Evening star., 1934-07-05

upon the initiative, self-reliance, the
resourcefulness and the energy Of the
private citizen. There are vast
number of things which must be done
In connection with recovery which
can only be done upon his initiative
and upon his judgment and his hope.
This arbitrary treatment Of men who
made this country, who are in no sense
responsible for the depression, this
restraint superinducing fear and con-
fusion, retards recovery and will re-
tard it indefinitely. If permitted to
act under general Just and equal laws.
with an adequate monetary system
and an adequate banking system, pro-
tected from the exactions Of monop-
oily, free also from the restraint and
dictation of bureaucracy, the people
will win this war against depression.
Destroy their morale, and the fight Is
lost
The men and women upon whom
this bureaucratic regime falls most
heavily are not the men and women
who brought on this depression. 1t
did not originate in the laziness, or
incompetency, Of the farmer, and the
farmer should not now be treated as
if he were unworthy of confidence.
This depression did not originate in
the dishonesty of the ordinary busi-
ness man or his inability to conduct
his business He should not be de-
stroyed.
The great contributing causes to
this depression were, first. great war
which destroyed lives and property;
secondly, the continued burden OF
armaments after the war, which
drained the national budgets and ex-
torted from the people vast sums they
,sorely needed in their daily lives;
third. speculation by which large sums
of money were drained from the pock-
cts of the people; fourth, q monetary
system which could be, and was so
manipulated as to leave a large por-
ton of the human family without this
indispensable factor In civilization;
fifth, banking system which permit
ted all money to be drawn from the
areas of production and development
into the channels Of speculation and
gambling; sixth, an unconscionable
waste of public money, city. county,
State and national, imposing tax
burden upon the people which discour-
aged all lines of business. And. lastly.
the most immediate and most lmpor-
tant at this time Of all. was the hold
which monopoly had secured upon the
earnings and savings OF the people
throughout the entire country.
Distribution of Wealth..
For so years, monopolies and COM
bines had been seizing upon all
sources of supply, all natural re-
sources, all those things which the
people must have in their daily lives
and had practically fixed the price at
which the people should enjoy them.
This was one of the great contri-
buting causes to that condition IN
which even in a time OF so-called
prosperity 10000 900 of our people
had an income of less than $500 a
wear. and in which it is estimated
that per cent of the people owned
80 per cent of our wealth. To me,
this is the most vital problem be-
fore the American people today.
The hold which monopoly has
upon the politics Of this country is
vividly disclosed by recent political
history. In the last campaign the
successful party denounced the
party in power for fostering the
merger of competitive business into
monopolies' as one of the chief
causes of the present disaster" That
party was right. But when this
party took charge of the Govern
ment, one of the first things it did
was to suspend the antitrust laws
and monopoly was never more un-
restrained or more ruthless than
at the present time.
Now the defeated party, looking
about for issues, seems wholly un-
willing to touch this vital issue.
Neither in the statement at Chicago,
or In recent statements, has there
been the slightest reference to an