The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1939-11-30
compelled to grow up in idleness
leaves much to he desired

compelled to grow up in idleness
leaves much to be desired.
The Civilian Conservation Corps
took thousands Of our boys off the
highways and from needy homes
and put them to work on soil eros
ion and other necessary projects. I
do not know that they were taught
useful trades. What better work
can the government engage itself
in than in training the young men
and women to become useful and
self-sustaining citizens? 1t is one
of our very best governmental
activities.
A Sound Policy
The Director of the Exchange
Control Bureau of Argentine is no
ones fool. He has outlined a new
policy in foreign commerce for his
country that is based on sound
business principles. In short, he is
going to buy from countries that
buy from Argentina. Under his pol
icy Great Britain, who is Argen-
tina's best customer, will be given
the inside track. I call that good
business. Incidentally, I have been
advocating the same policy for this
government. Take the case Of
Brazil. In 1888 we sold to that
country 61.9 million dollars. In re-
turn we bought 97.7 million dollars,
leaving trade balance of 1858 mill
lion dollars in Brazils favor. Bra
iii buys most of her foodstuffs in
Argentina which they should buy
from us because we are her best
customer for Brazilian coffee, rub
Der and manganese. When the
Brazilian Trade Agreement was un-
der consideration I suggested that
a proviso be inserted compelling
Brazil to buy as much from us as
we buy from her. The idea was
rejected as being contrary to the
good neighbor" policy of this adj
ministration. Some day we will
have to go on to that basis. Why
not now?
National Defense Tax?
The indications now are that Con-
gress in it's next session will be
asked to appropriate 3 thousand
million dollars for our army and
navy, which is about times as
much as it cost to run the federal
government when I first came to
Congress. The "spenders" are look
ing about for new sources of in
come. Today I learned that the
money may be raised through ma
tional defense tax which would be
levied on rich and poor, alike. AS
I figure it, it would be an addi-
tional per capita tax of $23, which
would mean $115 on family of
five.
just what is behind this mad
program for preparedness? Who
are we arming against? Japan is
bankrupt; England, France and
Germany have their hands full.
Italy and Russia are negligible
quantities. Isn't it about time that
the President take the country in
to his confidence and tell us frank
ly what country it is that he fears?
That tremendous sum would pro-
vide the 5 million young men and
women who are out of jobs with
an annual allowance of $500 each
that could be spent in preparing
them to become self-sustaining citi-
zens. Is there no end to this mad
ness?
A Correction
The other day received letter
from a constituent asking why I
had changed my position on the
arms embargo. My correspondent
stated that he had read in local
paper that all of the Representa-
tives from Minnesota, save one, had
voted to lift the embargo. am
happy to say that my correspon-
dent is in error. It is the other
way round. All but one of the Min
nesota Representatives (Mr. Buck
ler) voted to retain the embargo
on arms