Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1947-09-05

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m GEORGE S. BENSON
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--s Stasey. ASkaxsas
Letter From China

1t cost $1,000 for my friend So
Tin Wong to write me from Canton,
China. He wanted to explain that
it now takes 5000 Chinese dollars to
buy one meal for one person. Mr..
So philosophers that it isn't how
many dollars one gets, it is what he
can buy with these dollars that real
~ counts. Do you wonder that Mr..
So has decided to leave China, il
he can, and 60 abroad?
MIR. So wants to leave his native
country, even though he makes sew
eral thousand dollars a day. Mr..
Sos trouble is imitation. 1t is so
bad that his wages will not permit
him to live in China and care for
his family. The value of the stamps
that brought me his air mail let
ter, amounting to $1,000, would
make the $4,000 meal worth only
two-thirds of the value of the post
age. Certainly, Mr.. So was not dis
cussing a very extravagant meal.
Your Dollars
This change has taken place since
I was in China in 1925 to 1896.
Then, one American dollar, accord
ing to the rate of exchange, would
buy only three or four Chinese dol
lars. While we do not have that
kind of initiation in this country,
America is actually moving slowly
in that direction.
Although American workinemen
have the highest wages that they
ever earned, they are complaining
that they cannot buy much with
those dollars. From 1920 to 1910,
when American dollars had pur-
chasing power, an American work.
man could buy an automobile and
could buy home. Today he can
probably buy neither, yet he has
far more dollars than he had then.
Initiation does not help working peo-
pie. 1t burdens them.
Raises Don't Help
I wanted to buy a new automo-
bile this year. But when I found
that it would take in the neigh
borhood of $4,000 to buy even an
average car, decided to have my
old one overhauled and get along
with it. However, the overhauling
cost half as much as it used to cost
to buy new automobile. It's hard
to tell, under imitation, whether one
is wise or foolish.
Meats right now are very high.
Yet, ! understand that in some
places both wholesalers and retail
ers are trying to get by on the
smallest margins they've ever had.
Others are handling meat with no
profit at all. You see, whether a
man gets an adequate diet for his
family depends on other things than
how big raise he gets from his
employer. Raises do not help when
there's imitation.
A Solid Economy
If we would like to increase in
fation and have more dollars in our
pockets but be able to buy less with
them, then we should encourage a
high federal budget, high federal
taxes, and still higher wages. All
these things have inflationary influ-
encc on our economy. If we want
a solid economy, where dollars will
buy more and we can actually live
better, then we must do these
things:
Cd Work for lower taxes, which
would leave more in the purchasing
stream and would stop discourage
ing investment in new industries
and new tools for workmen, (2)
Oppose the high budget with extrav-
agant federal spending. and (3)
Work for stable industrial relations.
Industry, labor, agriculture. and all
other American groups should un-
derstand these facts. With Shout
derS 10 the wheels we must work
for a stabilized America that can
land stahilitu to a conSucad u.oHld