The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1944-11-17
MILLI0NAIRES
BUYING UP
farm PAPERS

More and more people, who never
miss the funnies and the sports pages,
distrust the big magazines and city
press when it comes to getting news
that affects their daily lives.
This bothers some publishers They
wonder why there is a growing criti-
cism of the conduct of much of the
press and the magazines over the way
they handle information on economic
and social problems.
The answer, of course, is that the
people slowly are recognizing that the
pres sis Big Business 1t speaks for
Big Business.
For the facts, go to government
document. Check through the 75-
volume record of the investigation of
the public utilities by the Federal
Trade Commission, the half-hundred
volumes of the LaFollette reports, the
so reports of the O'Mahoney monop-
oily investigation. These investiga-
lions reveal that:
l. America still is in the hands of
200 industrial and 80 financial fami-
lies.
2. These families run the country
8. They supply the funds which
elect most of the officials of the
United States, from state legislatures
to the presidency.
4. They control billions in stocks
and bonds, and thus control the eco
nomic life of the nation.
5. They control legislation they
maintain the most powerful lobby in
Washington, and usually get what
they want
6. They use many big newspapers
and magazines to maintain their con-
troll of America.
7. They use advertising to tighten
their hold on. public opinion
Typical of big-business magazines,
used to propaganda farmers, are the
Farm Journal and the Pathfinder.
The combined circulation of these two
is reported to be over
100000 copies.
Do you know the story of these
two magazines, since they profess to
speak for agriculture?
Are they owned by farmers? No,
Of course ont. Are they owned by
some group interested in agriculture?
No. Then, who are they owned by?
They are owned by the Pew family
If Philadelphia. Probably you never
heard of the Pews. They are one of
he ruling families of America, the
ninth richest family in the United
States, according to. the most recent
available. They own oil {
fields and refineriesI oil tankers. and
'hipyards, and a lotto other things.
They also own the Farm Journal and I
'athfinger, and lot of other maya
ines II
Now, why would a big industrial {
amily want to own farm papers? Y
Joseph N. Pew Jr., is the big noise f
n the Pew family. The usually eau [
ious Baltimore Sun reports that up /
o date Joseph Pew Jr, has spent t
100000 to capture the political ma g
hine of just one state, Pennsylvania. d
happens that he is republican, 7
nd so, OF course, set out to capture a
he republican machine. That makes
i'm political boss of Pennsylvania.
He and the rest of the Pew family il
lso have contributed heavily to their n
avorite politicians and candidates. b
In the past several years, the Pew {
honey has found it's way into at least t
2 states. Pew money financed the n
drive. An eye has been S
ept on the political developments in
he middle-west. il
Joseph Pew Jr., is smart man. F
Jack in 1898 he became angry with n
ne administration because it tried to \
tabilize the oil industry in the best n
lterests of the country. Mr.. Pew T
'as angry because the Pew family "
WINS 6942 per cent of the stock in n
un Oil Co (Sunoco), worth $4,000 G
D0 1t also owns the Sun Shipbuild-
lg Co., and has other huge holdings
hich make it worth many times the
mount the Sunoco shares indicate. !
Mr.. Pew is smart enough to know +
Continued on Page FOur)