Evening star., 1937-08-15
Present Problem Is
Who Will Pay
BY OVEN L. SCOTT.

oOAC w oVcP. "IldV IC Olu was W SSll LI1S
idea that the Government has painless
way to solve each individuals problem
of making living.
1t works in this way: A farmer finds
cotton prices or corn prices do not sat-
isfy. He joins with other cotton farmers
or corn farmers to howl loudly and long
enough for Congress to hear Govern
ment then jumps to the rescue with
rigged prices and cash subsidies. Or
wages In some industries may be lower
and hours longer than anybody would
consider reasonable So Government is
called upon to step in and push them up
and down, respectively.
Maybe city workers income is not
large enough to permit him to rent a de-
cent place In which to live Govern
ment magic Is called upon to subsidize
construction of homes that will rent at
prices low-income workers can afford Or
farmer may only be tenant when he
wants to be farm owner So the Govern
ment decides to lend him enough money
to buy farm Of his own
If a man loses his job and faces desti-
tuition, Government makes job for him
paying an hourly wage as high as, or
higher than, he could get elsewhere II
a farmer objects to paying or per
cent interest called for by a mortgage
against his farm, the Government cuts
the interest to 3,a per cent and Shoul-
ders the cost Of this subsidy. II COM
munity thinks 1t needs a new school
building or municipal electric plant
or most any improvement, and does not
want to pay the cost, the Federal Gov
ernment can be induced to provide
subsidy.
This is the Roosevelt revolution" That
revolution-really only speeded up by the
present adminiStration-involv govern
ment by subsidy. 1t is undergoing
burst of new life during the closing days
OF the present Congress-
At one time majority of the Supreme
Court appeared to have the Roosevelt
revolution on the run. Senators were
going to be brave and put on a revolt of
their own against the revolution But
the court changed its mind bit after
November, 1896, and the Senators, prod
ded by the folks back home, are whoop-
ing 1t up for bigger and better subsidies.
Only there Is another side to the pic
ture.
Il
by subsidy has been rather pleasant;
much the same as that enjoyed BY the
prodigal while he lives through the fam
lily inheritance. This sensation can con-
tinue as long as the easy money holds
out. So far, money has come easily and
cheaply. But day of reckoning always
arrives
President Roosevelt called attention to
I1t f4@ l-t-
revive the guarantee of price fixing
Government loan to cotton farmers All
right, the President said in effect, but II
we make the loans we must have
voice in the business of the cotton farmer
who borrows to protect his income.
Here the plot thickens.
II there are going to be continued farm
subsidies, involving price control or in
come control, then there must be Gov
ernment control over farming itself with
farmers told what they can grow, when
and how much of crop then can sell
and how they must treat their soil
Otherwise, Mr.. Roosevelt emphasized,
the Treasury soon would 60 busted.
Or if Government is going to have
voice in fixing minimum wages and max
imum hours in industry, it will need next
to apply other controls so that employ
ers. in period of stress, will be able to
pay the wages established and maintain
the Government protected standards of
work
And II Government is going to provide
a man with farm, then that Govern
ment is going to demand a voice in the
management of the farm in order to
protect its investment Also, if Govern
ment is to provide interest subsidies to
farmers, city people can hardly be de-
MED the same sort of subsidies; or If
farmers are to be set up on farms, city
people can be expected to demand that
Government fix them up with grocery
stores or radio shops or one Of multi
tude of business enterprises; and if some
people with low incomes are to be given
living quarters built at taxpayer ex
pense, politicians may find it difficult
not to provide rent subsidies for those
with not-quite- -such-low incomes.
Until now, Government has jumped
jauntily into one field of subsidy after
another by using borrowed money. The
pay roll contributions of Is, 900 900 work.
ers are opening a huge new money
source
Only one day there will come period
Of reckoning. 1nsistence on the part OF
President Roosevelt that continued sub
sides are going to be accompanied by
Government controls, shows that he has
become aware of the fact that subsidy
barrel can have a bottom. Controls
mean that the Federal Government
would encroach more and more directly
into the private lives Of its citizens.
Yet, in the face Of realization OF that
fact, important groups of citizens are
demanding that the Government go
ahead with its revolution.
AS graphic example:
American farmers seldom have been as
prosperous as this year They will have
more money available for spending on
things they want to buy than at any
time since 1925 and will be able to buy
more with the dollars they have than at
any time since the boom year of 1919.
Farmers are known as the great
American individualists. Their one big
desire, presumably, is to be let alone.
But in the midst of prosperity, made
more enjoyable by half-billion- dollar
subsidy from city taxpayers, the mere
sight of declining prices OF some COM
modities, due to the prospect Of big crops,
has caused farmers to rush to Washing
ton with a cry for help. Congress sud-
denly Is in dither Senators who had
vowed to battle the New Deal and to drive
the President into political exile are
rushing to the White House asking for
their constituents.
- nkr xl>A