The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1940-11-14

ing degrees Of severity. The poor
would suffer with the rich and gen.
eral chaos and bankruptcy would
be the net result as It would wipe
out all savings and values. That
is what happened in Europe IS
years ago.
realize that the debt limit must
be raised in view of the prepared
ness program that we have embark
ed upon but can see no reason for
increasing it by 10000 billion dol
lars at this time. Let us spend UP
to the present limit and then II
necessary increase the limitation
5000 million dollars at a time so
long as 1t is necessary.
A national debt of $4,000 billion
dollars would represent in round
figures about rs percent of the total
wealth of our people. Add to that
the other public debts, such as
state, municipal, county and school,
and the public debt would probably
represent 35 or 40 per cent Of our
national assets. Some day the ma
tional income and outlay must be
brought into balance If we are to
avoid initiation and bankruptcy.
Even with our great national
wealth we cannot continue indefin-
itely on an unbalanced budget
basis.
AS I see it, the only solution lies
in our being able to increase the
national income to 100000 million
or more dollars. That can be done
through restoration Of confidence
and drastic curtailment in gov
ernmental spending. Once this has
been brought about the unemploy-
ment problem will in a large meas
ure solve itself, and to lesser de-
gree also the farm problem.
Would End Electoral College
Senator Lodge says that the cleo
toral college is "a relic Of the past"
and promises that he will intro
duce in the next Congress "a Con-
stitutional amendment to require
presidential elections to be settled
by the majority vote Of the people. !"
I am rather inclined to agree
with Senator Lodge that the elect
oral college should be done away
with. Under its operation 1t Is pos
sible for a presidential candidate
to win the election over his oppon-
ent who may have the larger pop
ular vote. There have been several
instances Of that kind in the past:
namely when Presidents Hayes and
Harrison were elected by the cleo
toral college notwithstanding the
fact that their opponent had a clear
plurality over them. The present
system Is not democratic.
Hawaiians Vote for Statehood
BY substantial majority the
people Of Hawaii on Tuesday Of
last week expressed their desire
for statehood. Hawaii Is now a
territory and one Of our most i'm
portant points Of national defense.
The main objection to granting
statehood to Hawaii In the fact
that a large portion Of her citizens
are related by blood ties to a po-
tential enemy country in the Orient.
I am informed that this particular
class, which constitutes about 81
per cent Of the total population
would probably take sides with the
country of their origin in the event
that country went to war with the
United States. Hawaii is easily
the most important link in our ma
tional defense system and Pearl
Harbor one of the most strongly
fortified spots on earth.
Hawaii paid more income tax to
the federal government in 1889
than fourteen states Of the Union.
The original Hawaiians have so in
ter-married with the whites that
they have almost ceased to be a
distinct race. The question of
granting statehood will probably
come up in Congress this winter.
Canadian CONSUMPTION
A correspondent has written and
asked me If Canada has compul-
sorry military training. Yes, she has.
A compulsory military training pro-
gram went into effect in Canada on
October first and thirty thousand
young men a month are now being
called for a one-month training
period. Under the Canadian con-
scription act none Of them may be
sent against their will to fight in
foreign lands.