Evening star., 1937-12-31
MIR. Jackson Chases Devils
He Is Prosecutor, Judge and Jury, but He Does Not
Define the Word Monopoly.

now, I notice, declared illegal by the
Assistant Attorney General-to the
very different presentation OF and de-
bate on the issues being carried on
this very week at the gatherings Of
the various learned and scientific So
cieties-the American Economic, Sta
tistical, Econometric, Political Silence
and related associations. A mere sur
vey OF the programs suggests that
while price problems and distortions,
which are evils definitely attributed by
Mr.. Jackson to big business, are part
of complex Of causes they are deriv-
ative rather than primary. Every
thing Is not so simple, it would seem.
This column does not want to en-
gage in the wing-shot guesswork which
it has been consistently criticizing for
year and half and will not antici-
pate the reports on the depression
which will emerge from the analyses
presented for deliberation rather than
for campaign purposes. = But one can
deduce from the theses presented for
consideration that the causes of the
depression are manifold and that at
least IL must be considered, namely:
CD Credit defiation since the be-
ginning Of the year, induced by the ad-
ministration's hot money" and its own
self-engendered fears OF imitation,
which 1t sought hastily to Offset by
radical deflationary moves.
CD The inflationary agricultural
price program and remaining drought
effects. raising living costs and affect
ing spendable margins.
49, A wage-lifting policy which sud-
denly and radically pushed wage rates
in many lines beyond pre-depression
levels, while other prices were still
heavily depressed.
90 The condoning OF sit-down
strikes. inability of labor leadership to
control its own membership, unjudicial
Labor Board administration, and, as q
result. jams in production, thus slim
ulating inventory orders in the short
run and dislocating price. profit and
production mechanisms in the long
run.
80 An over-optimism in building up
inventories to the raised production
and sales levels. and occasionally to
anticipated trends-this against made
quate supplies. and related to bottle
necks In capacity and labor. which led
in turn to unbalanced price increases
and relationships.
Dema ands In Metals,
(6) The reflex Of exceptional de-
mands on certain metals, due to re-
armament throughout the world, COM
blned with recovery in certain fields.
which resulted in price squirt which
quickly corrected itself
i0 The combined effects OF the
surplus profits tax tonce. recall de-
nounced by Mr.. Jackson) and the
capital gains tax, which hindered busi-
ness expansion and discouraged pro-
ductive investment.
go The poor functioning of the
Governments regulative machinery of
the exchanges, resulting in illiquid
markets and inflexible margins.
49, Failure to release and secure
adequate new capital for financing in
dustrial capacity for the production Of
permanent goods at lower costs and
prices
GO Failure to solve the utility
problem.
QD Failure to solve the railroad
problem and restore that industry to
a credit position.
Oh Complicated stagnation and
tagging improvement in residential
building due to excessive labor and
material costs, and the backward or
ganization of that industry, which, in
cldentally, is certainly not ''monopolis-
tic" And about it we shall have some
more words to say.
This list of possible contributory
causes to the depression is not a fab
rication of this columnists vaporings,
but is merely piece of reporting of
what appears to be something like a
consensus among those whose life
work is in the field of economics un-
der q system Of private enterprise. Or
are We discussing the abolition of this
system? That Is another matter.
That. too, is open to debate. delibera-
ton and consideration.
1t is open to 1t. but where Is the
arena? Mr.. Jackson isn't discussing
he is chasing devils, and the devil
changes his face and form every 10
minutes.
Copyright 1887. New York Tribune, Inc