Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1935-04-25

fortunes from the top, thereby to i'm
prove the country and provide en-
ployment in public works whenever
agricultural surplus is such as to
render unnecessary. i'm whole or in
part, any particular crop.
In black-face type follows the text:
60 We into all communities and
preach the Gospel to every living
creature"
Preacher to Leader.
The pamphlet is so replete with
Huey's Scriptural references that it
is no surprise to find that a clergy
man, the Reverend Gerald L. K.
Smith, is chief organizer of the move
ment- He is a kindly, eloquent. and
sincere Long enthusiast, who left the
| wealthiest church in Shreveport to
pursue this work. doubt if he knows
much about economics, for if he did
he could not address huge meetings
with such alluring promises and so
much faith that he adds members by
the tens of thousands. The power OF
promises among credulous people is
not confined to Germany.
There is a strawberry-grower near
New Orleans who usually borrows
enough money from the bank each
year to finance his crop. This year
the bank solicited the business, but
the man said he wouldn't need the
money as he was going to have more
than enough from the $4,000 that
Huey Long was giving him. Nor
could the bank convince him that he
was mistaken. He refused the loan.
America may not be nation of Louis
lana strawberry growers, but guilt
bility is not local to the lower Mis-
sissippi valley. Others will believe
Huey's figures, and if he says the
wealth of America is enough to give
every family $4,000, they will not
wonder that he is ready to guarantee
each family a modest one-third of
this figure
Shows Plans Faults.
l doubt whether Huey and the Rev.
everend Gerald L. K. Smith realize
that property as such cannot be redis-
tributed. How, for instance, divide
a factory or railroad among fam
lilies? Value lies in use and if the
scheme were to be realized, all prop
erty would have to be nationalized,
and the income from use distributed.
The income from $1,000 would not be
much for each family, not more than
5000 or $500, certainly not enough to
make true the dream of home free
of debt, a motor car, an electric re-
frigerator, and a college education
for all the children, which is Huey's
way of picturing his millennium.
And if property is to be nationalized,
why not share it equally? Why give
the poor only a third, and decree the
scramble for the other two-thirds in
the name of capitalism? If Huey
were to ask himself this question. he
probably would answer that since both
he and America believe in capitalism,
he must advocate it. But probably
he has not thought the platform
through. He conceived of it early one
morning, summoned his secretary, and
had the organization worked out be-
fore noon of the same day. 1t isn't
meant to be specific. 1t is only to
convey to the unhappy people that he
believes in a new social order in
which the minimum of poverty is
drastically raised, the rich somehow
to foot the bill through a capital levy.
It may be as simple as a box of kin
dergarten blocks, but could he win
mass votes, or organize nearly four
million people in eight months. by
; distributing a primer of economics?
Just A Politician.
doubt, too. whether Huey has
studied the relationships of Europe,
of himself as coming Hitler or Mus
solini of America, since the parallel
between him and his European protO-
types is obvious. However, it must
not be drawn too closely.
Huey, for instance, is not a ma
tional socialist, if that title equips
him at once with a philosophy of the
state as the single dominant express
sion of the individual. He is vulgar
American politician, who has learned
70 play the two listed, sordid game of
vote getting and patronage infinitely
better than his opponents. At his
worst, he is no more unprincipal than
they. his sin being that he is more
ruthless and successful. At his best.
he is not a social thinker, certainly
not as much as either Hitler or Mus
solini. Hitler's "Mein Kampf" is the
work of an ascetic crusader. Musso-
lini's autobiography palpitates with
IDEAS Hueys autobiography is a
scratchy SNUG little tale of his po-
litical victories, tossed off in two
weeks.
Aids Education.
Even So Huey is an Improvement
on Hitler in two respects worthy OF
. mention He is free of the virsus OF
racial prejudice and he is not anti
! intellectual. That is not to say that
, he does not have the proverb1al