The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1941-07-24
CAPITOL
BY Representative Harold Knutson
Of Minnesota
Side Track NOn-EssentiaIs


Side Track Essentials
Some day the war in Europe Il
going to come to an end and 1t |.
inevitable that it will be followed
by an economic recession that will
be felt all over the world. It will
probably be of considerable dura
ton because Of its severity. Their
we will be put to it to provide fol
the vast army Of unemployed. Tt
meet that emergency we should lie
fer all internal Improvement pro
jects until that time. Then we
will meet to embark upon an ex
tensive campaign of transcontin
entail road building, improvement
Of inland water ways, and man;
other improvements for which
there Is need and that will in time
pay their way. During the presen;
emergency, with its labor shorta ge
in many sections, nothing should be
undertaken that Is not Of immn I'd.
late necessity to the national de.
Tense program. Let us use them
as a cushion when the time comes
Small Industries Being Affected
AS the defense program g7ins
momentum the situation Of many
small manufacturing concerns is
becoming increasingly serious due
to their inability to get raw mater
ial. 1t is estimated that by fall
one third of Americas industries
will either have to cease operations
or find a new line of product on
This is going to throw hundreds o.
thousands out of work and cause
serious dislocation in our econ-
omy.
cannot help but feel that there
Is a lot of needless hysteria in this
preparedness program. High oTic-
ials talk of gasless Sundays, cut
ting automobile production in half,
curtailing production of refrigera-
tors, washers, radios and many 9TH
er articles that are really neces-
stiles. The object, Of course, Is 20
place the country on a WARTIME
footing so as to prepare us for
what appears to be inevitable. 1t
Is only a question of short time
until we will probably be asked to
reduce consumption of dairy pro-
ducts, grains, sugar and other es-
sentials so that we can send more
abroad.
A 100 Billion Dollar Debt
It is now being freely predicted
that within two years our national
debt will reach 100000 million dol
lars, which is equivalent to a debt
of $768 for every man, woman and
child in America. Not very pleas
ant picture to contemplate. AS a
result of the spending program in
which the government is now en-
gagged it will be necessary for Cow
gress to pass a new tax bill that
will impose staggering tax load
on our people. Personal income
taxes will in some instances be in
creased by as much as 300 per cent
and it will be necessary to imTose
a considerable number of sales
taxes to raise the $500 million do
lars In additional revenue that the
Treasury asks for. Under the new
tax law we will pay as much as
they do in Great Britain, If we
include local taxes which they do
not have there. In states like Min
nesota, where we already have
high income tax the burden will
be heavy and will probably result
in many people of means taking up
their residence in states where they
do not have a local income tax.
Will Work Both Ways
Ever since the defense program
was announced there has been a
mad scramble on the part Of var
ious municipalities to secure their
share of the benefits" in the way
of new factories, etc. Now, those
that were most successful are be-
ginning to worry over what will
happen to them when the pendulum
swings the other way and they find
themselves with thousands of inn
ported workers on their hands who
will have to be housed and fed
after the plants have shut down.
can see where 1t will create a
tremendous problem that will off
set many, many times the temper
airy benefits that are now being
enjoyed.
Would Undermine Decency
There is a concerted drive to
besmirch our literature in Amer
lea for subversive reasons, accord
ing to George A. Blasser, writing
in the current issue of the Nat
ional Republic. BY way of be-
ginning, Mr.. Blasser says:
'Salacious and atheist liter
ature form one of the Communists
most effective weapons in the
destruction of Americanism and
Christianity. The stream of lewd
literature flowing out Of Soviet
sources is corrupting and under
mining the morals of youth and
the American system
"These were the statements
made by Edward A. Hayes, past