The Western news. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1933-current, 1939-06-29

United States.
WASHINGTON.-A bit of testi-
mony before the temporary national
economic committee, put together
with President Roosevelt's enthusi-
astic endorsement of the IL of Sen
ator James M. Mead of New York
for loans to small business, and then
added to the frequently stated doc
trine of the President that one of
the causes of the bust of 1929 was
tremendous increase in over
capacity by our producers, unac-
companied by increased spending
power to take up the slack, presents
a curious picture.
It almost iustifies the pessimism
Of Chairman Mariner S. Eccles,
of the federal reserve board, as TO
the good that the Mead bill would
do if enacted.
The curious part of the whole
thing is that Mr. Roosevelt, il would
seem, would encourage the same
sort of increase in over-capacity by
means of the Mead bill that he be-
gan deploring in his 1882 accept
ance speech. He spoke then of the
vast profits of the corporations in
the good years, and wanted to know
what had become of them. Some
of them he declared, have gone
into increases of plant, now stand
ing stark and idle.
His theory then. as enunciated
many times since, was that if this
money, instead of being put into I'M
needed additions to plant capacity.
had been paid out in wages. or
even dividends, the discrepancy
between buying power and produc-
ing power would not have zoomed
to the point where it produced the
1929 crash and the depression.
Reference to this testimony leads
to speculation as to whether gov
eminent aid to the little fellows may
not work the same havoc that greed
on the part of the big fellows pro-
duced in 1929
Points Out Inherent
Dangers in Mead Bill
On the stand was T. N. B. Hicks
Jr. urging, on behalf of the Wyom-
ing valley industrial development
fund, of Wilkes-Barre, Pa, more
liberal credit. He said there was
small silk throwing company which
would buy additional machines il it
could borrow cheaply.
Are you satisfied" inquired Sem
ator Joe O'Mahoney Of Wyoming tho
connection with the Wyoming valley
in question:, that there is a market
for the product of this company IL
it were enabled to acquire the ma
chinery."
THE company already has the
business, Senator, replied Mr..
Hicks. They are already farming
ii out under contract"
And not doing it themselves, /"
said MIR. Hicks. They want to do
il in our community"
well, if the business is being per-
formed on contract" continued
O'Mahoney, this financing would
merely mean shifting the production
from one plant to another plant. =
Yes" said Mr.. Hicks, "for all
practical purposes. 1t means, on
the other hand, in our particular
community, three hundred jobs,
Senator"
But, retorted O'Mahoney, three
hundred jobs in your community
taken away from some other COM
munity."
This is not cited by the writer
to demonstrate that the Mead bill
is bad, or would work harm. But il
is cited TO show that there are. GER
tain dangers in the Mead bin, just
as there are inherent dangers in
any government control Of credit
or anything else, for that matter,
which arbitrarily changes the lives
and habits of people.
Sometimes There Are
-Four Sides to Question
Sometimes there are four sides tc
a question, instead Of only two. The
authorization measure for the Ten.
nessee Valley authority TO issue
Sl00,000,000 in bonds to finance the
purchase Of the private utility prop
critics in Tennessee seems To be sucf
case.
introduced by Senator George w
Norris, It passed the senate with
little or no discus .,x...u,,,.,u.,...
sion but since then S N
for a time has been N
stymied in the house E
appropriations com W
mittee Actually il III A
was held up by the ny vs W.
rfst. ~ Z