The Waterbury Democrat., 1935-03-11
Huey Long's Plan Impracticable

In passing up what we thought, ii not a waste of time, at least too lengthy task for the space allotted here, an an- alysis of Senator Huey P. Longs Share the-Wealth" Plan speech the other night, we ran afoul of at least one readers wrath, who. in letter to the Democrat Saturday claims we are taking the posi- tion of censor rather than an educator. Our dismissal of Senator Longs plan, as the writer points out, with wave of the hand, we think, in this instance was sufficient. Without going into ancient, medieval or modern history, can the writer show us any such plan any place at any time similar to the 'Share-the- Wealth" idea that was successful enough to become an established economic law? We do not think he can. Many plans from Biblical times, as MT Long points out, down to Utopian schemes of our own day and generation have been tried out, but all have eventually proven im- practicable.
 Now, if the writer is looking for an analysis, if he will go back to earliest times, the very beginning when, it IS said, God created all men equal, he will find it was not in the sense that they should share and share alike in the things of this world whether they used their
 
 ever man down through the ages has ob- tained he has either had to work or connive for Perhaps in many instances the latter, and even in the present, has more often been the case. Yet there are laws for regulating the conniving part of the picture, and it is here Senator Long and every other political reformer falls short, namely in looking for new Utopias rather than trying to curve the evils besetting us by means of law. In this respect someone or other once in answer to the moth-eaten statement, this is an awful world,' remarked in return, no it is not the world, but the people in 1t.
 So we think now it is not the world. or in our own case, this nation, but the people themselves who are responsible for the ills that Senator Long and others complain of. Devote the same amount of energy and time to regulating the actions of these people rather than changing the accepted economical laws and we will be getting somewhere. Make the Melons, the Rockefellers, the Morgans and all the billionaires and millionaires shoulder the cost of government equally with Senator Longs, two thousand d-five-hundred year man and you will not have the financial corner on money he talks of. There would not be so many billionaires and mil lionaires and the little fellow would be relieved of his burden by the shifting of it to where it belongs. That's part of our trouble in nutshell, not all, but enough to knock any Share-the-W Wealth Plan into cooked hat.
 And finally should Senator Longs plan by any means become effective, how long would it last? How long would the aver age man have his five-thousand dollar home and fifty dollar week job? Only as long as it takes new breed of finan- ciers to devise ways and means to take t away from him, perhaps generation or two at the most As we said in the be- ginning mans equality at birth ends there, what he does after that depends on his brains or cunning. There will always be ample opportunity for the former, but what is needed more, the rock-pile for the latter. That would end quicker than all, as Senator Long said in his speech, the alphabetical soups, and we will agree there with Huey. For, if the country lived up to and enforced half the rules and regu- lations we have already there would be no need for any of the last two years hocus- pocus. The trouble is it doesn't. There's the answer. What remedy would we sug gest-asks the writer? Make it.