Evening star., 1934-09-02
FEARfOF STATE SOCIALISM
HOLDS BUSINESS In CHECK
Extreme Initiation Can Only Be Avoided
by Increased Trade, Which
Must Come Soon.

| the administration has no intention
of ending the system of privatel,
owned industry. no intention of de
parting from the system under which
privately owned industry is per
n1itted to make a profit.
Meantime, while Mr.. Roosevelt
wihses private industry to resume
he also wishes to get an emphati,
Endorsement In the November con
gressional election. To get a larg,
vote there he is preparing a program
Of social Justice" to be announced
before the election, which program
is likely to cause private industry tt
realize that the cost Of the program
must come out of the profits of In.
dustry.
But really there need be no quail.
fication to the statement that tn.
President earnestly wishes that pri.
vate industry should expand anc
make profits. Only through such
profits can Mr.. Roosevelt get the
taxes he must have next year to
avoid disastrous imitation.
This Actually Happened.
The accord Farmers Co-opera-
tive" Of Accord, Ulster County, N
Y, is q mutual organization of a
familiar type, organized by farmers
to, among other activities, buy their
supplies comparatively. Every farmer
is familiar with these "co-opera-
tives" There are some $4,000 OF
them In the country with over q
million members. They operate
without profit; any savings effected
or other accumulations are dis
tributed among the members pro-
portionately to the amount each
member has bought through the CO.
operative. OF all the societies exist
ing in the United States, of all kinds
Excepting, perhaps, churches, schools
and hoSpitals), certainly Of all busi-
ness societies, the farmers cooper
atives have been supposed to be
among the most beneficent, the
most to be encouraged. Government
policy has always encouraged them
They are exempt from the antitrust
laws and from some taxes.
The Farmers Cooperative at Ac-
cord, N. Y, operates for some 400
farmers in the neighborhood Of the
small town Of that name. Recently
the Accord Cooperative bought
some coal for its members. AS is its
custom, it delivered the coal to its
members at small advance in price
over what it had paid.
The transaction came to the ears
Of N. r. A. On August IA, ". r. A
took notice, In the form of an official
letter, headed:
NATIONAL RECOVERY ADMINS
TRATION,
Washington, d. G.
ALBANY OFFICE OF STATE
DIRECTOR
ITO Accord Farmers Cooperative
Accord, New York.
we are in receipt Of a complaint
that you are violating the code oi
fair competition for the Retail Solid
Fuel Industry. :. The alleged facts
are that your delivered price is
considerably below the minimum sci
up under Divisional Code Authority
order 3-A.
"Yon ere therefore directed to reply
to this complaint within five (5) days
by sworn statement, or If you desire
you may call IN person. -
ALBANY OFFICE OF STATE
DIRECTOR"
This was the second complaint
against the Farmers Cooperative OF
Accord, the second threat from N
r. A. The other threat, having to
do with sales of cement below the
code price, mentioned the word Sim
prisonment."
Several Warnings Sent.
The Accord Cooperative. in the
ordinary run of serving its members
was buying cement at 54s cents q
bag and selling it to the members for
70 cents. From an N. r. A. oficial
the cooperative received o letter
reading:
"I was very much surprised to learn
today that you are still selling cement
at 10 cents q bag. II you persist
along this line the only thing we can
do is to put you on the carpet. These
are plain words, but it is the law. -
The lawl
Later, July II, the. Cooperative re-
ceived a letter from the New York
State director Of N. r. A., reading
In part:
I'VE are In receipt of complaint
that you are violating the code of fan
competition for the building supply
industry =. In substance the al
legged facts are that you are selling
cement at prices lower than is per-
mitted under your code. :"
Thirteen days later, July 30, the
cooperative received another letter
from N. r. A. NJ r. A. was now get
ting ready to crack down." The N
r. A. letter read:
your failure to reply to our ear
liest letter in which we requested
sworn statement indicates lack OF
appreciation of your responsibilities
under the code of fair competition fol
the builders supply industry.
I'VE wish to remind you that the
penalty for failure to comply with al
code regulations is fine or imprison-
ment. 1t will be greatly to your
advantage to respond hereto by sub
mitting satisfactory evidence OF
compliance not later than August 4
1884. This would obviate the neces-
sity Of referring the matter to the
courts"
All Lines Are Threatened.
I don't believe one person in ter
thousand knows that this sort o.
thing Is going on all over the coun'
try. It is so incredible that in try.
ing to show the reader that it actu.
ally happens, fear I have beer
tempted to reprint too many docu'
ments and thus make the story com.
plex instead of simple The Rist o.
1t is this: For buying cement at SAL.
cents q bag and selling it at 10 cents
the officers Of this Farmers Co-opera'
tive of Accord, N Y, are threatened
with jail. The same threat is beint
made against Individual business mel
in every line Of trade, for the SAM
offense, selling some commodity o.
other at a prize lower than N. r. A
SaVs IL ShN ~ no snld at