Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1943-08-10
Ickes Digs
Deep to Find
u. S. Wealth
His II Tri'Iion FIGURE
Mostly in the Ground
BY PAUL MALLON

BY PAUL MALLON
WASHINGTON, Aug. 10
w Harold lckeS, the muiti-iob
administration handyman, has
sought TO Soothe all financial
doubts about the war debt
ridden future we are coming
into by writing a piece for a
magazine saying this country is
worth - trilhonS Of dollars.
$4,000 .OO0.000.000).
I'VE are every one a croesus~
He says (your share would be
SSS, 1881. The prospective fed
eral debt of 100000 100000 TO
100000. 100000 nov Sl45,00O,-
0OG000) he considered to be
offset already by this great
wealth.
Ickes' article demonstrates
that he got his fabulous figure
Of l. trillion dollars mainly by
having his experts in the vari-
oHS mining branches OF his in
terror department compute the
amount of coal, iron, oil they
think is still in the ground
All we have 10 do to realize
it, he suggests, is TO maintain
"the freedom Americans have
enjoyed
DY ICKES' calculations. Rus
- STA must be the richest ma
ton in the world-five or 10
times as rich as the United
States. She has many times
more resources Of lumber, coal,
oll-Say 80 trillions of dollars
Il am saying this without any
experts, but probably just as
automatically.
But we all know Russia is not
the richest nation, that. indeed.
she always has been poor and
one of the backward nations.
To her, we appear 10 be a
golden plutocracy. Even the
little island of Britain, with
practically no natural resources,
has been obviously much richer
than Russia, as every child
knows.
Ickes clearly has miscalcu-
lated what is wealth. Even his
II trillion dollar figure is not
so fabulous as his story. his
woefully false propaganda story,
that physic a ! resources are
riches.
WHAT then is wealth? The
w only worth of ore in the
ground is what profit some one
can make out of ii by digging
it up. Unless it is profitable 10
dig il, and use 1t, no one will
do so.
So also with General Motors,
and all other factory resources.
Their only worth is what profit
some one can make out OF them
by using them. II General Mo-
tors cannot sell cars at a profit,
its value would drop to prac-
tically nothing.
A secondhand man would
buy il only if he could make
a profit out of selling the bricks.
If everyone already had more
than enough secondhand bricks,
It's value would be exactly zero.
because no one could make a
profit out Of its use.
IF TAXES are too high for
Il profitable operation. if gov
eminent regulations are too con-
fuSing, if no labor is available.
if wage costs are too high, If.
for any reason at all, it be-
comes Improbable 10 dig Mr..
IckeS' - trillion dollars out of
the ground, his ores have no
value
Good jobs, good pay for
workers, security of livelihood
for themselves and their fam
lilies. all depend upon maintain
ing the profit incentive,
Profits do not alone 60 10
the boss or the owner. They de-
termine the wage rate.-ThcY-
{ rniSh money for expansion
and reserves. They are distrib-
uted 10 stockholders who buy
the products and thereby Cre-
ate a larger market
But most important they fur
niSh the taxes through which
this terrific war debt must he
paid and financed. Taxes are
levied on net earnln gs. not
gross. Without profits the treas
ury would not collect a cent
in taxes. But from general
widespread profits, the treas
urv can collect great sums from
a lower rate Of taxation.
THE debt must be paid from
L the sweat Of our brow. The
dollars only can he paid by prof
its. profits for all for the work.
ING man. for the manager. for
the stakeholder. Only when all
arc making money does money
pour into the treasury of the
United States.
You cannot pay the debt with
ore in the ground, or with fac
tories, or even with Improbable
employment of both work and