Evening star., 1938-01-17

out consultation with his cabinet or
with congressional leaders or Senate
and House committees, virtually COM
mlts the Government itself to ma
tional policy Of public ownership.
This is accomplished by using funds
broadly delegated by Congress to the
Executive to be used for relief" and
emergency" which funds he now
lends to cities and States. so that
the latter may engage in competition
With private businesses When the
competition becomes deadly and there
Is duplication Of facilities. the Presi-
dent says. the city or State govern
ments. as the case may be. should
buy out the private companies. The
funds would be loaned BY a Federal
Government with badly unbalanced
budget.
Logical Sequence Of Control
II. in the interest of the consumer,
1t is proper for the Federal Govern
ment to put cities and towns into the
electric light business which cannot
do 50 on their own credit. 1t is logical
for Uncle Sam TO start lending money
to city governments to conduct and
then buy out drug stores, grocery
stores, department stores. lumber
companies. oil companies, coal COM
panies and so on This is what Is
meant bv State socialism
The Supreme Court of the United
States has by no means leeslized this
process. but merely ruled technically
that individuals, as such. affected by
the Government competition. have no
standing IN court to raise the issue
For generations it has been a legal
circumstance that no taxpayer can sue
the Federal Government to prevent
the waste of his tax money by public
agencies
The remedy against unwise laws.
however. said Justice Stone in his ia
NOUS opinion in the A. A. A. case, Is
not In the courts. but at the ballot
box. That's where. in the year 1888.
through a congressional election. the
American people will have to decide
whether they want the Government
to embark, especially in the present
state Of its finances on a policy of
own everything and control every-
thing"
Step Followed Hesitation,
MI. Roosevelt has hesitated for a
long time to commit himself to the
public ownership idea. but In last
Fridays press conference he crossed
the rublcon, 1t is a short step now
70 naturalization Of railroads. bus
lines. banks. air lines, auto companies
and dealer outlets and other businesses
and essential instr,lmenta,ities of COM
merce.
Maybe the Government ownership
advocates are right If you. believe in
soclallstlc theory or communal enter
prlses. But some guara antees will have
to be discovered whereby all Govern
ment-managed businesses will be kept
free from the "spoils system" which
Mr.. Roosevelt himself tolerates, and
free from political influence. which
Is so rampant in Washington now
adays. Also some way will have to
be found to extract higher taxes from
an already overb,lrdened public to
make up for the loss Of revenues to
the city, State and Federal treasures
when all these private businesses are
wiped out and their successors be-
come tax-exempt.
Likewise, the question arises as to
now the transition from a democracy
70 a soclallstic state is to be accom-
plished; how, indeed. to perform such
major operation on the economic
body without causing a loss of eco
nonic blood in all arteries of busi-
ness when right arm is amputated
IN the so-called public interest"
Offer by Willkie.
Wendell Willkie Of the Common
wealth and Southern system sees the
handwriting on the wall and promptly
offers to sell his Tennessee Valley
facilities. In his holding company,
which owns 100 per cent of all the
common stock of It's subsidiaries, is
not to be found. he declares, one
dollar of so-called "write-up." All
the operating companies in his sys-
TEN. some of which are to be dam
aged by Federal competition, have
outstanding about 5000. .O00,00 III first
IA - -