Evening star., 1940-06-26

men who, no matter what they say, |
show no comprehension that the
money which they spend comes
from the sweat Of people who toll
and produce. Now the ordinary
peacetime expenses OF the Govern
ment have increased from about
four billions under Republicans to
nine billions under the Abundant
Life. My other suggestion Is that
somehow, somewhere we might pare
a little OF the abundance without
hurting anybody but officenolders.
But these men cannot stop spend
ing. 1t is in their blood. And 1t is
part Of the New Economics.
National Debt Speeds
Past Danger Sign.
Our national debt is now long
past the danger sign and its speed
Is increasing. 1t already weakens
our national defense.
One source of the intellectual de-
preston today is Mr.. Roosevelt's gay
dismissal of his fantastic national
debt by the idea that Americans do
not owe 1t, because we owe 1t to
Americans.
You and your grocer are both
Americans. You might ask your
grocer If he would not concede the
same idea. The fact is this debt rep
resents the elf-denial of those who
have toiled and saved. They have a
large part OF their savings in that
debt. Their 125 million insurance
policies, and their 80 millions saw
ings and bank accounts are in 1t.
Our children will have to pay it.
And they will pay 1t with toll and
bitterness toward our generation.
They will be working to pay for
the follies of the New Deal instead
of their own living.
And in another direction these
deficits and debts are becoming the
explosives which will destroy the
whole Of our social reforms. Dur
ing these eight years the New Deal |
has given hourly advertising to their
advances in the social field. There
have been advances. We sorely |
needed them. We always will need
them. Republicans builded them
over years. We have no quarrel
with the principle Of protection for
labor, the farmers, the old and the
destitute Our quarrel is with meth
cd and incompetence in admins
tration. But the torpedo prepared
for these services is that the Nation
Is not allowed to produce enough
goods and wealth to foot the bill for
them. They cannot be long paid
by the magic of borrowed money.
Unless the whole direction of this
Government is changed these hu-
manitarian measures will 90 into
the New Deal embroidered waste
basket called bankruptcy.
Gold Supply Bought
At Too High a Price.
MY third sample of the higher in
competence is the purchase of three
quarters of the whole worlds gold /
supply. We bought it by giving for
eigners our commodities and our in /
vestments. We have buried IS bill
lions mostly in hole at Fort Knox
The foreigners got our property at |
depression prices. We paid high |
price for this metal.
You have often been reminded of |
the legend of King Midas. Today /
that legend bears more careful eX !
animation. Midas also had the |
starry-eyed notion that he could |
benefit the kingdom If he had the |
power to turn his commodities into
gold. The gods gave him the power.
And when he finished he had a great |
pile of gold but no commodities. /
Then he assembled another COM |
mission for advice The god Bac-
chus advised him to jump in GER
tain river. He came out with dom |
keys ears.
Even Midas did not undertake to
operate on silver. He left that to !
the New Deal.
Unless We quickly restore the vi |
tality of this pile of dead gold, this
Nation will face loss of the whole
10 billion of it. We should start by !
putting it in circulation at home.
We should start putting it in circu-
lation abroad by swapping it for |
useful metals which we do not our
selves produce We would far better |
have many years stock of man. |
ganese. nickel, tungsten and tin
than the so-called precious metals !
These We may need for national de-
fense.
Defense incompetence
Strikes at L. S. Safety.
There are other major incompe-
tences in government which 1 could
well discuss. There are agriculture
and relief. But tonight my last !
example is national defense. And |
this incompetence strikes at our
national safety.
Mr.. Roosevelt recently broadcast !
an alibi that preparedness had been
neglected by Republican administra-
tions.
In the six years of peaceful world |
outlook before the New Deal We had
spent about $50 million a year oh
our preparedness. AS matter of
fact, Mr.. Roosevelt considered we
were spending too much on it. He
supported the Democratic platform
in 1882 which implied that. And in
1884 he drastically reduced our de-
fense to $50 million. looping off 20
millions from the Air Corps alone.
And that year he reduced the num-
ber of commissioned naval graduates
by one half.
The interlude would seem to
weaken the alibi.
Nazi-ism in Germany and our
New Deal both rose to power in
1888. During these dangerous years
our Republicans in Congress sup
ported repeated increases in de-
fense appropriations until they
reached 1,400 million year. In
these six years the New Deal has