Evening star., 1935-12-08
BORAH LAUNCHES
MONOPOLY FIGHT
IN 1886 CAMPAIGN
Increased Purchase Power
Demanded in National
Talk on Radio.
POLICY OF SCARCITY
ATTACKED BITTERLY
Idahoan Assails New Deal, Hold
ing N. r. A. Decision Spurs
Nations Recovery
BY G. GOULD LINCOLN.

Attacking monopoly on the ora
Senator William e. Borah last night
demanded increased purchasing power
| for the American people.
The Idaho Senator, widely recog-
nized as a possible Republican nom
inee for President, sounded a call
to battle in the coming campaign. He
made no mention whatever of his own
possible candidacy. nor is he expected
to do so until after the first of the
year
I'VE are approaching an event, the
most notable in the affairs Of the
Republic" said Senator Borah, speak
ing over the Nationwide network Of
the Columbia Broadcasting System.
1T has been well and beautifully said
that there is no finer spectacle which
free government presents to the world
than that of a free people voluntarily
choosing one of their own number as
chief magistrate. We all feel that
the coming election is to be one of
uncommon interest and very deep
significance.
Sham Fight Not Permissible.
"If we are going into a fight on
the lines where the battle swings, let
us fight for free enterprise, free eco
nomic system, free America, free from
monopoly control, free from bureau
cratic control. The times will not
permit of a sham fight"
The Idaho Senator made 1t clear
that he has not changed his position
one iota on what he considers the
| chief political issue of the day-the
destruction of monopoly, outlined by
him in a letter to Col. Theodore
Roosevelt several weeks ago.
we are discussing constitutional
| government and the preservation of
liberty" he said. Il ask tonight whose
liberty? What liberty? The man or
group Of men who hedge about or con-
troll my right to engage iu or remain
| in business are my masters and the
masters of my children. The power
| which fixes the price Of things I must
have that I may live and clothe and
educate my family shapes my course
in life and delimits my possibilities
as completely as if I were its in
dentured servant"
Without mentioning the Roosevelt
administration by name, the Idaho
Senator swung right and left on the
policy of scarcity" of reduction OF
production, and on the proposition that
only through a strong centralized
government can the problems of today
be met.
OverprOductiOn ScapegOat.
''In every depression. in every pc
| riod in which there have been great
hardshipS and hunger among the
people, from the time of a certain
Roman Emperor down to the present
time, overproduction has been made
the scapegoat to carry the sins Of eco
nomic policies into the wilderness OF
debts and taxes.
I'm all depreSsions it has been said
to the hungry millions: We know
what your trouble is. You are the vic"
tins of overproduction, Of surplus
You are suffering from too much
not too little The people have been
to energetic, too industrious. This in
explicable riddle has more than once
troubled the minds Of the needy"
| Senator Borah raked the President
and the New Deal also when he de-
clared that the decision of the Su-
preme Court, holding the national re-
covery act unconstitutional. had been
an aid to recovery in this country.
when the Supreme Court held
the national recovery act unconStitu-
tional," he said, there was feeling
among some that the decision was a
blow to national recovery. 1t seems
now to be the consensus Of opinion.
and it will probably be the Judgment
of history, that the decision was dis
tinctly in aid of recovery. 1t seemed
to revive the confidence and release
the energy of the business world and
the private citizens alike, and gave
back something Of that freedom of
purpose and action without which re-
covery is impossible.
Mistake in Selling U. S. Short.
''I only recur to the decision at this
time as a basis for the view that when
we undertake to sell short the Amer
ican democracy we almost certainly
make a mistake. 1t proves again, as
it has been proved often, that the
American way, both in business and in
politics, is, after all, the safest and
most effective way.
"One of the strange theories which
lSee RORAH. Page 4.l