The Bismarck Tribune Newspaper, September 17, 1937, Page 4

os ANAT - by supporting the moratorium plea. , debts—in addition to that large portion which already has been _ canceled—and letting the debtor nations settle with a mere - gesture. s _ doesn’t like us because we permit such men as Mayor LaGuardia An Independent Newspaper THE STATE’S OLDEST NEWSPAPER (Established 1873) é State, City and County Official Newspaper Published daily except Sunday by The Bismarck Tribune Bis- the Scenes Washington Company, marck, N. D., and entered at the postoffice at Bismarck as second class mail| Uncle Sam Is Histery’s Biggest matter. Banker, Realtor Mrs, Stella I. Mann President and Treasurer Archie 0. J th W. Simons Secretary and Editor . Johnson Vice Pres, and Gen'L Manager Subscription Rates Payable in Advance by by by mail per year (in state outst by mail outside of North Dakota kly by mail in state, per year .. Weekly by mail in Canada, per year Weekly by mail outside of North Dakota, per year. Member of Audit Bureau of Circulation Member of the Associated Press ‘The Associated Press ie exclusively entitled to the use for republica- (ion of the news dispatches credited to it or net otherwise credited in this newspaper and also the local news of spontaneous origin published herein. ‘All rights of republication of all other matter herein are also reserved. Human Nature Again Human nature is the same wherever you find it. That truism has been accepted as a fact for so long that additional proof is hardly necessary. Under such circumstances the attitude of some Western irrigation farmers serves merely as illustration. When he touched upon the subject of moratoria in a speech at Caldwell, Idaho, Wednesday, Reclamation Commissioner John C. Page brought into the open a situation which might be amus- ing did it not threaten tragic consequences for those districts now desperately in nced of federal help to obtain water develop- ~ ment projects. To get the picture it should be remembered, first of all, that irrigation was not originally sponsored by the govern- (Editor’s Note: This is the pidiycerowing “big, industzy” of of lust of the federal government. These special columns substitute for Rodney Datcher’s “Behind the Scenes in Washington” while Dutcher is on vacation.) © By WILLIS THORNTON (NEA Service Staff Correspondent) Washington, Sept. 17—By the time it should be clear that the ques- tion of “should the government go into business” is a purely theoretical one. The government is “in business” in many fields, and every tendency of the times is driving it farther in every year. It is « fact, not a theory.. The cases here, you will agencies concerned with regulating and controlling business, but only those in which the government is performing @ civil function of pro- ucing goods or services which are ordinarily produced by private firms or individuals. is one of the fields ordi- narily occupied by private enterprise. But who is the biggest banker in the country today? Why, the Reconstruc- tion Finance Corporation. Since Hoover started that federal super-bank, back in 1932, it has al- located the stupendous sum of $11,- 813,479,922, a banking operation not only far beyond the reach of any private bank, but the biggest bank- ing job in the history of the world. ment. The Reclamation bureau came into the picture in 1902, years after the first settlers had begun putting water on the land. The result, often, is federal projects operating side by side with others privately owned, as is the case at Billings, Mont. When the farm price structure collapsed, irrigation farm- * ers suffered as much as dry land farmers—perhaps more be- cause they had heavy fixed -charges to meet and produce often failed to pay the freight. Under such circumstances farmers on federal projects asked to be relieved of the payments due the government for constructing the projects and in 1988 a two-year moratorium was granted on such payments. Then came the drouth which STIMULATED prosperity on irrigation projects for reasons which every dry land farmer well remembers. All prices went up and the irrigation farmers never had more to sell, As shown by The Tribune’s recent studies in the Sidney, Mont., area, irrigation farmers are well able to pay their taxes and other debts. THEY HAVE THE MONEY BECAUSE THEY HAVE THE PRODUCTION. But irrigation farmers, noting the concessions granted to dry land farmers, felt they should have the same consideration. Some of them viewed remission of a debt owed to the govern- ment as a matter of RIGHT, not one of NECESSITW as was the case when federal agencies could not collect farm debts in the drouth area, A farmer was a farmer and all should be treated alike when the gravy was being ladled out. . Certain politicains took up the cry. Something for nothing has always been one of the best vote getters in American poli- tics. For that matter, bread and circuses made excellent pap in ancient Rome. And irrigation farmers had been getting none of the subsidies accorded to other farmers in the AAA program. About all they COULD ask for was a remission of the irrigation project construction debt. So they asked for that. Some of them may not CARE whéther the Reclamation bureau continues in operation or not. They have “got theirs” and if irrigation development were to cease the land now under water would be increasingly valuable. From a purely selfish standpoint they have nothing to lose and everything to gain It is doubtful, however, if senators and congressmen from the West will fall in line. The pressure for new development is greater than that for a donation to farmers on old developments and the upshot probably will be a law providing a rebate when, if and where ohe is proved necessary by the facts in the case. Farmers in districts such as this, who are looking forward to water development will sincerely hope that this evidence of pe pemian tendency to get as much as possible will fail of its goal. _ Unpopular Uncle Sam Commentators along the Eastern seaboard, interested in stimulating foreign trade, blame the farmers of the Middle West for America’s failure to “adjust” the so-called war debts. By adjustment they mean writing off the great bulk of the If that could be done the international bankers could re- sume operations, America could again begin loaning to the rest of the world and our foreign trade would prosper. The Middle West can well.afford to accept the indictment. In fact, it should be proud of it. If people in the East have short memories that is no reason why we should follow suit. If they don’t remember what the war did to them we do—and the mem- ory is a sad one. This without regard to any suggestion that