Evening star., 1935-04-09
MONOPO[|ES HELD.
MENACE TO NATION.
Senator Wheeler Condemns
Dictator Control in
Radio Forum.

The burning issue before America
today Is whether the Nation is going
TO allow monopolies and other large
asgreeations of economic power to
dominate the entire social, economic
and political life of the people, Sen
ator Burton K. Wheeler, Democrat, OF
Montana said last night in an ad-
dres in the Radio Forum, arranged by
The Star and broadcast over Ma
tion-wide network of the National
Broadcasting Co.
This issue, he said, has its roots in
the fact that 96 per cent of American
citizens own only Is per cent of the
wealth; in the fact that one person
In every six is dependent upon the
Government for relief, and in the fact
that IL 600, 600 people are unemployed.
Either" he said, Industry itself
must see that more money gets into
the hands Of the people IN the form
of purchasing power, or 1t will have
to be a function of the Government
to do like they are doing now-that
Is, taxing industry and placing the
proceeds in the hands OF the needy IN
the form of relief. If we do this, we
are verging on state socialism, which
would, to my mind. be worse than
unfortunate"
Dictator Plan Denounced.
Senator Wheeler denounced the
suggestion that the United States be
put into the control of a dictator.
There is no man capable of being a
dictator of this country, he said, and
this Nation has too precious a heri-
tage of freedom to permit too much
centralization of power in the hands
of an individual Big business. he
said, has provided an example of the
evils attending such Capitalization OF
power.
The bulk of relief today is going to
people who have been slaves to the
routine of mass production" Senator
Wheeler said. He denied that the
American people have lost any of their
liberties under the New Deal.
Unless this country wishes to see
ga much more drastic reorganization
of the system than most people can
even imagine at this time" Senator
Wheeler said it must decide at once
what place the United States is going
to occupy In the world picture anC
whether We want either private ol
public fascism or industrial and eco.
nomic democracy.
The text of Senator Wheeler's ad.
dress follows:
1929 Optimism.
In the minds of some 1929 was G
golden era. Optimism ran higher
than securities on the stock exchanges
But they were careless, slipshod days
Credit had been inflated out of all rea.
son, partly by the overcapitslizatio1
of our corporations. When a certif1.
cate of stock or a bond was ISSUED
to you and you borrowed money or
1t at the bank. or if you bought it or
a margin, you were initiating the credit
and the indispensable widows anC
orphans, and the bootblacks and scrub.
ladies who were buying watered securt
ties were helping in their little way
to initiate the credit of the Nation.
When all this credit imitation, which
IN fact was really only the creation
of q fantastic and impossible debt
started to topple over, big business
rushed to the Government and wanted
and got for that matter, the taxpay.
ers' money for the purpose of pro-
longing the day of reckoning, which
In my Judgment, has got to come
This is no way to build for the future
to try to shift the penalties OF bac
judgment onto the people.
Business and financial leaders Of
prominence issued weekly interview!
telling how much bigger and bettel
things were getting all the time. Why
nothing could stop US in our forward
march
Sees Hope in Despair.
happened to notice in the papel
the other day where one of these mer
Just returned from Europe, and wher
interviewed about conditions, SHOOK
his head gloomily and uttered word:
of despair. Now, that Is the most
hopeful sign of the end of the de-
preston that have yet seen, because
this man was wrong 80 many times
IN 1929, when things were getting big
ger and better, and was wrong SO
many times during 1890, 1881 and
1882, when he told us that prosperity
These same high priests are still
with us, and they honestly believe that
we should let things work out with
no Government interference except
Government loans. They do not want
reforms, crazy speculation Is In their
blood and nothing would make them
SO happy as to be allowed to build up
another 1929. But, my friends, their
usefulness, and am admitting that
IN the past they have been useful, is
over. The day Of frontiers Is over and
We must settle down to living the full
est possible life with our resources.
Friends, we have something far
more important before us today than
any feeble attempts to reassure the
public that all is we'll We have some
thing on our hands that is infinitely
more OF concern to our welfare than
any minor patching up of the old
machine.
Decisions Necessary.
America is at this moment on the
threshold Of very vital and far-reach-
ing decisions. Where do we want to
60? The decision is up to us. Do we
want to do what some strong groups
contend for and abandon our foreign
trade for economic nationalism? can
hear some Of my listeners say we
want to maintain our high tariff walls
and at the same time to get all the
m ~ An I'm I'm