Henderson daily dispatch., 1939-06-08

pectation of repayment in full. When
they got into the governments hands
thew all became business loans, and
now we are informed they are being
paid on schedule. II would be rude
to ask to see the schedule-say, OF
the rate of repayment of the loans
made directly by the Federal Re
serve banks For these are loans
which are assets "juSt as sound as
the loans made by the bankers OF
the country" And that which was
unsound in private hands, which
brought about over production,
which created a surplus of goods
overhanging the market" which low
cred our national income to 80 bill
lions in 1882, becomes sound when
the government does it. Private en-
terprise's "overproduction" is gov
ernment's "providing work for our
capital and our people"
Besides, as the President put it,
"our national debt, after all, is an
internal debt owed not only by the
nation, but to the nation. II our chill
dren have to pay interest on it, they
will pay that interest to themselves.
l don't know about all children, but
mine will not look at it that way. |
doubt that, as individuals, future
citizens of the United States will feel
that when they pay taxes to the
Federal government, taxes which
will be paid out in interest on bonds
held by other citizens, they are pay
ing the money to themselves. And
even citizens of the United States
are individuals. 1t is unlikely that
they will feel that the money they
pay, they have.
They will probably think just as
we do about it. Dryden once said:
AS long as words diff'rent sense
will bear,
And each may be his own interpreter
Our airy faith will no foundation
The words a weathercock for ev'ry
wind.
The pattern Of thought on which
a civilization like our is based is a
strong and enduring fabric. Despite
the attempts to create new word
worlds, the amount of change that
can be achieved in fifty years is
relatively small. Words" Francis
Bacon put it, ARE the token cur
rent and accepted for conceits, as
monies are for values" And people
like to be hornswoggled as little by
word juggling as they do by money
juggling.
When, for example, in connection
with some Of the antitrust cases that
are under consideration by the De-
partment OF Justice, businessmen
were told that the indictments
brought against them did not reflect
any personal blame but were merely
preparations for consent DEGREES
which would set up new principles
Of business enterprise, these business
men were highly indignant in many
cases. They said that no matter what
a lawyer in Washington told them
about the meaning Of a criminal anti
trust suit, in the world in which they
lived the words criminal" and "in-
dictment" had bad cOnnotations.
They said further that they would
not want to be called terminals"
even in the interest Of a noble ex-
PSA lAllO1At. <AlANA liz ClllOOIlL vi dIlOIld1-
izatiOn by the word experts was able
to batter down this settled convic-
ton.
Nor, l judge, will any amount of
verbal legerdemain convince the
public that the nation can be made
prosperous by increasing the amount
the government spends or induce
private investors Tor pamhlerS) tO
take their savings and put them into
productive enterprise until they be-
lieve the hard facts justify the risks
they must take.
Meanwhile, the merry game of
changing labels for things goes on,
fooling few really, except those who
play it, since words are hardly a sub
stitute for recovery, even in "a new
moral climate"