Evening star., 1935-04-09
MONOPOL|ES HELD.
MENACE TO NATION
Senator Wheeler Condemns
Dictator Control in
Radio Forum.
Continued From Sixth Page.)

they are out for all they can get, then
I think that the public is entitled to
know just where they stand. so that
when the representatives of the people
are called upon to choose between
selfish propaganda and the public in
terest they can make an honest choice
without thought Of political expedi-
ency and knowing that the public
appreciates the real issue involved.
Lobbying Speeded Up.
Any idea that these great combina-
tions Of power can be effectively regu-
lated In the public interest under any
device we have yet discovered is wish
ful thinking. When any reform legis-
lation comes up in Congress they
descend In body and lobby furiously
against 1t. They tell their Stockhold-
ers that they will be ruined, they order
their employees out to spread the sad
news that every one will be ruined.
They cause q flood and barrage of
letters to be written to their Repre-
sentatives and Senators. If we get
any legislation through at all it is
finally SO full of loopholes that they
can get around it.
These corporate managers pirate to
you that you are losing your liberty
under the New Deal. I am sure that
none Of you is being taken in on just
whose liberties they are referring to-
certainly 1t isn't your liberties. Why,
in their rush for size they take men
from the farms and small towns and
HrnUJH fhnrN iy1
trial centers. They make them de-
pendent absolutely on highly special
lied job, because they know that If
the worker can do only one thing and
If he Is set down with his family in a
place where there is only one thing
to do he is absolutely dependent upon
that job, no matter what the pay, no
matter what the hours Of work If
they want to cut costs they lay of
men, put them in the breadline.
Slaves Of Production.
That is where the bulk of the relief
load is going today, to people who
had been slaves to the routine of mass
production. Are they free? Not on
your life. Do they constitute a Red
menace, a Communist threat? Not
on your life they don't. They know
that complete subjugation Of any form,
whether 1t be by political dictator
or by an industrial dictator, is essen
TALLY unsound. hope that this gets
to Mr.. Hearst because they are not
the Red menace. The Red menace
is in the spreading tentacles Of cor
porate Capitalization. If corporate
growth goes unchecked, we won't have
to worry about the Government taking
them over-they will be the Govern
ment.
Lately, there has been a trend OF
thought which has felt that there
should be decentralization OF these
combinations of power a feeling that
with smaller units real ability would
be more surely brought out and indi-
vidual initiative restored to many ca
pable people who are now practically
servants. Certainly it seems to me
to be the only alternative to Govern
ment ownership or fascism. If, as
we have every reason to believe, their
assets increase so that in 20 or as
years they own all business wealth,
they will have to be merged with the
Government. We can have no other
alternative, nothing else can happen,
because II they own all business wealth
they will then be the Government.
Quick Decision Advised.
This is q second choice that we can
not escape. 1t is perhaps not so press
ing at this moment as the choice we
must make between nationalism and
internationalism, but it is none the
less inevitable, and the sooner we make
it the less painful will be the process
Of readjustment. Regulation has brok-
en- down. Prosecutions under the anti
trust laws are a thing Of the past.
There is one way to bring it about,
however, and that is by a graduated
taxation. If the tax is not confisca-
tory, but getting higher in the larger
ranges Of capital structure, only those
large corporations who can Demon
strate that their size makes them more