it did more to us than it did to them. Americans returning from abroad report that poor old Uncle Sam is “in bad” almost everywhere. England doesn’t like us because we have supplanted her as the leading industrial power. France doesn’t like us because of the war debts. Germany of New York to insult Der Fuehrer. Italy doesn’t like us be- cause she senses America’s dislike for her Imperialistic policy. Japan doesn't like us because we exclude Japanese from immi- gration—an insult Japan never has forgiven—and because she feels this nation favors China in the current war. - About the only thing on which it would be possible to get eee ere We the pctiy hat thay sew't Hee Uncle Remember, too, that RFC is a cor- poration, whose capital comes from the sale of its stock to the U. 8. treasury, which holds the stock, The RFC itself owns stock of the Import- Export Bank, the Commodity Credit Corporation, and many other gov- lemainest -shoorhotated ausa: ie, A Super Holding Company ‘This growing form of incorporation for public business has also made the treasury iteelf a sort of holding com- pany or investment trust. It owns, billions of dollars worth of securities, the stock of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the Inland Waterways Corp. and dozens of others. Thus the form of the gov- ernment financial setup is becom- ing faintly reminiscent of Insull in his palmiest days. The government has always been, since its foundation, the biggest real its. made any private operation in this field look trivial by comparison. It is still, through federal buildings and sites, through national parks, re- servations, and public lands, ‘ the largest real estate owner. But'now it is going into the building game in a big way, Cae Pe Ask the Man Foreclosed The recently-passed Wagner-Stea- gall bill guarantees that the govern- ment will be a factor in the build- ing and renting situation for the next 20 years. While this program is large- ly financial, in the form of aid-loans to communities, it also implies # cer- tain amount of direct management, as the 3,000 families occupying Re- settlement projects can tell you. So can any one of the home-owners be- ing foreclosed by the HOLC in pre- cisely the same manner as he would have been by the private mortgage- owner from whose clutches the HOLC ene him a few years ago. x os ZL FB oa Li Ee hundred and fifty years Ke Si FEZ : b and GL GIL AFTER THE PRIMARIES One phase of the New York mayor- alty fight which is so smeared ‘up with national politics that the city’s ,,| fiscal problems are almost wholly lost to view, seems to have received slight attention. This is the situation as it will exist if and when ‘the Farley- Flynn backed Jeremiah Mahoney is nominated. The interesting thing then will be the attitude of the administration toward the two candidates—the fusion candidate. Mr. LaGuardia, and the Democratic candidate, Mr. Mahoney. Of course, it will be possible for Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Farley to sit smug- ly back and “let the people choose.” And if the primaries turn out the way they think and want, that is exactly what they would like to do. Because, except that one man may be person- ally more congenial than the other, it would make no real difference to the Roosevelt. administration which should be elected. Politically, while one is a sincefe and militant New Dealer and the other just a political one, they are of the same school. Both are avowed—rather blatantly so —tfriends of the president. Both sup- ported him for re-election and both were in favor of his coutt-packing Proposal. With the two candidates unequivo- cally pro-administration it would ap- pear that the president could hardly. lose no matter what the result and that this would be one instance where he could assume the highly virtuous position that the business of choosing ite mayor is exclusively the affair of the voters of the city and it is im- proper for the president to interfere— nized, routine attitude . which presidents are required to assume in).only regard to local elections. It is the one which Mr. Roosevelt has assumed on the surface in the pending primaries and it is the one which, no matter what the outcome, he will assume on the surface afterward. However, so far as the primaries are concerned, this official White House neutrality is a joke. Everybody knows the president wants Mr. Matoney nominated. Everybody knows that Mr. Farley, the political generalissimo of his administration, and his long- time friend and supporter, Boss Eddie Fiynn, of the Bronx, are together in the Mahoney campaign just as they were four years ago in the unsuccess- ful McGee campaign. The “neutrality” of the White House now deceives no one any more than it did then. Tam- many and Dr. Copeland know the president wants the doctor beaten and Mr. Mahoney and his supporters know ae ‘White House influence is with m, - In this case, however, neutrality before the primaries and neutrality after the primaries are two entirely ifferent things. The pre-primary neutrality is recognized as phony, It damages one side and helps the other. But neutrality after the primaries will be ekoeedingly offensive to both and and $27,121.81 was spent for ploration, making it really an opera! ing profit of $0,677.92, “a most satis- factory improvement,” says the re- port. The work of the Alaska Rural Rehabilitation Corporation (Mata- nuska) is helping this long-unprofit- able venture to get into the black. a # Peake Hf E | ia} is £ #4 a H H g a 25s i : i if Hl i But-that fine old gentleman probably can stand it. If he ‘thas to buy the affection of foreign nations by making such con- esssions as they demand he can better get along without their friendship, : Meanwhile, however, he had better keep himself in position fo demand their respect. Atlee aeainiing alt Prospective some course I National INIU) JE TISIEITISIEIS| Oi 2 i MAS 8 GIOMMUSISLUON Insignia IN} Sie lt TK PLIITIAI NEIE for the quite obvious reason that each will believe—and with sound grounds —that it is ee to Wg erie pathy support. and really mean it. That is the Foon Stapor LaGuardia’s loyalty to the te be a rare | i THE BISMARCK TRIBUNE, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1937 . Your Personal Health By William Brady, M. D. . Bi 11) anéwer questions pertaining to health but aot dis easen Ge Giguosle., Writs piers briefly ond invink, Address Dr. B im care of ‘The Tribune, queries must be accompanied by « stem! self-addressed énvelops. .. * ¢ ‘ Hale Have you any suggestions to prevent hair? ©, ‘Answer—Serid one ee oe ask for monograph “Care of Hair.” Tk eres (Copyright 1997, John F. 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