The Durant news. (Durant, Miss.) 1882-1985, 1941-10-16
Experiment O. K. - But
The Horses Died

TIC J1ObSCS ~
George Peck told last week the story a.
ho,,+ tbe farmer who conducted an expert
ment with his horses. He thought they were
costing him too much to feed so he cut down
an their food with apparently no i'll results.
So he cut down again and again until finally
he ouit feeding them altogether. When asked
how it all worked out he replied, On II
was a complete success except the horses
died."
That in a measure is just what the govern
ment Of the United States has been DONG.
It has been experimenting with business see
ING lust how little it can feed the industrial
stockholders in dividends before all incen-
tive to risk savings in private enterprise or
expansion is killed.
There are three elements that participate
in the earnings of industry, labor, the gov
eminent and stockholders. Labor has been
rettinp more and more of its share through
organization and methods of force and In
timidation. The government, too, is cutting
IN more than ever for taxes of all kinds and
In some fields the government is going into
business itself and forcing private industry
out Of the picture. The man left out almost
entirely in this operation is the stakeholder
who has, since the inception of the New Deal
had ever-dwindling returns on his invested
money.
Labor and the government, as Mr.. Peck
pointed out, have overlooked the important
fact that if stockholders quit investing their
money there will be no employment ana
funds for labor and no taxes for the govern
ment. The starvation of the stakeholder will
eventually mean the starvation Of labor and
the government.
116 of our major Industries report for 194o
payrolls of S billion, 12O million dollars;
taxes of 2 billion, 1928 million dollars; and di-
vidends of / billion, SIS million dollars to
common stockholders.
The taxes aid by these 116 companies for
1910 were almost 80 per cent higher than
the 1889 taxes, while earnings were only
II 1-2 per cent higher than in 1910. Reports
of many companies for the first six months
of 1941 indicate the trend is still against the
~stockholder, and that the ratio of taxes to
earnings is still steadily increasing.
This trend against the stakeholder cannot
continue indefinitely. Somewhere a halt must
be called or we will destroy the American
system Oh free EuICIp IASC. AuNCSSOAS NC
encouraged. There are about twenty million
Americans who directly own industrial stocks
or bonds, while there are fifty million more
who indirectly own bonds and stocks through
ownership of life insurance policies or savings
bank deposits. They represent a majority
of the c~itizenry of this country.
When the horses died the farmer and his
family also starved because he had nothing
to pillow with and make q crop.
If the American stakeholder continues to
be drained by labor and taxes there will be
a gradual increase in shutd0wns and unem-
ployment; labor will turn to the government
for relief which can have only one outcome
employment by the government and
socialism on a national scale.
When we come to depend on the govern
ment for our living, directly or indirectly,
we have the roots of socialism which is the
essence of Russia's Communist party. In
Russia everyone works for the state. The
individual counts for nothing.
The time is not so far distant when the
entire economic picture of America will be
dominated by government rather than by pri-
vate enterprise. When that time comes, We
will have killed completely every thing we
claim to be protecting, our American way
of life"