Evening star., 1938-04-30
By the Asse ciated Press.

The text of President Roosevelt's
monopoly message to Congress yester-
day:
Unhappy events abroad have re-
taught us two simple truths about the
liberty of democratic people.
The first truth is that the liberty
of a democracy is not safe If the peo-
pie tolerate the growth of private
power to a point where it becomes
stronger than their democratic state
itself. That, in its essence, is Fascism
ownership of government by an in
dividual, by group, or by any other
controlling private power.
The second truth is that the liberty
of a democracy is not safe If its busi-
ness system does not provide employ
ment and produce and distribute goods
in such a way as to sustain an &C
ceptable standard of living.
Both lessons hit home
Among us today concentration of
private power without equal in history
is growing.
This concentration is seriously i'm
pairing the economic effectiveness of
private enterprise as way of pro-
viding employment for labor and cap
ital and as way Of assuring a more
equitable distribution of income and
earnings among the people of the Ma
ton as q whole.
Concentration of Power.
I. The growing conceptration of
economic power.
Statistics of the Bureau of Internal
Revenue reveal the following amazing
figures for 1885:
Ownership of corporate assets:
OF all corporations reporting from
every part of the Nation, one-tenth
of l per cent of them owned So per
cent of the assets of all Of them; and
to clinch the point:
OF all corporations reporting, less
than per cent of them owned 81 per
cent of all the assets of all Of them.
Income and profits of corporations:
OF all the corporations reporting
from every part of the country. one
tenth Of per cent of them earned SO
per cent of the net income of all Of
them;
And to clinch the point:
OF all the manufacturing corpora
tions reporting, less than per cent Of
them earned "a per cent of all the net
profits of all of them.
The statistical history of modern
times proves that in times Of depres-
sion concentration of business speeds
up. Bigger business then has larger
opportunity to grow still bigger at the
expense Of smaller competitors who
are weakened by financial adversely.
The danger of this Capitalization in
a handful of huge corporations is not
reduced or eliminated, as is cometimes
urged, by the wide public distribution
of their securities. The mere number
Of security holders gives little clue to
the size of their individual holdings
or to their actual ability to have a
voice in the management In fact the
concentration of stock ownership Of
corporations in the hands of tiny
minority of the population matches
the concentration of corporate assets.
Concentrations Cited.
The year 1929 was banner year for
distribution Of stock ownership. But
in that year three-tenths of l per
cent of our population received 78
per cent OF the dividends reported by
individuals. This has roughly the
same effect as if, out of every 300 per-
sons in our population. one person
received IS cents out of every dollar
of corporate dividends while the other
299 persons divided up the other %
cents between them.
The effect of this concentration is
reflected in the distribution of ma
tional income.
A recent study by the National Re-
sources Committee shows that in 1885,
So:
Forty-seven per cent of all American
families and single individuals living
alone had incomes of less than $1,000
for the year, and at the other end OF
the ladder a little less than ~ per
cent of the Nations families received
incomes which in dollars and cents
reached the same total as the incomes
of the Al per cent at the bottom;
Furthermore, to drive the point
home. the Bureau of Internal Revenue
reports that estate tax returns in
1886, show that:
Thirty-three per cent of the prop
erty which was passed by inheritance
was found in only per cent of all the
reporting estates. (And the figures OF
concentration would be far more i'm
pressive If We included all the smaller
estates which, under the law, do not
have to report)
Liberty Endangered.
We believe in way Of living in
which political democracy and free
private enterprise for profit should
serve and protect each other-to insure
a maximum of human liberty not for a
few but for all.
1t has been well said that "the
freest government. if it could exist
would not be long acceptable, if the
tendency of the laws were to create a
rapid accumulation of property in few
hands, and to render the great mass Of
the population dependent and penni-
less"
Today many Americans ask the I'M
easy question: Is the vociferation that
our liberties are in danger justified by
the facts?
Today's answer on the part of av-
erage men and women in every part
Of the country is far more accurate
than it would have been in 1929-for
the very simple reason that during the
past nine years we have been doing a
lot of common sense thinking. Their
answer is that if there Is that danger
it comes from that concentrated pri-
vate economic power which Is strug-
Cling so hard to master our demo-
cratic government. 1t will not come
as some (by no means alD of the
possessors Of that private power would
make the people believe-from our
democratic government itself.
Financial Control of Industry.
II. Financial control over industry:
Even these statistics I have cited