Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 17, 1946)
II 4 Hoppncr Curette Time s October 17, 1946 liii;; 'iiiiiiis 111111! . i i i i : i . . I t i r. i . II A meiTDCsums it a A lady well qualified has spoken with authority; she has said: : has been a long fight to put the control of our eco o'clock is 12 sinking nomic system in the hands of Government, where it can be administered in the interests of the people as a lole." wr WHEN the interests of the people are at stake in any question the issue is public and not political. Putting control of our economic svstem in the hands of Government is something the public should have a lot to say about; and it shouldn't happen unless the people, knowing what they are doing, agrve to it. The beginning of wisdom is call ing things by their right names. Or "economic system" is all our busi ness activities. When the people of this country realize just what it will mean to them when Governmnt takes over all business activities, they will fight it tooth and nail. They will see their liberty and their freedom going down the drain, if the take-over is achieved. Even- citizen must un deitand and tell others what this means. That's why, as a citizen, I am giving the "take-over" plan the pit. less publicity it deserves. Senator Byrd of Virginia sized up the situation exactly when he said: "The people must realize . . . lliis dictatorship is not a thing born of war. It was conceived 10 years a;o. when the New Dealers came into office and stealthily tiptoed towards the abandonment of gov ernment by the people... Under these war powers they have the ' authority to do what they hae always dreamed, of to take com plete control of the fortunes and the conduct of every citizen." This "long fight" for Government control was engineered behind the iron curtain in Washington. It was not a "long fight" in the open. The people were unaware of what was happening to their liberties. They were lulled into a false sense of security that all was well, and that superior minds would take care of everything. The present plan to take ever all business, the system by which all our wealth has been created, involves you and every citizen of this republic. Everything you own in the way of property and all savings you have made by your own efforts will be taken from you. ' Having once capUircd the Go, rumcnt and shelved the Supreme Court, we would nationalize as many large industries as we could chew. We would do it peacefully if possible, and otherwise if necessary." The take-over will include ail the grocery stores, markets, manufac turing plants, publishing businesses, life insurance companies, real es tate, stocks, bonds, and mortgages. All business is now earmarked for complete con;:.l by Cc-.err.ment. This will set up an entirely new type of management political management rather than know-how management The Government take-over" m;ar.i that people knowing nothing whatever about production will be in charge of production and people knowing nothing whatever about distribution will be in charge of distri bution. Everything you own as an individual will be taken away from you and made Government property. "All owners of stocks, bonds, mortgages, lands, buildings or equip ment shall be required to surrender them in return for Common wealth Bonds." The quoted statements are declarations of intent by high Government officials. You did not elect them. They were "appointed." And all of them solemnly swore to defend the Constitution and your liberties! How they abided by their oath and how they plan to sell you down the river is re vealed above in their own words. The size of the prize our business system has not been afpraised by many Americans. It is not to be evaluated in terms of what it is plants, tools, machinery, equipment, and buildings. Its true value lies in what it his done and what it cun do under the direction of men having the Know-how to produce. America, economically, is today the sum total of what our business system has done. Here is an appraisal from outside America: "The C. S. has 67c of the world's an :t and 7c of its people. It has W'c of the telephones. Mt'c of the motor cars, 33 of the world's railroads. It produces "n'.'c- of the world's nil, 60 of wheat and cotton, 50 of copper and pi;; iron, 10 of coal and lead. It has eleven billion dollars in cold. It has tv.o-tirds of the world's bank ing resources. The pur basing power of its people is greater than that of all the people ot I "rop;- or all the people of Asia. Respons ible leadership which c.mnot translate su h a bulging economy into an assured prosperity is destitute of capacity. But pompous states men looking ove r tin estate sol nmly declare that the methods by which it was created wete all wrong, ought to be abandoned, must be discaidcd, and that the time has com" to substitute political management lor inditidual initiative and supervision. There is only one way to charade, i.c that proposal and that is as just damn foolishness." It was the editor of the London Sphere who made this appraisal. It should have been made long ago by the