The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1939-02-16

"Ps SVluIs INsVC
Gives Radio Talk
Following is a five minute talk
delivered over radio station
FPFA in Helena on January q
by Representative John E. Rice
of Big Horn county:
Friends of the Radio Audience:
As Chairman of the Livestock
Committee in this 18th Legisla-
tive Assembly, I wish to speak
to the people of Montana re-
garding the livestock industry.
The livestock industry is one
of the most important in the
state for the reason that Mon
tana is naturally a livestock
country. The fact that the
Stockmen of Montana have not
proSpered during the last ten
years has been partly due to
to the extraordinary climatic
conditions, partly because of
the low prices on the worlds
market, and partly because of
insufficient financial facilities.
Fortunately, the year 1888 has
shown considerable improve
ment in the way of rainfall,
with the resulting increase in
the feed supply. The condition
of the markets has not improved
materially, but 1--WE feel that it
has at least become stabilized.
OF course, an improvement in
the buying power of the great
masses of people would add very
greatly to the markets for our
livestock.
The financing of the livestock
industry is one feature in which
I can see very little hope for
improvement. It is my private
opinion, however, that if the
monetary system in the United
States were changed, all small
er industries would be greatly
benefited. I believe that the
rank and file of the American
people have for more than a
century left the control of the
money of our country too much
in the hands of what we have
continued to be financial ex-
pertS.
It is a sad but true fact that
when a man has become prom
inent in the world OF. finance,
he must necessarily have lost
touch with the needs Of others
whose business it is to produce
wealth, and that he has adop-
ted the viewpoint of those who
thrive solely by the juggling of
wealth.
We, in our humble way, must
begin to realize that while we
may not be considered past
masters of finance we are bound !
in self-protection to scrutinize
more closely the methods that
have been adoptd by our mas
tiers. for surely no one needs to
dwell very long on what the
present financial system in our
country does to a livestock man.
Our herds and our ranches
thrive during periods of expan- !
sion, and it has been our sad
history that at the end of each
cycle of prosperity, a sort of
panic descendS like a cloud from
the sky and wipes out most of
our accumulationS and puts us
hack where we were when We
started.
The peculiar thing about these
So-called panics is that they
have been to a large extent
man-made. These trained ex-
3perts, in whose hands has been
placed the job of making the
laws and having them adjudi-
Gated, and of administering
them, seem to have an arrange
by which they-and thev
;alone-can profit by depressed
conditions in another mans line
of business. The fact that they
do this legally is because they
wrote the laws, their friends !
enacted them, and often times,
it looks to us, friendly courts
passed upon them without fully
considering the needs and
rights of the producers.
In my opinion the present
monetary system which grants
to the financial interests special
privileges in the issuance of
what passes as money is a di-
rect violation of the constitu-
ton of the United States. This
theory does not seem to be sup
ported by a majority of hero
worshippers in our state and
country who can see only the
rights of those of the privileged
few.
I hope that the people in
Montana and the rest of our
nation will soon start planning
an invasion upon the sacred