The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1942-08-13

why don't you commentators
quit trying to wake the people up
to the war and try to wake Wash
ington up?"
That's a question which repeats it.
self in my listener mail day after
day. So help me, l know the people
don't need waking up. And who am
I to decide whether Washington is
snoring or just breathing deeply?
Let me say. first of all. that I
know that a large part of Wash
ington" is awake and burning the
midnight oil. And remember that
means 1000 business men drafted
into service as well as the govern
ment officials the MAJORITY Of
whom are non-partisan men who
have worked through both Republi-
can and Democratic regimes.
But let me go on from there and
whom you nor 1 nor Big Ben nor
IN afraid alarm could wake up if
they had gone to bed after six cups
of coffee and the radio on.
am talking tagain) about what
Washington is talking about today
specifically the tax bill low in con-
gress. and initiation. in general.
The biggest tax bill in our history
any calm. cool, instructed thinker
thinks isn't nearly big enough. Why?
Well, some say because the fiscal
policy makers of the nation don't
seem to be much more var con-
scious than the home guard before
Pearl Harbor.
Now let's get a few facts straight.
There are men in the treasury de-
partment and sitting on c~ongression-
al committees dealing with fiscal
matters who know their monetary
onions as we'll as a farmer knows
the rows he hoes.
But let US proceed from there.
About a year and a half ago. Leon
Henderson who. no matter what you
may think of his neckties, his man.
ner or his t%actfulness. is pretty good
at foresight. echoed the thoughts of
perhaps a hundred other men in
Washington when he warned against
imitation.
One of the many brakes on infla-
ton is taxation. Taxation, Of course
is an ancient process. Another meth
cd. not so ancient, is compulsory
savings.
Henderson favored compulsory
savings. So did a lot of others. He
said so. He tried to convince Mr..
Morgenthau but Mr.. M~orgenthau
shuddered. That was totalitarian.
Regulate prices (what you pay out)
all right. but don't tell a free Ameri-
a citizen what he has to put in
his sock. That's totalitarian. Hen
ry Morgenthau said those
words to me. but one of his close
associates did.
Well, Henderson in one of his tact
less moments a year and a half
ago, commented on Mr.. Morgen-
thau's opinions on compulsory saw.
ings (not for the record. He said,
in effect: Henry is perfectly will
ing to have me put a gestapo in
every grocery store but he thinks
it's Hitlerism to force people to save
or buy bonds"
Those weren't his exact words but
those were his sentiments. I quote
them. not because Mr.. Henderson
knows everything. but because he
talks with a punch. l might also
add that there appeared a year ago
an article from the pen Of Reserve
Board Chairman Eccles entitled,
Price Ceilings Are Not Enough"
in which he expounded the thesis
that money must be taken out of
the easy spenders' pockets or infa-
ton would result.
One-Third of the Way
Today we have a tax bill which
stands. seven months after Pearl
Harbor. as incapable Of meeting the
exigencies Of war as Manila or
Singapore we're.
1t is true that expenses have shot
up more rapidly than was expected
(although many say this should have
been foreseen). And now we are
lucky if we a pay one-third of
way. Daniel Bell, undersecre-
tary Of the treasury. said that "a bill
lion dollars of the national expendi-
ture would be handled with borrow
ing mot all from the banks) this
year. Secretary Morgenthau had re-
fused to answer a question on that
point in the senate committee hear
ings when Senator Taft put it to
him, but turned it yer to Bell. Taft
protested that he wanted Morgen.
THAI as the policy-making head of