Evening star., 1937-12-05
Congress Is Chief Hope
To Curb Radical Advice
Failure to Spring From Recession May Spur
Capitalism Foes to Make
Roosevelt Listen.

point, good reason. It has been the
practice of some corporations having
small numbers of stockholders, fam
lily corporations and the like. not to
distribute their profits. They have
left the profits in the corporation
treasury partly FOR the reason that,
If the profits were distributed, large
income taxes would need to be paid
upon them. The owners hoped that
if they left the profits in the corpo-
ration treasury, the time would come
when the rate of taxation would be
lower.
Stays Good With Bad.
That this condition should be
ended. in the interest of larger reve-
nue. for the Government, is reason
able. But in actual operation, the
statute as written has worked toward
literally murder of the entire system
of privately owned business.
Corporations, partnerships, individ-
ual businesses, are required to pay
out as dividends practically their en-
tire earnings in the same year in
which the earnings are made. This
leaves the treasures OF the businesses
empty. 1t was certain, and it ought
to have been easy to foresee, that
when a new depression came. the
businesses would have nothing to live
on. The businesses would go bank
rupt. 1t would be practically uni
versal bankruptcy of every business
and therefore paralysis of the whole
system of privately owned business
Excellent Destroyer.
That undistributed surplus tax
measure may have been written in
complete innocence But if it had
been written with the direct purpose
of destroying the American form of
society, and thereby making Socialism
inevitable. it would have been written
just this way.
What I have said of the undis-
tributed surplus tax law could be said
of several other mechanisms set up
under the New Deal. They purported
to be aimed toward bringing about re-
covery or toward mild and acceptable
reforms. In operation they work
toward inevitable destruction of the
system of privately owned business.
The great necessity is that the in
fluence of the radical group in the ad-
ministration be reduced. This is not
to suggest that Mr.. Roosevelt must
exile these advisers from the White
House-a President has a right to see
whom he wants to see Besides. there
is no possibility of altering the tenn
permanent of Mr.. Roosevelt That he
likes to do startling things and there
fore likes to receive suggestions which
when carried out will be startling is a
fixed fact which the country must ac-
cept so long as he remains in the
White House. The President is a
certain kind of individual" If his
temperament is one that likes the
company of exciting young radicals
better than he likes the company of
serious young business men-well, that
is condition that exists.
Congress Can Spurn Advice.
But it is not necessary that Con-
gress should accept the suggestions
that come from the radicals via the
President Congress already has re-
jected one of the most startling of the
Presidents proposals, the proposal to
change the courts And it is not
necessary that the Democratic leaders
in Congress should accept these sug-
gestions. If the President does not like
the company of the Democratic lead
ers as much as he likes the company
OF his radical advisers, that is some
thing which the Democratic leaders
cannot help. But the Democratic
leaders can evolve their own sugges-
tions and their own program.
They must do so. 1t is not enough
that they should decline to accept the
suggestions which the radical advisers
drop into the Presidents mind and
which he transmits to Congress. It is
not enough, at this time, that Con-
gress should be merely independent.
Congress must devise an affirmative
program adapted to get the country
through the present crisis. To do that
it is necessary that Congress should
develop within its own body leader
ship that it trusts and will follow.
(Copyright. 1879