Evening star., 1934-04-08
BUSINESS MEN EXPOSED
AS REAL REVOLUTIONISTS
No-Loss, Sure-Profit Stuff Crammed
Into Codes Will Eventually
Bring Ruin.


refineries into our charmed perfect
circle. And then. finally. as in the
cleaning and dyeing code and lots
of other codes. we directly or indi-
rectly fix the price at which all sugar
refineries shall sell their sugar, and
we fix it at a level which in our
belief will give a fair return" to
every sugar manufacturer now op-
Grating.
That's the ideal. That's what man.
lfestly our business men would erect
among us If the N. r. A. would only
let them assemble all the scattered
stones Of their present aspirations
into one typical illustrative towering
edifice.
Protest Would Be Heard.
And what then would happen? An
observer Of politics. do not hesitate
to say what then would happen. Just
let every American industry get Or
ganized in the way these business
men are striving to organize it, and
most Of every Congressman's con-
stituentS and thereupon most Con-
greSsmen themselves, will begin to
say:
Listen! Any set Of bureaucrats
could do what these business men are
doing now. A Government depart
ment could take sugar delivered non
comparatively through quotas A
Government department could dis
tribute orders non-competitively to
sugar refineries. A Government de-
partment could fail to 60 out and
hustle for orders and could run a
sugar refinery underline. A Govern
ment department could fail to invent
new sugar refining machinery and
could fail to erect new and better
sugar refining plants A Government
department could sell Jumps Of sugar
at fixed prices, like postage stamps
And, above all, my fellow-citizens,
within the spacious reach of my
voice as I run here for reelection
to the House of Representatives or to
the Senate, a Government depart
ment could do it all, and would, with
out paying out millions and millions
of dollars every year in bonuses to
executives and in profits to stock
holders"
Can anybody seriously deny that
such would be the political conse-
quenceS Of all this no-loss and sure
profit stuff which our business men
are now examining into our codes?
And wouldn't those political conse-
quences be grounded on accurate rea-
soning?
Matter of Loss and Gain.
For what has been the genius of
capitalism? Capitalistic enterprise has
been attended by vast immoralities.
but it has had also, indubitably. a
genius responsible for the dazzling
material achievements of modern
times. And what has that genius
been?
1t has been that the capitalist has
been willing to lose as well as to
gain. 1t has been that the capitalist
has been a stout hearted adventurer.
He has tossed his money onto the
table. If it bounced back to him
big, he threw out his chest and called
himself a great man. If the game
swept it away he went on with un-
diminished gambling zeal to seek
some other table somewhere else and
his lost capital went into the COM
mon pot of the worlds business ex-
pertinent and expansion.
Capitalism has put more money
into digging for gold than it has ever
taken out of gold mines. 1t has put
more money into ships than it has
ever in total taken out of shipping
traffic. Large frequent losses by
capital in general have been the price
that capitalism has been willing to
pay for spectacular gains by particu-
lar capitalists Now, for the first time
in the history of capitalism, it is pro-
posed that every business man shall
make money every minute-and do it
with governmental backing.
Congress Would Step In.
Think of the unliquidated capitali-
zation which a decade or two of that
sort of idea would put on business
and on the consumers! The more
successful it was, the more certainly
would the Congress replace it with
some sort of profit "State Social
ism" or some sort of medieval nom
profit Guild System" of capital and
labor merged. That might be a
glorious result, but I want to point
out that it could never be produced
by any number of foods and drugs bills
or other bills aimed at making capi-
talists honest. 1t could be produced
only in consequence of the disappear
ance Of capitalism's central merit, or
excuse, which is freedom to lose,
which again is price-freedom.
This freedom our business men in
Washington are now repudiating and
abdicating. They are not being as
sassinated here. They are just simply
only trying to commit suicide.
All honor to those heroes like Dex-
ter Keezer of the consumers division
of the N. R. A. and Senator Reed of
Pennsylvania who are diving into the
water to bring capitalism up by the
hair before 1t succeeds in making
away with itself! Mr.. Keezer has
fought splendid fight against price
fixing in the codes. Senator Reed,
in spite Of the remonstrances of the
principal corporation in his State, the
United States Steel Corporation, is
all out for abolishing all N. R. A.
price-fixing.
What job! If We want capitalism,
we must all get busy and try to bring
the directors of United States Steel
and other similar people-back to
dry land against their will. They are
the only revolutionaries who ever ac-
tually revolted against Themselves
And that's a straight cold ivory
headed fact.
Hands Up!