The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-01-11
Liberal Viewpoint
=Bv DIR. HARRY ELMER BARNES

r HAVE read many speeches and state papers
1 of our Presidents In none of them have I
found any statement which appears to me as
courageous or epoch-making as Mr.. RooSevelts
linking together of financial spectators ana
racketeers Neither Theodore Roosevelts de-
nunciation of "the malefactors of great wealth.
nor Woodrow Wilson'S structures on the congress
sonaI lobby was as fortnight or as brave
1--WE have been shocked by many notorious
examples Of injuries done our citizens by persons
or groups who have been living off their neigh
bors by the use of methods either unethlcal or
criminal
In the first category-a field which does not
involve violations of the letter of our laws
practices have been brought to light which have
shocked those who believed that we were, in the
last generation, raising the ethical standards of
business
In the other category crimes Of organized
banditry, cold-blooded shooting, lynching and
kidnapping have threatened our security.
These violations of ethics and these VIOLA
tons of law call on the strong arm of govern
ment for their immediate suppression; they call
also on the country for an aroused public
opinion
WYE have been shocked very rightly by the
w kidnapping epidemic which has been abroad
in the land during the last year or SO. but the
powerful financial groups which Mr.. Mencken
has described as the 'uSurers OF high estate,
k1Q0dDeQ our WIOlo ndG1On between 1871 ana
1888. While they flguratively held us for ran
som, they inflicted worse injuries upon our
economy than the ajority of kidnapers have
inflicted upon their victims. And they eXtorted
from us a far greater proportion of our national
wealth than any kidnaper has ever taken of the
personal wealth of a victim his family.
We jail the ordinary citizen if he diSpoSes of
something which proves to be of fictitious value.
Yet our financial rulers boosted paper values on
the New York Stock Exchange by some seventy
ETr1 lA111
bogus value. man who operates a petty
gambling machine or device which is contrary
to our laws may be run into the hoosegow. Yet
any suggestion that we even regulate wholesale
gambling in securities is resented bitterly.
Our laws against fraud are very precise and
severe, provided the fraud is sufficiently slight
and conventional But we have no laws which
touch those who sell short the stock of their
own bank or corporation If a petty Shyster
sends an advertising folder through the mails in
the effort to vend a perpetual motion machine
he can be sent to Atlanta for the fraudulent use
Of mails. But we do not modest the great in
vestment banking houses when they put in the
mail their lavish prospectuses designed to pro-
mote the sale Of dubious or worthless foreign
oondS to the tune of billions of dollars.
XXTE deal with great severity with the con-
w ventional counterfeiter who initiates gov
eminent note, but We pass over unnoticed those
who print beautifully embossed stock certificates
which float serenely upon pool of pure water
An embezzling bank cashier who borrows to
play the market is dealt with summarily Yet
we could find no way of prosecuting those re-
sponsible for the ruination of our banking svs-
TEN. the failure of 1000 banks and the loss
Of more than five billion dollars to depositors
We have ample legal protection against petty
personal extortion, but no legal recourse when
privately owned electric utilities extort billions
from the American public in the form of utterly
unjustifiable rates.
1t is dangerous to pick the pocket of the in
dvidual, but relatively safe to pick the pockets
of the American people Between 1923 and
1929 the value of manufactured goods increased
by more than ten billion dollars. Yet the wages
paid to labor by industry during those seven
years increased by only six hundred million
dollars.
If the individual citizen is caught with "other
peoples money in his pocket, it may go hard
for him. But the shrewd financial manipulation
who gains control of hundreds of millions of
dollars in corporate resources through the in
vestment of few million has, as yet, nothing
to fear from the strong arm of the law"
If person ruins an individual business, we
may sue him for damages. but We have no means
Of proceeding against those who ruin our nation.