The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1935-12-27

AlO"eNeI nc dulilICS Cnat the major
portion of improved business a.
tivity has been due more to in
creased production, than tn IN
creased distribution. He seems -
exercise a little honest doubt q. -
the ability Of our financial 1ro1
gram to distribute, for he urvss
with all the eloquence of an Gid
time evangelist, that everv saIe.-
man get "sales conscious Tn nm
load the produced goods "P,1eb
your sales; strike while the ZION
is hot; make hay while the sun
shines for no one knows how soon
we will face another panic" We'll
it is sweet of him to acknowledge
that even master financiers have
not yet discovered the panacea for
depressions.
If Carl Marx is as correct in
his prophecies of the future as he
has been in the past, and prodnc-
ton under chronological processes
constantly accelerates, THROWING
increasing millions out of emnlov1
ment then the rest periods ha-
tween the economic cataclvens
will be constantly shortened, and
each succeeding panic will be of
longer duration and more wide
spreading than the last-not alto
gether a bright picture.
Unfortunately production alone
does not bring prosperity. It takes
production plus distribution True
production gives jobs; and iobs
bring in revenue to the workersl
and revenue gives buying power.
But when unsaleable goods pile un
at the tail end of the factories
the wheels of industry stop,
workers are jObless. PURCHASING
power nil, swift paralysis ensues
and the masses staIve in the midst
of plenty. He is a blind optimist
who believes that what has han
ened with chronic periodicitv for
the past $50 years will never
happen again. Even Roger Bah
son is not deluded with such false
hopes.
Much as | dislike to puncture
Mr.. Babson's rosy. tirted pros
perity balloon, nevertheless "pigE
is pigs and facts is facts" I chal-
lenge any financier under orr
present order, to make an honest
appraisal of the capacity of the
American people to buy. No one
more devotedly than myself wish
es that sufficient money would
flow into the pockets of the peo-
pie to keep down the goods at the
tail end of factories running at
maximum production and distrib-
ute them to needy people. If
good wishes could be translated
into buying power / would do the
trick pronto.
But ugly facts lift their hydra
heads above the sky line. Ger
tainly the 100000 on relief, the
8 million jobless and the hun
dreds of thousands of college and
chronological graduates, unable to
get work, are in no position to
purchase. One fourth of the peo-
pie, in the richest nation beneath
the skyline, and financially de-
franchised. Add to this the fact
that taxes are constantly skyrock-
citing under the reckless spending
of the present administration.
Regular governmental expenses
have increased a billion and a
quarter dollars, to say nothing of
the enormous amounts spent in
relief and recovery. Tax money,
which always falls heaviest upon
the middle classes, must go to
balance the budget, and therefore
is so much more money subtract
ed from the purchasing leverage
of the people. Add again, the fact
that so per cent of all the real
property of the nation is encum-
bered with liens, the interest of
which largely flows into Wall
Street, and you have another huge
leverage of purchasing power TAX
en- from the pockets IF the mas
ses Every mortgaged home,
farm, factory or business estab-
llshment, means that much inter
est money taken from the chan
nels of trade Does anyone be-
lievc that the 80 odd people whose
income was a million or over are
going to spend it 20 keep the
goods from piling up in our ware
houses? Thousands of others got
incomes too large to spend.
As a matter of fact the pur-
chasing power of the people, ac-
cording to Prof. Irving Fisher,
recognized authority, is even less
now than in 1888 He tells us that
it takes S1.37 to buy as much pro-
6uce as S1.00 purchased in 1898.
Ny Bahson always computes pros
pelity in terms of dollars instead
of distributed goods. which makes
his figures misleading. I quote
from his own figures. prosperity
from his own figures. Financial
increased 10 per cent
In 1888, s per cent in "a and a
9 per cent in 49," all Of
which added up SPELLS out the fact
that financial prosperity has in
creased 81 per cent since 1893.
But the price of commodity goods
has increased 81 per cent in the
same time, which means that the
people have 10 per cent less pur-
chasing power, measured in goods
and services than in 1888. How
anyone can figure out that these
facts mean increased prosperity is
FAR hevond nv simple arithmetic.
of merchants have boast
ed that their sales have increased
10 per cent over last year. That
only means that 10 DER cert moe
money has flowed into their cash
bv inflated prices. It
does not mean that their clients
have brought home 10 per cent
more goods.
Our civilization TODAY is the in
victim of financial leger-
demain as silly and untrue, as the
taboos and devil worship of our
Jungle ancestors. When John 7.