises. Of the traders and the
unions and the tillers of the soil are
directed toward the details of their
own immediate problems. Many OF
the objections are by men or organiza-
tions who have so far failed to get any
profit or who feel that the indicated
division Of returns is not fair to them
They want it regulated, but regulated
differently.
The concentrated opposition comes
from an entirely different claSs-peo-
pie who never accepted the idea of a
fair profit, and many of whom never
heard Of such thing. 1t comes from
the great banking and underwriting
world, from the financial centers that
until recently governed American
industry
Financier Is Left Out.
The reason is obvious and under
standable. A fair" profit is not