The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1939-01-26
NATIONAL AFFAIRS
By FRANK P. LITSCHERT

No more complete expose of the fall
lacies of the new Administration pro-
gram for sepnding ourselves rich can
be found than the reply of Senator
Harry F. Byrd to the letter sent him
some time ago by Chairman Eccles, Of
the Federal Reserve Board, in which
Mr.. Eccles sought to make answer to
the Senator's five point program of
curing our ills through economy and
budget balancing.
**#
Most significant is the fact that the
Virginia Senator represents an impor-
tant section of political thought in the
Democratic Party which the New Deal
hopes to control in 1910. Senator Byrd
heaped Goals of fire, so to speak by
quoting Thomas Jefferson and Andrew
Jackson to sustain his contentious and
refute the latest program of the New
Deal.
Perhaps two of the most telling
blows delivered by Senator Byrd ware
his quoting President Roosevelt and
Mr.. Eccles as formerly having advo-
Gated balanced budget themselves,
and his proof of the soundness of his
theory by citing the example of Great
Britain during the depression in con-
trast to our own.
The Virginia Senator pointed out to
Mr.. Eccles that the present New Deal
program Of greater expenditure was
reputation of the Democratic plat
form of 1882, and "the economy and
budget balancing messages, and the
pledges Of the President of the United
States, the Secretary of the Treasury
and other official spokesman including
yourself"
President Roosevelt was quoted as
stating in message to Congress in
1886: eve should plan to have a def
nitely balanced budget in the third
year Of the recovery and from that
time on to ask a continuing reduction
of the national debt. Mr.. Eccles him
self was quoted as having said on
March q, 1887, in an address at the
University of Cincinnati:
81 agree with most budget men and
bankers that budgetary deficit, if
continued, will create infation.'
eve must look to a period of bal
anced budgets"
eve must look in the next year or
two to a balanced budget"
PERSONALLY l would like to see it by
1888"
Perhaps the most devastating Sec
ton of Senator Byrd's letter to Mr..
Eccles was his reference to the recent
happy experience of Great Britain
happy in comparison to our own. He
referred to Mr.. Eccles' own statement
that in 1887 Great Britain's income
was 118 percent Of the 1929 level,
while our own has been averaging
about IS percent of the 1929 level, and
that if the United States were enjoy
ing the same level of prosperity as
Great Britain our national income
would now be S88,000,000 instead Of
S6O,OOO,OOO. Continuing the Virginia
Senator said:
England met her depression in
way very different from America.
England did not attempt to borrow and
spend herself out of the depression.
She did not pile up deficit upon deficit
She did not sell her relief rolls. She did
not harry and brighten business. She
did not revive the depression She re-
vived prosperity.
From 1882 to 1888 the total income
of England exceeded her expenditures.
England is $4OO,OOO,OOO to the good.
The United States in the same period
is SIC, 4OO,OOO,OOO in tn ehoIe.
81 ask you why by your own state
ment recovery in England from the
world depression has so far out
stripped recovery in the United States.
1t cannot be due to superior popula
ton. We outnumber the English three
to one. 1t cannot be due to superior re-
sources. Our resources exceed theirs.
am not willing to believe England is
superior to America"
A comparison of programs and the
results in England and the United
States during the past five years can
only prove embarrassing to the New
Deal. The proof Of the pudding is the
eating thereof.