Milford chronicle., 1936-12-25
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JApaEs PREsroM


JAp4ES PREsroM
Events Of the next few weeks,
Washington believes, should go Tar
toward determining whether the ma
tiOn Is heading toward real, lasting
prosperity, or whether the current
boomlet will fizzle into another de-
preston.
Much OF the answer, most folks
agree, depends upon the attitude of
the vacatiOn-rested President and
the coming Congress. Despite what
might have been said in the cam
paign, no student who really UNDER
stands the American system thinks
that sound prosperity can be achiev-
ed and maintained by government
alone. It's the old story: UNITED
we stand, divided we fall"
There are many signs that indus
try-which after all produces much
of the food we eat, the clothes we
wear, and the luxuries we ENJOYS
willing and anxious to do its share. |
The National Association Of Manu- |
facturers in a convention attended |
by more than 100 industrialists
pledged its cooperation with gov
ernment in the promotion Of social
and economic progress"
That convention meant what It
said, for a special survey Of N. A. M.
members showed they already we're
per cent more men than
in 1929. A cOrrelative fact. though,
is that Department of Commerce
Census figures show many thousand
fewer employers now than in 1929.
The real answer to unemployment,
therefore, seems not to be the en-
plOyment Of those now idle in exist
ing establishments but rather the {
creation of new establishments, or Z
he enlargement of those already e
That is where the government now :.
'Omes in. Several concrete steps :
night be taken, in the opinion of :,
Washington economists. First, the
aw regulating stock and securities Z
rading and financing was enacted q
s an aftermath of the 1929 collapse. y
Iaturally, the law was very strict. A
went so far, in fact, that it now II
ppears to have slowed up financing CT
lr new establishments, or enlarge 81
lent of those already existing. There tC
lould be, economists say, a liberal al
alton Of these laws. al
HE
Second, economists point to the TT
.et that manufacturing plants al
hich survived the depression al ~
ady employ more men than they m
d in the good old days" But, they a.
Id, the present so-called Corpora - -
ln surplus tax" would penalize "a
if they sought to :"
cate new jobs by forcing them to Da
y a premium tax upon money
ent to enlarge or improve plants. Iel
repeal or modification of this levy, cr'
experts say. should do much th'
3D. ca
Third, industry has been a leader del
establishing Old-age and sickness bel
lefits for its employees. But the ore
ssent Social Security Act forces we
'se with such systems-no matter
" high the benefits-tO pay the HO
ne taxes as everybody else. In
er words. fOrward-lOoking con-
n which has been providing for
employees for years must now
double levy-One to the COM Tor
~ fund and one to the federal shr
d. A tax exemption for concerns evo
Ich have satisfactory private
DIS would be a real gain for the iesI
Dloyee. 7
ine'
ourth, the industries which sur s,,o
ed the depression did so largely 9uN
ause of their acumen and fore the
1t. They now offer their expert ticu
and knowledge in a common dus
re toward better living for all. II -
are not even granted a hearing iiiel
councils where the future Is wal
med, it will not be they alone and
suffer. If, for example, their ad- nov
against a new NRA is ignored 1'
'ybody remembers how things A
ed up when the Blue Eagle final be
ied-the road to the future will atm
rough one. as
operation is called for; but it bacl
be one-sided. arc
a
nerican ingenuity has given citi- s,,,,. s,Un
OF this country one telephon ao,a oo.
veoery seven persons compared oSi
one telephone for every thirty sllou
persons in the four other leading NOT
)nS. Durd