Milford chronicle., 1950-03-10
is SOCIALISM A SCARE WORD"?

al IIiC LuCulldu OCIIlOCIdLlC IdIJY DdIQueE
when he looked down on the fashiOnabIy
dressed S1OO-a-plate diners and quipped
something to the effect that nobody would
take them for socialists. Warmed by dOmes-
tic Burgundy, this appealed to the crowd as
fine joke and there was vOciferOUS applause.
They didn't feel that they looked like social
lists, because socialists ordinarily are VSiOned
as lean and hungry people trying to persuade
the "fatcats" of the world to divvy up. How
ever, no doubt there were some of those at
the affair who had been guests at Stain ban
quetS where wine, or vodka, "flOWed like wa
ter" and who had reason to believe that the
top folk of any temporarily successful poll
tlcal revolution are able to fare pretty well on
occasion.
This, of course, is entirely aside from the
question of whether the President made good
IN his effort to poOh-pOOh the warning of the
Republicans that the New Deal and the Fair
Deal are leading the nation down the road to
Socialism. He said the Republicans have
been trying such scare words as welfare
state and "statism' and liberty or socialism"
ever since 1882. That is almost 20 years ago,
which is a reminder that Karl Marx himself
once wrote, concerning his hOped-fOr "revOu-
tlOn OF the prOletarit" that "In such great
developments, 20 years are but as a day =
and then may come days that are the cOncen-
trated essence of 20 years" No one fears
Socialism may come overnight.
No one knows what majority opinion in
the United States today is regarding the
claim that we are drifting rapidly toward
socialism, but people who fear so are not
without arguments.
In 1882, for example, there was no appre-
ciable popular support for the Government
going into the banking business, the money
lending business, the financing business, on al
permanent basis and in direct competition
with private enterprise Neither at that time
would it have set well for any party to pro-
mise that they would give the country a per-
manent policy of price support for agricul-I
tUre, of permanently sUbsidiZing the grower
Yet the temporary" mission of the r. F.
c. has excused a $44,00O,OOO loan to an auto
mobile company and a $37O0O,0OO loan to al
fabricated housing business, and the Admin
lStratlOn is planning loans to "small busi-I
ness. And the price support policy has re-
suited in Government possession of millions |
of dollars worth of potatoes that it offers to
sell back to the producers at a price of one
cent per hundred pounds, while housewives
continue to pay high prices for potatoes at
the corner grocery store.
1t is the fact that temporary" measures
give every evidence of becoming permanent
that worries thoughtful Americans. And
there wasn't one single word in the Presi-
dents address that indicated any plan or
wish for making temporary" mean what it
is supposed to mean.
5000
YOUR SHARE OF PUBLIC DEBT
A recent statement of the Department of
Commerce shows $273, 800, 100000 outstand-
ing public debt Of national, state and local
governments last year. That may not mean
much to the average citizen until broken into
per capita obligations. 1t means the average
obligation for every man, woman and child
in the United States last year was 81 ,694 for
federal debts, S113 for local government
debts and $27 for state debts.
These averages cover various states,
counties, cities and school districts, some of
which have no debt at all and others with per
capital debts much higher. But the national
debt hits us all and is going higher because
Of deficit financing at Washington
Before long, at the rate of increasing def
cit by our Washington bureaucracy every
man, woman and child in the United States
will be taxed every year to pay interest or
principal an average Of about 81 $50 of the !
total national debt Some taxpayers NAV
have the mistaken idea that the tax will not
hit the average wage Garner very hard but
will affect only the rich and the corporations. |
The truth is that the heavy tax on cor
pOratlOns is passed along to every family as
Anuuen taxes III nghef prices TO cover the
cost of Government. And this is true of all
other goods and services hit by huge income
taxes not paid directly by the Individual tax
payer These hidden Federal taxes are esti-
mated at over $500 a year paid by the aver
age family in addition to the deductions from
payroll check and direct payments.
1t might be a good idea to get out your
tax bills and analyze them. Add $500 to your
federal income tax aid direct and by payroll
deductions, if you have an averaged sized
family, and compare the total with what you
pay in local and state taxes. Then compare
the benefits you get from local government
with the direct benefits you get from the
Washington bureaucracy. The results may
be surprising.
5000
THAT LAW OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND
We can't see how Uncle Sam can pull him
l. = IL