leadership men of industry and labor in these United States! LET'S R E V I E W a few of 0,6 things our business system has done for the people. Then let's review what Government as done TO the people. GASOLINE. The petroleum industry has reduced the price of good gasoline consistently since 1930. The actual price of gasoline today is 14c a gallon. What makes the price over 20c? Federal and State taxes levied directly upon you, the buyer! Did "Government" bring gasoline down t 14c a gallon? No! Business did it. Did Business slap taxes on gasoline to make the retail price over 20c a gallon? No! Government did it ELECTRIC CURRENT. Consistently, throughout the country, the rates for do mestic and industrial power and light have been reduced. Hundreds of small communities now enjoy rates as low as those of metropolitan districts. Did the Government do this? No! Business did it. RAILROADS. During the first World War the Government took over the rail roads. They were operated at a loss of $1,600,000,000 by the politicians! The people were taxed to pay the loss! that was Government control." During World War II the railroads were not taken over by Government. The railroads did a far bigger job of moving men and material than in the first World War. They paid the Government $4,600,000,000 in taxes! Business management, not Government management did that! RADIOS. In 1920, radios were a luxury. When radios went into mass production, millions of people had far better radios for $25 than hand tailored production gave for $250. Did Government do this? No! It was done by American Business. AUTOMOBILES. In 1903, automobiles were luxuries. By 1933, 80 of the world's cars were owned by Americans; the best cars in the world at the lowest cost! Can we thank Governmnt for this? No! As he price of automobiles went down, Government raised the taxes! Today a thousand-dollar car carries $173.63 in taxes. Business makes a better car at a lower price; the Government taxes it. OTHER PRODUCTS. Between 1926 and 1941, vacuum cleaner prices dropped 19; electric refrigerators 54, electric irons 51. Automobile tire mileage increased from 100,000 miles to 25,000 miles as the price of tires dropped 25 or more. Five thousand refrigerators were made in 1921. Almost 2,000,000 were made in 1933. The price dropped from over $500 to less than $100 per unit. In 1900, the telephone was a luxury. Now, 60 of the world's telephonaes are in America. Our telephone cost is the world's lowest for the world's finest service! Did the New Deal do this? No! American Business did it! But American Busi ness did even more than this. From 1932 to 1940, our National income was $536,500,000,000! This is the common wealth created by our business systems the profit and loss competitive system. In that system, there are plenty of losses taken but never collected by "law" from the taxpayers. Now what has Government ddne the Government that proposes to take over our Business System and run it ? INCOME TAXES. Between 1933 and 1940, the Government collected from you and ether individuals : - - $6,360,000,000 During the same period of years it collected in cor poration income taxes - $6,704,000,000 in liquor taxes - - 3,592,000,000 in tobacco taxes 4,096,000,000 That is a total of over , $20,000,000,000 These figures and facts are all pre-war no figures given deal with the justifia bl costs of war and victory. What did the "Government," which plans to take over all American Business, do with this twenty billion dollars enough money to run the country for ten years? Did they run the country for ten years on that money? No! They "borrowed" $30,000,000,000 more, created hundreds of new Government agencies, established scores of so-called "Government Corpora tions," set up subsidy programs, and hired millions of people to insure the vote and keep bureaucracy in power. Government paid subsidies of over four billion dollars to control the supply of food! You may well ask: Who got the subsidy money and why? Subsidies were paid to keep down the prices of meats, dairy products, and other foods but you paid for them perhaps more than you would have paid if prices had been established by the law of supply and demand! What did an OPA Chintf say about this? He said: "We are in the business of interfering with the law of supply and demand; there's no question about that" There you have a shin ing example of Government management! Did business advocate this deficit financing? This destiny by debt? No! Govern ment did it! Was it in your interest? Is it to your interest to have your income tax raised and the money wasted? To live under insolvtnt bureaucratic government? To your interest that a large group of politicians and ideologists, without any know ledge of how to run a business profitably, take over the system that has made this country great? When and If Government Is the Center of Control of Business Activities, of Medicine, Law, Schools, Science, Church, and ALL the Private Activities of Men and Women That Means the End of Your Liberty and Freedom! The lady has said this take-over is "in the interests of the