Evening star., 1936-04-26

clothes made In New York. But in
1882, to get that same suit Of
clothes he had to take two ana q
half hogs to market. Back in the
20s, . cotton farmer had to raise
z pounds Of cotton to buy one
pair Of overalls. BY 1882, however,
he had to raise IA pounds Of cotton
; to get those New York overalls.
Obviously, the farmers stopped
buying as many clothes and when
the farm districts stopped buying
New York's garment districts soon
started bread lines. That, however,
was only half Of the vicious circle.
When the garment districts bread
lines grew longer buying power in
the cities grew less. Other bread
lines formed. Every man on q
new breadline meant one person
who ate less and wore less. Be-
cause the garment worker ate less,
the farmer sold less and his income
went down. The vicious strangling
circle was complete. Today we
have broken that throttlehold. The
American electorate proposes that
1t shall not be renewed.
And while I am talking of food
consumption, here is fact Of equal
interest to the city dweller and the
farmer population. If all Of the
100000 people living in New York
City could afford to buy the bread
and meat and vegetables and milk
and cotton and wool that their
health and decent living call for
then we would need crop produc-
ton from 1900, 900 more acres Of
good crop land than we are using to
feed and clothe New York City to-
day. I propose to continue the
fight for more food and better
homes.
Comparison Of Success.
But this tie-up between cities and
farms is one of the chief reasons
why in 1888 we sought national
solution for q national problem.
We sought simultaneously to raise
the farmers cash income and to
add to the workingman's pay en-
velope. What our success has been
you can prove by the simple process
of putting the financial pages Of
any newspaper published in 1896
alongside the financial pages Of
the same newspaper published in
1882. BY the way, every time I
come to New York ! look for that
grass which was to grow in the
city streets!
But some individuals are never
satisfied. People complain to me
about the current costs Of rebuild
ing America, about the burden on
future generations. I tell them
that whereas the deficit Of the Fed
eral Government this year is about
$4,000. 1000, 1000, the national income
of the people of the United States
has risen from s35 900 100000 in
the year 1892 to $65. 600, 900 900 in
the year 1886. and I tell them fur
ther that the only burden we need
to fear is the burden our children
would have to bear If we failed to
take these measures today.
Building national income. dis
tributing it more widely means not
only the bettering of conditions Of
life. but the end Of, and insurance
against. individual and national
deficits.
Nationwide thinking, Nation
wide planning and Nationwide &C
ton are the three great essentials
to prevent Nation wide crises for
future generations to struggle
through.
Hits Cheaper Costs.
Other individuals are never sat-
isfied-one Of these. for example,
belongs to a newly organized brain
trust-not mine. He says that the
only way to get full recovery
wonder if he admits we have had
any recovery-is to lower prices by
cheapening the costs Of production.
Let us reduce that to plain Eng
lish. You can cheaper the costs
Of industrial production by two
methods. One is by the develop
ment of new machinery and new
technique and by increasing en-
ploye efficiency. We do not dis
courage that. But do not dodge
the fact that this means fewer
men employed and more men un-
employed. The other way to re.
duce the costs of industrial pro-
duction is to establish longer hours
for the same pay or to reduce the
pay for the same number Of hours.
If you lengthen hours you will need
fewer workers. More men out Of
work. If you choose lower wages
for the same number of hours,
you cut the dollars in the pay en-