The Western news. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1933-current, 1937-09-16

ed MN 10 Oct any newspaper man
who differed with him in an argu-
ment that Hoover would be the
Republican nominee. They further
instructed him not to bother about
odds. but to bet at even money II
he could find any takersl
The whole point was to put a
doubt in the minds of the men writ
ing Washington dispatches to news
papers all over the country about a
possible Hoover comeback. Frank
ly. the New Dealers at mat time
thought they could beat any Repub-
lican. but they knew they could beat
Hoover. So they wanted Hoover
nominated.
No, the motive in attacking Mel
Ion was different. and more impor-
tant. than any indirect means OF
smearing Hoover.
MELONS Feat
Mellon represented legend
which had to be destroyed, from the
New Deal standpoint. Mellon stood,
in a way, for all the old, thrifty
American virtues-particularly get
ting out OF debt. Melons great
claim to fame will always be that
he paid of So. 000, 900 900 of federal
debt in ten years as secretary OF the
treasury-paid It off much faster
than congress wished by the simple
device of fooling congress every
year about expected receipts.
Even more damning. Mellon stood
in the public mind for the theory
that reduction of taxes on big in
comes and corporations results not
in less but in more money for the
Treasury. In way, he proved 1t.
This is controversial. The answer
is made that he was able to do both
things because there was rising
tide of prosperity which never
turned from flood to ebb until the
last fiscal year with which he was
concerned.
There is rising tide OF prosperity
right now in this country. Every
one has been fairly sure for several
year. now that 1t was en- route. But
there is no pursuit of the Mellon
doctrine Of paying off ones debts
during good years so that when the
bad years come there will be, SO to
speak, an ace in the hole In the
form OF huge. unexhausted credit.
Harry l.. Hopkins is perhaps the
frankest of New Dealers about fiscal
matters. He contends that there
must always be huge relief expendi-
lures, and that the government
must have the courage to take In
taxes from those who have to
finance them. But. ii was figured
quite long time back in this adj
ministration. the Mellon doctrine
must be destroyed and discredlted
to make anything like this possible.
That's the real reason for the
smear Mellon campaign.
Expect Big Show
Official Washington can hardly
wait to see the show expected when
Justice Hugo L. Black. former SEN
ator from Alabama, begins to func-
ton. The waggish comment to wait
until the eight old men" give him
a dinner of welcome illustrates one
angle of the interest.
But that is just the human. impish
angle. The serious angle is whether
the new justice will continue as a
hard-hitting. ruthless New Dealer,
or whether he will, as some lawyers
around Washington have put it.
have rush of law to the head"
There is another angle-which
may be found by studying the life
and works of some OF the great
liberal justices, notably Oliver Wen
dell Holmes. Louis d. Brandeis and
Benjamin NJ. Cardozo It is the diff
ference between talking for the TN
der dog and acting for the under
| dog.
The two things are far from be-
| ing the same, as anyone who ana
lyzes politics and economic condi-
tions coldly will discover at once.
The truth of course is that the EN-
| battled automobile workers in their
various fights-and in the fight to
come with Henry Ford--are not the
under dogs of this country by any
manner of calculation.
he automobile workers we're, as
workers 60, extremely well-paid
even before the recent adjustments
They had higher pay and worked
shorter hours than almost any other
class of workers with equal skill.
| Must Work
Considering the length of training
and the responsibility required oil
the men in the five railroad brother.
hoods. where man has to work
through quite period before he car
be fireman, and then has to work
usually for years before he gets g
chance to be an engine driver. the
automobile workers are very highly
paid indeed.
So it was rather maudlin to gei
worked up about the underprivi
legged and downtrodden II you were