people as a whole." I am opposed to that statement because it just isn't so. It means: Have you had any measure of success? Are you a better plumber, prin ter, taxicab driver? Are you a better salesperson, a better manufacturer? Have you any ambitions or ideals, any plans for yourself or your family and your children? Tramp on them right now! You are not going anywhere but down when the "long fight" to put control of business in the hands of Government finally ends with business in the hands of Government. Then you will have the "collectivist state". It will collect you will give up! It Is Twelve o'Clock Now In America ! It is now a race between education and catastrophe! American business must state its case and state it now. No man's judgment is better than his information. The American people want information. Already they show evidence of being aware that those they once trusted implicitly tried to fool them unmercifully. The American people can do anyhing, if you will only tell them why. But they must be told. The best brains of America should plan a forthright nationwide effort at straight-from-the-shoulder education. The businessmen of our country should stand up and be heard from. The labor leaders of our country should stand up and be counted. Their opinion should be expressed openly. Liberty, in the land that gave it birth, cries for defenders! We have disregarded the wisdom of Lincoln and Wilson. Lincoln said: "Eternal vigilance is the price of Liberty." Wilson said: "The history of liberty is the history of limitation upon the powers of Government." Everybody has a stake in this vital question: Can politicians and bu reaucrats 75 of whom never created a pay check and most of whom never earned as much as they are now paid with your income tax money, run the transportation system of our country? Can they make automo biles? Can they run the electrical industry? Can they run the food indus try? Remember how they tried to make an economy of scarcity by killing little pigs and plowing under every third furrow? They really believe that plenty can be accomplished by waste. They attempted to do it by spending fifty billions of your dollars in the 'days of experimentation." Now they are power mad and want to spend everything in America including every thing you have. It Is Twelve o'Clock In America! The "long fight" to tak over all Business is a wide-open family question. It boils down to this: If you want your freedom, fight the "take-over " But remember! Once we "socialize" this nation at an election, we cannot "de-socialize" it at the next. There won't be any next election. Many heads of American Business are hesitant about spending out of profits for any kind of publicity other than advertising products or services. They are afraid the people who have money in the business would be opposed to advertising dealing with public questions. That is why you should write to the presidents of insurance companies in which you have policies, and to the heads of every business in which your money are invested, and tell them to do somthing about this great public question. Labor, too, should fight the "take-over" tooth and nail. When once it is accomplished, labor will have nothing more to say, and will do precisely what it is told to do. All the businessmen of America should, actually, get together with but one purpose in mind to practice the "eternal vigilance" needed to protYt the lib erties of the people and the freedom of enterprise that gives every man and woman in America a chance to go as high as their own ceiling. It is to he hoped and prayed that siirh a movement to exercise vigilance will spring into being. It will have but one client the pamie of the Ration. It will have but one pro-' duct to sell the Constitution of our country and its Bill of Rights. Industrial management has too long overstressed the value of silence while others have been affecting public opinion. Whatever Is right can be achieved through the irresistible power of awak ened and informd opinion. We should not consider whether a thing can he done, but whether it ought to be done. If It ought to he done, we should cxrrt the force's of publicity. Then public opinion will compel it to be done, You can be sure there is still a majority In America who want liberty and freedom pre served! i This expressed viewpoint is my own responsibility, paid for by me, and is in no way connected or identified with any group, organiza tion, or company. Telling this story to the American people is a job that should be done by our business system itse t. What is i said here is said in the hope that our business system will recognize its responsibility and proceed at once to tell the people ot the U. 5. A., in a broad scale advertising program, just what this take-over means to the people. "Error of opinion may be tolerated when reason is left free to combat it." E. F. HUTTON Westbury, Long Island, N. Y. This advertisement sponsored by the Citizens'. Committee for the Preservation of Constitutional Govcrnmi nt. illlllllllllllllllt!llilllll!i!illll!llllil!lllllll!lii!!llllllll!IIH