Evening star., 1938-10-16

t0riter OF this article Mr.. Healey, is on
the stat OF the San Francisco Chron-
icle. Merit weeks article wiN be written
from Portland, Greg.
SAN FRANCISCO.-Isoating an unqual-
lied expression of we'll being in the area to
which San Francisco Bay is the gateway
and that is geogra aphically two-thirds of the
State-is an unproductive task. Citizens
simply are not able or willing to give
snappy yes or no to a question as
seemingly simple as ARE you better off
now than you were 10 years ago, or worSe?"
First reaction is hesitancy. 1t is found
in the upper income brackets where the
Presidents economic royalists' rant
against upped taxes and undistrbuted
profits; it is found among those in the
Rooseveltian ELL fed, i'll housed and ill
clothed third" and again in the broad
intermediate stratum where skilled trades
men, the professions and the white-collar
group generally worry about the immediate
present and look askance at the future
Give them time for at least cursory analy-
sis and the prevailing answer is most likely
to be: IT would be in better shape, guess,
If only could cut down on expenses"
What is meant by 'expenses?" why,
running the house-buying food, clothing
paying more for transportation to work
buying gasoline-higher rents-being taxed
because circumstances may force you to
- eat in restaurant-and don't overlook that
item of taxes. It's getting so you're taxed
every time you draw a breath. Why, I'm
not only taking care of my own dependents,
I'm paying for the people who won't take
care of themselves. Taxes! Every time I
turn around it costs something"
Reflects Average Viewpoint.
Naturally that quotation does not pur-
port to be the outburst of any one individual
speaking spontaneously, but it is a literal
aggregate of the average group. 1t repre-
sents an attitude of mind that goes far to
explain why the average Californian is
more conscious today than ever before of
the personalities and issues displayed on the
economic and political stages. 1t is an at
titude manifested by contradictions, indca-
tive in themselves of changing concepts
against background of fundamentals,
either unshaken or revived
q thunderous reception to President Roose-
welt on his recent visit to the Pacific Coast
and cheered him when he asked for the
reelection of veteran United States Sena-
tor William Gibbs McAdoo Then they
turned right around and gave McAdoo a
sound humping at the polls in a primary
election, adding to the erstwhe cabinet
officers humiliation by beating him with a
heretofore obscure attorney generally re-
garded as far more liberal than the type
F. D. r. has requested for the next Congress-
On the other hand. a people inclined to
accept smilingy and tolerantly a success
sion of get-rich-quick schemes suddenly
have awakened to a real financial menace
and are girding to smash it with all the
vehemence at their command
Contradictions abound on every hand.
Elsewhere they might seem more than
ordinarily strange; in California they stem
ironically from the very enthusiasm of its
citizens Advertising and publicity brought
hundreds of thousands into the Golden
State; tens of thousands of them today
are regarded as liabilities
For every person who probably would be
contented with his lot were it not for the
collateral pressure upon him, there is an
other wallowing in discomfort, and a third
insisting the others owe him a living which
he is intent on getting The evidence is
dscernible in a few population and regis
tration figures.
10000 Added in Five Years.
Half a million persons have crossed Cali
fornia borders inbound in the last five
years. OF that number, 95 900 or naerly 20
per cent were indigents or migrants seek
ing manual employment who came in the
year 1897 alone il. and thousands like
them continue to come.
Industry and agriculture have not been
able to absorb them, and their care, added
to the normal tax load, has almost doubled
the cost of government in the last four
years.
Soon disillusioned, they become prey to
any and all quacks with a persuasive
tongue or an appealing slogan and neither
think nor care of practical economic impos-
sibilities. They grasp avidly at such catch
phrases as 5000 a month, $25 every Mon
day, ham and eggs, end poverty in Cali
fornia, $50 every Thursday. So when they
find that California today really is not
place where one may open ones eyes under
an orange tree and have breakfast fall into
ones lap, they hasten to register as voters,
either voluntarily or by direction. First
objective is to get on relief, second the
privilege Of voting on the fallacy that
suits their fancy at the moment.
{ To these add the aging who once were
welcomed as coupon clippers and California
today has 100000 of total population
f roughly 100000 who are more than so
years of age and therefore eligible for ex-
listing or proposed financial benefits.
ss Do they want these dollars?
It is no longer an academic question to
be dismissed with a tolerant smile. Sheri-
dan Downey, the man who obliterated Nc
Adoo as political figure Gf the Senator's
statement in Washington that he will not
accept appointment remains unchanged),
campaigned for and won the Democratic
nomination on a platform consisting en-
tirely of his assertion that he was for"
the payment of $50 every Thursday. And
3.437,242 persons-more than the State ever
had known before-regiStered for the pur-