Imperial Valley press., 1938-06-17

ington. BUSINESS fought this
and nail, but Congress is GO
going TO cost a pile of money in
taxes and eventually business must
foot the bill. But whether business
likes it or not the spending cannot
be stopped. So my advice to busi-
nessmen is to quit complaining and
make the most of the program.
Even S5,O0O,OOO,O0O can do little
pump -priming if business refuses
to give the pump-handle at least
a few pumpsl
Businessmen are right in their
assertion that before we can have
any real roSperity certain changes
must take place. Our tax system
must be overhauled; the Wagner
Labor Act must be amended; and
freer markets for goods, for wages,
and for brains must be established.
! Businessmen feel that when we
do these things, confidence will be
restored and real prosperity will
return without pump-priming. Nine
ty-five per cent of them, there
! fore, rail and rant at the President.
They blame him entirely for our
current mess. But does not some
of the blame belong to them too?
Have not they helped to destroy
free markets just as have labor and
the New Deal?
EverybOdy's Prices Pegged
The producer of commodities de-
mands a high price and big pro-
fit for the goods he makes. He
pegs his price and tells potential
consumers to take it or leave it.
Labor, encouraged by the Admins
tration, pegs its hourly wage rate
and tells industry to take 1T or
leave it, regardless of whether en-
ployers can pay the rate and pro-
duce goods at price that will
appeal to consumers. Primadonna
executives are eager to cut the
their own salaries at point high
above that warranted by conditions.
The net result is that we have
a complete deadlock among con-
sumer, worker, and manufacturer.
Selling prices are based on inflated
raw material, wage, and brain
trrtn nc m
a house, to buy new equipment, or
to launch a new business reckons
he IS licked before he starts. So
he keeps his money in the bank.
There the banker, with a pegged
interest rate, lets it lie idle. Every
one to whom I have talked this
week makes this comment: I'm
sitting tight until this thing is
cleared up. Everybody is riding
in the cart. No one is pushing it.
That is why we have business stag
nation in America today.
Stage Set For Boom
But consider the possibilities.
Geographically, we are the fifth
largest nation in the world. We have
vast land, mineral, and forest wealth.
New discoveries have boosted these
natural resources to the greatest
we have ever known. Our popula-
ton, the fourth largest in the world,
is at a new peak. Our labor supply
is the greatest on record. Our
potential output of goods is one
fifth larger than it was in the last
boom. Our credit reserves are five
times the 1929 peak. We have more
cash than ever before. Our bank
deposits are the largest on record.
Our 1888 crops promise to set new
all-time highs.
Here are all the necessary ingre-
dients for the greatest boom in
history. But instead we are mud
ding along in the eighth year of
depression. America Is "all dressed
up, but has nowhere to co.. My
readers are convinced that there
must be some basic reason for our
troubles. They feel that this cause
must go deeper than the Wagner
Labor Act, the taxation system, the
lack of free markets, the New Deal
reforms, and the other more OBJ
vious reasons. What is this deeper
cause? My answer is: Selfishnes. I
believe that we have been having
bull market in selfishness in
America for the last twenty years.
rall il a moral hreakdoun spiri-