The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1939-06-08

BY GEORGE L. KNAPP

VdSIliiklOll ~. ~.
American Medical Association is
bringing what it thinks are its big
guns into it's fight against the Wag-
ner Health Bill. DR.. Haven Emerson,
member of the Board Of Health OF
New York City, appeared at the first
hearing by subcommittee Of the Sem
ate committee on Education and La
Dor, not as a witness, for he gave no
evidence on anything, but to tell the
Senators where to "head in"
"No emergency Of sickness faces
US" he said. Estimates of neglected
sickness have been much exaggerated.
The best contribution that could
be made by the Federal government
to general health would be by re-
establishment of confidence in self
support"
DR.. Emerson has put the ANA in
the same position of blind resistance
that privilege has always offered to
all reforms. 1t is the same sort of
carping opposition that was brought
against taxing to extinction the use
of poisonous phosphorus in matches,
which ate away the bones of the lower
| jaw of those who worked in it long.
1t is the same stupidity that fought
against safety appliances on railroads
and in mines; and it will be just as
ineffective as those bungles.
The American people know that
poverty is one Of the deadliest of dis
eases; and they demand that some
thing be done about it.
X X X
| Observers in Washington are agreed
by big majority that the New Deal
has gained much in strength in the
last few weeks. Most of them cite
two proofs of this; the popularity of
President Roosevelts hard-hitting
speech to the retail merchants gather
ing; and the almost total Indifference
with which the country has received
the reactionary efforts to create pub
lie terror by shrieking over govern
ment spending" and the awful size
of the national debt.
The National Debt Week" oratory
reused neither terror nor enthusiasm.
The studied outcry against relief, gov
ernment spending and taxes-which
in substance boils down to demand
to untax the rich and let the unem-
ployed go hungry-got more yawns
than cheers. The whole performance
reminds me of a song of horrows
which the seniors of medical schools
sometimes sing to make the freshmen
shiver. The chorus runs:
90, this is a most HORRIBLE tale!
1t will make your faces all turn pale,
Your eyes with tears will be over
Tweedle, twaddle; tweedle, twaddle
twum."
The last line pretty we'll expresses
public feeling on the financial sighs
and groans we have been hearing so
much.
The Federal Power Commission has
to end the hackneyed excuse that pri-
vately owned utilities pay taxes and
publicly owned utilities do not.
The survey covered 691 privately
owned and 537 publicly owned utili-
ties. and took the fiscal years of 1886
and 1887. Basic revenues were COM
puted in the same way. The FPC
found:
That privately owned utilities paid
14.4 per cent of these revenues in tax
es and net cash contributions.
That public owned utilities paid IS
per cent of their revenues in taxes or
net cash contributions. Also, they
furnished free services to schools, hos
pitals, public buildings, etc. equal to
S.S per cent of their basic revenues.
In other words, publicly owned util-
tiles spent twice as much on public
benefits as privately owned ones. This
is not the only question at issue;
but at least, with the FPC work be-
fore us, we should be rid of the pri-
49,.