The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1935-04-18
Liberal Viewpoint
by DIR. HARRY ELMER BARNES

by DR.. HARRY ELMER BARNES
THE other day I received little folder from
Il Howard A. PIummer It contained some
verses which he wrote in 1907. He explains them
as follows:
AT that time President Theodore Roosevelt
was engaged in his reform measures; business
executives and industry itself were under the fire
of the Administration; confidence was gravely
shaken and the economic situation was seriously
disturbed.
The lines would seem to indicate that the
completion Of the cycle from Roosevelt to Roose-
Welt presents curious similarity between condi-
tons as they existed then and as they exist
/ today
Perhaps these verses, Let Us Alone ex-
/ press present-day sentiment Of thoughtful bust
ness men as they did when they we're written
more than 81 years ago.
THESE are his sentiments as embodied in his
l. little poem of rugged individualism:
LET US ALoNEw
The freight no longer clatters its
The smoke no longer canopes over the mists of
The engines on the siding; some hand has
Has chilled Is fiery progress and loosed its
From ihee grim, wide host Of workers rings out
Give a. tbro aSt4 q bend to- where
God give Us soul and a life to liye-ye turn
Let Us Aoner
The throbbing pulse Of energy has coursed from
A in the STRIFE Of values. cotton and corn
Has stied the fervid tumult by the tottering
The meTciless ebb flows on; the seas of
From tie grim: wide host of workers rings out in
Give Is the bales to barter-the flush of time
We balance ssI the books Of honesty yet We dare
Alonel"
From desolate fields shoulder the burden of
Set forth anew on the roadway to distant hills
Where hopes of the dawn and twilight give
peace to the heart art content lt,.t r,.st. trus.
r,,. ere the trust Of zen is spent n. -. .n
r.. have cosn strength to pray t.r. =, a.,+
Ere the yauited. cryps reopen and the dead
Let Us AloneW
So far as know, Mr.. Plummer is thorough
ly honest man. If he is in business, we may as
sumo that he turns out wel-made product and
pays his employees decent wages. But the slight
! est appeal to the economic record reveals the
! flaw in his logic and proves his innocence of
| the facts.
If there was ever a time when business was
| let alone by the government, it was in the pc
Rod between the close of the World War and
! the onset of the depression in 1929 The mess
we have been in for nearly six years reveals
very clearly what happens when We let business
and finance alone Never was government more
friendly to business than in the years preceding
| 1929 Indeed. business men dictated govern
mental policy and this period the heyday
of rugged indivdualism. What were the re-
| suits?
| THE decade before 1929 is generally regarded
Il as our most prosperous period but SO per
cent of the American population was receiving
smaller proportion of the total national in
come In 1929 than they received in 1919
In 1921 those who enjoyed incomes of over
S. 100000 a year numbered only six persons
In 1929. SO enjoyed such an income. In 1921
only 1852 persons were receiving over 100000
In 1929, 14701 individuals reported an income
in excess Of 100000 But in 1929 over 70 per
cent of the American families were receiving
an income of less than $500 a family. One
tenth of l per cent of the richest families at
the top received much of the national in
come as the poorest 40 per cent of the families
at the bottom
The income of American farmers dropped
from $15OO00O0000 in 1919 to $5,20OOoG IN 1882
while the value of farm property decreased from
S76,000000000 to $44 900 100000 Wage paw
ments increased by only $500 900 from 1923
to 1929 while the value of manufactured prod
ucts increased by $1OOO0OOOOOO during these
six years.
IN this way, the rich and powerful hogged the
n social income, destroyed mass purchasing
power and brought on the depression At the
same time, finance capitalism looted the coun-
try by means Of holding companies. The bank
ing system was disorganized and more than
1000 banks closed their doors total public
and private debt equal to our whole national
wealth was piled up. Overhead charges in
creased outrageouSly that in 1919 they
amounted to $3.50 for every dollar it cost to
produce goods.
Not only did business fail to share wealth.
It conducted itself in the most wasteful fashion.
Capltahstc engineers have shown that business.
uncontrolled by government, wasted from so
to 80 per cent of potential production in the
United States
The depression and the disintegration of
capitalism show what happens when we let
american business alone If we look into the
1acts carefully, we must agree that only Com
munists can, with sense and logic. espouse the
philosophy embodied in Mr.. Plummer's verses.