The Durant news. (Durant, Miss.) 1882-1985, 1948-07-01
| 6L00MNG
|XLE AAA0
~ 81 GEORGE s. BENSON
= Pfesidexi--Har6ixs college
Seary. Arksxsas q
Ten Million Votes

If one Of the first steps Of socializa-
ton - government ownership - should
come now in this country, ten million
voters would be added Immediately to
the payroll Of the federal government.
Sounds unbelievable, doesn't it? Ten
million votes could make quite show
ing on Tuesday Of any November. Mr..
Wallace, or any other candidate, could
60 far with that kind of backing.
There are approximately that many
persons employed in the transportation
industry in the United States. Trans
portation would be one of the first in
dustries to be marked for nationalist
ton, in this country as in Britain. This
would include waterways, airlines, and
possibly our trucks and their drivers.
Mote on airlines: the British Overseas
Always Corporation, government
owned and operated, is expected to show
q 1872 million lossD
Is This Fantasy?
Even in taking over American rail-
roads, would-be dictator could get pos
sibly 100000 votes. There are that
many people employed by our railroads.
Not all of them would vote the party
line, at first. That would reduce the
number of rail employees somewhat,
until requirements were available. Of
course, new and revised form of WPA
would be set up to absorb the unem-
ployed. But even WPA-er can vote.
Either way, perhaps, the government
would appreciate votes!
Lest we carry this satire too far, I
will interrupt by saying that such q
mess as the above is not sheer fantasy.
It could happen here. The worst thing
about it is that the general public, and
even many folks in the transportation
industry, are unaware of the danger
Yet, economic collapse and consequent
government ownership is quite possible.
The nation would not have to go Com
munistic or be conquered by Russia for
this to happen.
Socialism, Quickly
Yet, some of those who are closest
to the Transports ton industry fear that
collapse may come. The trouble lies in
outmoded forms of Federal regulation.
Too much bureaucracy can take us to
socialism more quickly than we think.
This setting of the scene for trouble
goes back generation. The nation has
compromised on policies so long that
the result is patchwork of rules and
regulations that creates as much in
efficiency as possible. Over so govern
ment bureaus are charged with super
vising some kind of transportation, with
little overall coordination Of policy. Ac-
tually, in event our common carriers
find business no longer profitable, the
government is already well prepared to
begin the take-over
Elbow-rOom!
The trouble is that despite the largest
volume of peacetime traffic, too few of
our common carriers are able to make
enough profit to attract capital to the
industry. If naturalization comes in
this country, it may well come because
private capital has dried up as far as
transportation is concerned.
The problem is this: We must have
efficient, low cost transportation, and
we must have it the American way. At
q time when our railroads, like other
forms Of transport, are trying desper-
ately to reconstruct themselves after an
about job in wartime, we can i'll afford
to shackle them with heavy tax burdens
and other financial obstacles that pre-
vent rehabilitation. As the president Of
one Of our largest life insurance COM
panies puts it: "Our railroads need g.
nsneial elbow-room."
USe The ClQsSifieds IT puYx