Milford chronicle., 1947-05-02
CURBING AN EXPANDING bureau


stick became club. In large sections of the
country it has been used to beat out of exis-
tence the production and distribution of ela-
ctrlc energy by the taxpaying, publicity re-
gulated, private electric industry This was
hrSt true OF the Tennessee Valley Authority.
II is now becoming true of Northwest and
southwest government projects. The mo-
mentum of expanding Federal authority in
oregon and Washington for example, has
grown to the point where the private COM
panies, since they have been unable to 90
ahead with private power development for
many years in the face of taX-exempt federal
competition have been compelled to accept
large scale expansion of government generat-
ing facilities. In other words, the scales have
been tipped. The government entered a busi-
ness needleSSly, and crippled the capacity of
an industry to keep abreast of demand 1t is
now we'll on the way to establishing mono
poly for which it must pour out tens of mil
lions In tax dollars collected from all the
people to fill in a gap in private industry
created by government itself 1t has been a
wasteful, dangerous experience. Every ven
ture In the direction of tOtalitarian govern
ment begins with the domination of nations
basic industries and once started becomes in
creasingly difficult to stop.
lhoSe naive souls who claim it can't hap
pen here will do well to watch the growing
Federal power monopoly. The parallel be-
tween it and the development of socialized
government in other parts of the world is
too close for comfort
THERE is AN OLD FRENCH proverb
which concerns mans inability to see the
forest because of the trees. That has hap
pened to Congress in it's dealings with pro-
CIotIn If
handling details of the problem, such as the
JurlSdlctlOnal strike and the secondary boy-
colt. 1T certainly has almost completely mis-
Sed the one great basic iSSue-which is the
closed shop.
So long as the closed shop exists, labor
abuses will exist. So long as the closed shop
exists, the tyrannical power possessed bv
ruthless union heads over union members
VIII exist. So long as the closed shop exists,
men who do not wish to pay tribute to un-
ION, and men who do not agree with policies
ialo down by union, may be turned out of
tnelr jobs, by union edict to the employer.
Senator Ball, who is certainly no enemy
OF labor or friend of rapacious capital, sum
med up the issue when he said: "The closed
shop IN American industry is about the most
reactlonary and unliberal institution that we
have ever developed :. .. . If a man isn't free
to earn living by working, the other free
doms aren't likely to last very long"
1t has become an established principle
that every man shall have the right to ioin a
union IT he so desires and that the employ
ef snail not tamper with that right under
pain OF severe penalties 1t must become an
established principle that every man shall
have the right not to join union if he so de-
Slres, and still keep his job-and that any
LABOR group which tampers with that right
snail be subject to equal penalties govern
ment Which protects workers against the
abuses of industrial management but does
not protect it against the abuses of union
management is doing only half the lob That
is the real labor issue which cOnfronts the
country now
THE AMERICAN PUBLIC is being fed
on "the news that the gold supply abroad
has mounted to an all-time high, with totals
up to ~ billion dollars. This is boost of
billion dollars over 1889.
The "dope" is that there are rich GUS
toners abroad, 'raring to go, who are going
to spend this gold for goods and merchandise
in the United States.
Is that only pipe-dream?
F0relgn countries are still calling on us
Tor loans" and gifts" No matter which
name you prefer, it's all the same The Uold
will never be returned.
But why should foreign nations, even if
they have chiseled and cheated in piling up
american gold become customers of the
United States and buy goods from us at rates
way beyond what they can produce the same
goods at home?
Inc chances are that if nations abroad
are actually holding out 22 billion dollars
that most OF it will go into hiding-a lot of
1t tucked in their socks''
from all the news being peddled to the
American public one would suppose that all |
these European nations are busted But the
dream of foreign trade is so flexible that
many human beings find it possible to believe
that these beggar nations actually are going
to spend 22 billion dollars for American
goods. The authors of our Free Trade
treaties can't explain this mudde, either.
1T CERTAINLY is humiliatinq 70 tho
American people to discover a fornoor VicoI