Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1942-10-24

Inc oil industry has been SLOW in grasp
ing the new order that has been evolved in
washington and is inclined to refuse to ac-
cept new ideas promulgated BY the admin
istration to carry on the industry of the
future
Those who have read President Roose-
velt's books know that his planned economy
Is being swiftly worked into the business
methods Of the country. The latest step is
the proposed bonus" for the oil industry
rather than an increase in the price of oil
Inc administration is proceeding on the
theory OF production for use" to replace
production for profit" and that applies to
mining, agriculture, manufacturing and to
the oil industry as well One of the basic
concepts is the abolition Of the corpora
ton system of doing business-wherebv
Americans are invited to participate in
financing new venture, each investor pro-
lifting In proportion to the amount of the
investment he is able to make That system
is pretty well doomed
The first step in that direction was the
establishment of the Securities g. Exchange
Commission. Public financing is virtually a
thing of the past There has been liberal
lzation Of the laws in recent years but not
until corporation financing was dead For a
period OF five or six years after the estab-
hshment OF the SEC rules in 1888, it was
virtually impossible for a new concern to
do any public financing There was com
plete cessation in the public financing of
mining and oil enterprises The only sem
blance Of public financing was the issuance
OF low-interest bonds to replace higher in
terest bonds. That was about all the mar
ket afforded
Youths who in 1888 were 81 years old. lust
starting out to make fortunes for themselves
are now 30 years old. Whereas there were
few men 30 years old who did not own
stock Of some kind decade ago, it is safe
to say that there are now very few 3O-year-
old men in the United States who own stock
Of any kind. They have been pretty well
educated AGAINST stock investments Any
person who has tried to do any public
fiancing can testify in this regard
The theory expounded in the books which
reflect the administrations planned econ
omy Is that banking should be the function
OF the government that If anyone wants to
finance new project he should be able
to go to the government to get the funds.
without dividing his property up with scores
and perhaps hundreds of others Thus there
would be no loading" of a company and
its profits could be scrutinized by the gov
ernent agency and thus the products of the
enterprise might be sold to the public at a
fair value
Cited is the example of the safety razor
which at the time of the world war was sold
to soldier boys, khaki case included. for SIS.
That same safety razor has been selling in
recent years for Is cents which was and is
the true value. The elimination of that
s485 profit on such a simple necessity as
the safety razor is the thing the administra-
ton would eliminate
So long as corporations are made I'D of
thousands of American citizens of more or
less influence in their respective com
the corporation system is likely
to offer a stumbling block to any new
order which would eliminate the profit sys-
tenn So if big business is divorced from large
numbers Of stockholders, it will be much
simpler for the government to take over big
business The greatest friends Of the new
order were Wall Street bankers who cor
1ered all the leading banks in the country
lnder one or two heads; the capitalists who
,ook over most of the theatres into a few
chains"-an these moves which took away
he distribution of profit among many
people were wedges in the American profit
ystem, which are today being widened to
rack it apart
1t is pretty clear to any thinking person
hat the new order is too firmly established
o allow the country to go back to corpora
ion financing. The shortage of critical
minerals today, in the war emergency, is
argely to be attributed to the policy of
reventing public financing There was a
CESSATION of prospecting: no new mines have
cen opened up for decade, many of those
vhich were carried on by the old assessment
ystem have been closed down This brought
problem to the administration. It was a
erious problem, threatening the very life of
he nation
Was it solved by abolition of the SEC? It