The Waterbury Democrat., 1936-01-31
PROBE or MEN wUO PROFIT ny WAR WILL NEVER E DE BLOCKED

Waterbury, Conn, Jan. 3i, io30. Editor, Waterbury Democrat:
 Tn the editorial columns of tho Waterbury Republican of Jan. 23. appeared ail article from one of Mir. PApe'A dizzy editors, which is tho rlieanest, most contemptlblo and vllest cAAtigation that could Do hurl- ed at one of tho lObleAt souls in this great land of ours, the Rev. Charles E Coughiin.
 The article itself h not worthy of comment, but there is one para graph which cannot overlook. Our learned editor accuses Father C0ughlin and his National Union of being responsible for the disoontin- llnnce of the senate munitions eOm- mittee investigations.
 Somewhere in that article iies tho problem which faces the American government The issue js no longer an academic one. The war clouds daFken over the world at terrifying intervals. Al each such scare Ans orleans wonder, can we keep out of the inevitable struggle9 If wo go in what will will we fight for? And how? The munitions committee tells iiB that try aB We may, Ws WI! 1Gt be able to remain Ai0ft from the next world war. If we go in, will Wa ex- pose ourselves to ell the follieg, and h the end, the most pr0dlgious losseA ever suffered by q victorious nation as we did in iDiT7
 Before you can know what tho investigation is all about you must know several things about this NyG committee. It has been looking Into the business affairs of the munitions makers, and the international bank CTS who financed the war, and who soil nt least four billion dollars 6 year of their destructive products to the governments of the world. Out of thls Investigation many prob. lei1ls arise. First, the committee plans to propose legisiAti0h c0ver- Ing all these problems. Second, whether 0r no the government Will lationalize the munitions business. Third, the questions permitting tho sale Of munitions to foreign Goun- trlcs during peace time, the pFob- lem of selling munitions to belliger- enta during war, and the difficult question of trading with warning mas tons, and the policy 70 be adopted with reference to lending money to foreign nations.
 At the time the Investigation stopped the committed was dealing solely with the question of profits in war. ft has been forced t0 ad. vance this phase of the subject not because tho National Union request cd it, but because the president of the United States has insisted on dealing with 1t now. Gan you deny that, Mir. Editor7
 Frequently the victor is as seri- otisiy devastated as the vanqnishcd In the last war America was not invaded. But some poisonous evil swept over the country which left Us wounded and sick, and wa are still sick.
 Because profits represent the cut of those who assume to be 0uE economic leaders. and because they are the ugliest side of the war in- flation, they must Dc dealt with.
 But as profits play so important . part in ell the discussions. let "A see what turned the senate's at- tentlon to this subject.
 In the last war government statis- ties say, we sent two million nlef to France. The pay cf these Tnef while they were ill France was about one billion one hundred million dol lars. Tho munitions committed states "that this s the sum which one corporation, the U. c. Steel made in clear profits over and above aIl taxes in the Ave years Of ths World war, ioiB to ief6." As Q mat ter Of fact, however huge as theai earnings WaFe they were small II proportion compared with the profiti of other gar hoag. One steel com pany made two hundred and sixty seven per eefit. This may sound sx' cessive until we are told that an other company E1eda eix hundred foEiy~eigbt per cent. Senator ueFels Nya in the course 0f one Of hil public hHnadeaais ntatad *en0the| comlpany made nine hundred nlil lhigty-fouS per cent. got back ill napltal stock value. alisse and one hslf times an a single YaAF as II dividends on Q national aIHaatef. NHfhaf G0u6islsm akIE0l2A66N oVsl