The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1941-02-13

OF WdLerE ANY INVASION Oh Latin
America must be purely economic
and will be due to the ability Of
competing nations to undersell us.
We cannot expect to gain and hold
economic supremacy in South
America, because a majority Of the
countries down there produce pro-
ducts that compete with America
products. Aside from coffee, mang-
anese, some tin and rubber, prac-
ically everything produced in South
America is Of a competitive char
acter.
Is there anyone within the sound
of my voice who Is so fatuous, SO
naive as to believe that we can
ever hope to establish real reciproc-
al relations with Argentina? That
country produces cattle, sheep,
swine, corn, wheat and, believe,
some cotton. Is there one of these
products have just named that we
would be willing to let come into
this country under a reciprocal ar
rangement? Argentina must do
business with the countries that
buy her products. The same Is
true of Uruguay, and in a measure
of Brazil and paraguay. We may
loan them money until we have
pauperiezd ourselves but it will not,
it cannot change the picture.
My countrymen, appeal to you
to be practical in this matter. Do
you realize that if we go through
with the ambitious land-lease pro-
gram that the administration has
mapped out it may result in raising
the national debt to as much as
80 to 100 billion dollars, and that
would be about onetthird of all our
wealth of every kind and descript-
ion.
Less than eight months ago we
raised the limit for our national
debt from $4,000 million dollars to
$4,000 million dollars. Only the
other day the Ways and Means
Committee reported out a bill to
further increase the national debt
limit from $4,000 million dollars to
$1,000 million dollars, and we were
told that this is necessary If the
Federal treasury is to meet the nat
ions obligations in May. We were
told by responsible representatives,
of the Treasury that it is imperative
that this increase be- voted at a
early date. Indeed, the Secretary
of the Treasury told the Committee
that the governments financial con-
dition is such as to cause him many
sleepless nights and yet you are
giving serious consideration, and
will probably give approval to a
proposal to give the President a
blank check in spending. With
all due respecs to the great office
of chief magistrate of the United
States, I ask you If it is safe to
grant that extraordinary and I'M
heard of power to the man who is
now in the White House? And I
ask you that question in all SINGER
ity and in all charity.
On March %, 1888, Hitler promis-
ed the German people that he
would surrender to them in 1887
the extraordinary powers conferred
upon by the Reichstag, but he has
never done so; neither can I recall
any of the great powers conferred
upon Mr.. Roosevelt being surren-
dered by him. My friends, we are
playing with fire.
In the eight years that Mr..
Roosevelt has been president he has
increased the national debt from
22h thousand million dollars to a.
bout 43 thousand millions and the
Budget Bureau estimates that the
public debt will attain the stipend
Gus sum Of 58,367 million dollars
in 1912. And all this, notwithstand-
ing that the net revenue Of the
government increased from 2,08O
million dollars in 1888, to 5,3S7 mil
lion dollars in 1910. These are
figures that can hardly be grasped
by astronomers who spend their
lives computing the mileage be-
tween the various heavenly bodies.
My friends, you are proposing to
embark upon a program Of spend
ing that will sell unborn general
ions of Americans into lifetime
bondage of debt. You are propos-
ing to so increase the national debt
that the living level of the Amer
lean people will be reduced to that
of pauperized Europe. It is all very
we'll to get up here and beat your
breast and talk about the great
man in the White House-that he
will not usurp or abuse any power
given him but it is not so long ago
that we elected another President
on the plea that he would beep us
out of war. It may be that Mr..
Roosevelt is sincere when he, says
that he does not want to get into
this war, but when I see someone
walking around with chip on his
shoulder, as he has been doing for
the past several years, it is a pretty
good sign that someone Is looking
for trouble.
To you newer members who feel
that you must blindly follow the
President, I would suggest that you
study the Congressional election re-
turns for 1918 and reflect upon the
habit that hisory has Of repeating
itself. To you older members who
say YOU believe that the future well
fare of America demands that we
again mix in European power
politics, let me urge that you be
your age.
One of the worlds longest sus-
pension bridges is across the Del