Evening Star Newspaper, September 15, 1929, Page 14

14 QUSTING OF VARE FORECAST BY DIL Senator in Radio Forum Speech Also Says Tariff Bill Will Be Beaten. (Continued from First Page.) other 86!, per cent are on manufac~ tured products. Thus instead of rem- edying the inequality, the bill makes it worse.” Senator Dill said that while the only increased rates for jndustry which President Hoover mg&md ‘were for in- dustries languishing 'ause. of foreign competition, the present tariff bill, he charged, “fails to provide a tariff for some of such industries, but gives in- creased rates for “industries already prosperous.” Senator Dill sharply criticized some of the mergers ‘as to issuance of “watered stock,” the practice of split- ting shares-and “the use they make of small stockholders propagandize Congress whenever legislation is pend- ing aflecting them.” Despite protests of stockholders against investigation of the power interests, Senator Dill de- clared the Federal Trade Commission “has unearthed the most vicious, gigan- tic and dangerous propaganda to poison public opinion ever indulged in by the financial interests of the country.” Encouragement was held forth for the progressive cause by Senator Dill Progressives of both parties, includin, almost all the Democratic Senators, he said, “drove Daugherty, Fall and Denby from office and carried forwird the fight that finally placed Sinclair in a common jail. We forced Smith of Illi- nois to resign from the Senate and thanks to the efforts of Senator Norris to force early action, we will vate.Vare out of the Senate in December.” Other victories claimed for the Progressives by the speaker included abolition of secret sessions of the Senate and victory in the Senate on the farm bill, though, he added, we were compelled to yield to the House and the President or- have no farm bill at all.” Greatness Begins Early. Senator Dill's speech follows: Russell Conwell, the greatest popular lecturer of the last generation, said, “No man ever makes a great speech when he’'s a mafi unless he makes his little speech when he's a boy.” But he coined that before the advent of redio. Nobody ~has yet revealed the secret of a great radio speech. All the conditions for speaking are reversed. First, the -speaker doesn't know the size of his audience. It may be too large for funny stories or too small for a serious speech. His listeners may all be middle aged or old, or mostly young. For a politician it is doubly difficult, because the sweetest music that ever comes to the ears of a politician is the applause of the people. I speak to you tonight as a Progres- sive Democrat. As I read the political philosophy of Thomas Jefferson, no man can be a true follower of Jefferson with- out being a Progressive and every Pro- gressive in politics, whether he knows or admits it or -not,” is a Jeffersonian Democrat. Party names have lost their power in this country and among the younger generation especially there is less re- gard for political parties as such than ever before. . This augurs well for the future of Democratic government in America. It is often said that the cure for the ills of democracy is more democracy. ‘The history of Government in this Re- Public since 1789 demonstrates that the Improve and Recondition Your Home on Budget Payments -~ ‘VERY homeowner will acclaim the idea of budget payments in home iq:provemenll, And, to fill a long felt need in Washington, this corporation was established. Now, you can have a modern home, and pay the"bill in convenient sums to please you. SENATOR DILL. American people believe that. Then the people could vote directly for only one set of public officials in the Govern- ment, namely, the members of the Hcuse of Representatives. Today they not only choose the United States Sena- tors and their President at the polls, but the Constitutipn gives every citizen, rich_or poor, male or female, black, brown, or yellow, as well as white, the right to vote. March Is Continued. In the march toward more democracy in’ Government, the American people have not stopped with these reforms. They- have established the direct pri- mary for the nomination of practically all candidates for office with the excep- tion of candidates for President. If some practicable, workable method of primary nomination could be devised, the people would overwhelmingly adopt it in place of the machine-organized, boss-ruled convention system. Nor have they stopped with the en- largement of “suffrage and the direct nomination and election of almost every office except judges of our Federal courts. Some day we will elect Federal judges, too. In nearly all of the States the people have adopted some form or other of the initiative, referendum and recall. I remind you that the states- men who won these reforms were called reformers and radicals in their day. ‘Thus the adoption of Jeffersonian doctrines by the people has enabled them to own their Government, rather than be owned by it. It has given them | power to compel their public officials | to be the servants, not the rulers of the people. Aristotle, the wisest of the Greeks, said that slavery was necessary if the human race was to advance. He said there must be a leisure class to think and plan for the advancement of the masses of the people. Aristotle was right. What he said was true 2,000 years ago. It is true now, ‘also. The difference is that the slaves of Aristotle’s time were human beings. The slaves of our time.are coal, and oll and gas and water power and steam applied to steel machinery. Invention and science has enabled man to enslave tl animate things and do the work for- merly done by human beings. ‘While t! American people have changed their Government by enlarging | the power of the people to control it | they have made vastly greater strides by invention and science in changing | the daily life of the masses of the peo- | ple in the industrial, commercial and social world. ‘Think for & moment of what inven- | tion and science under the direction of American business genius have done in Fifteen million out of . THE. SUNDAY. .STAR, . WASHINGTON, D. C., SEPTEMBER 15, 1 - ity is made worse. | lions, but billions of dollars® transportation by aul iles. Sixteen | velopment of radio which is in compe g to how this inequall i3t rty. - Great tm'n‘"m ;:;’: :; distribution, the electricity for cleaning, | were &mwflefl to yleld to the House , which by | tition with wire y & millions have telep] means of radio enable them mnot only to l:lktwn:;l of North America but to most o ‘ope. g0 to movies every day and 20,000,000 of them are talkies, too. They read 33,000,000 daily newspapérs and 50,000,- 000 of them are able to listen to the same speeches, songs or music by radio, Use of Radio Just Starting. There has never been anything like it ia the history of mankind, and we are only started in the use of radio. Radio i8 still in its infancy. infant ever grew so rapidly. It grew from 10 stations to 700 stations in five years. It does nearly a billion dollars’ business annually. All other means of communication have been private, secfet and limited. Radio is a one-way mass communication that cannot be ke] rivate, but is necessarily open to all. t is fast becoming the greatest molder of public opinion in America. Here in the United States we have been able to keep radio free' from tax of any kind. It is making us feel to- gether, think together and act together and live together as never before. Single personalities become world forces by the aid of electricity transmitting their voices and thoughts all over the earth. But in radio as in every other busi- ness in America, except in farming, big money is trying to monopolize the art for private ends. And just as it was the duty of Government in the savage condition of society to protect the physically weak from the physically strong, so it has already become neces- sary for the Government to protect the financially weak from the financiall; !n:‘o‘ng in the development and use radio. Other governments have been afraid to permit the private ownership and private development of radio. But here in America we have encouraged private ownership and private development. With that have come the dangers of monopoly. In 1927 Congress passed the radio law. This created a Radio Commission and gave it power to prevent monopo- listic control of radio. If the commis- sion does not protect the people, it is not the fault of Congress, but the fault of the members of the commission, and they should be removed from office by the President and new members ap- pointed who will protect the people’s rights. By granting licenses for ex- tremely high-powered stations of 50,- 00 watts or more, and by granting cleared channels all over the broad- casting land to stations in a monopo- listic organization, and by strict limi- tations upon independent broadcasting stations, the Radio Commission can easily permit the destruction of the independent, free use of radio in the United States. On the other hand, it| has full power to break up any at- tempts to monopolize the air. It is sim- plv a question of whether or not it has the will and fearlessness to do its duty | to the radio listeners, for whom, after | all, the radio regulation should be de- signed. Steps Toward Merger. Just now the International Telegraph & Telephone Co. is asking Congress to repeal section 17 of the radio law. Why? So it can buy the interoceanic radio telephone stations of the Radio Corporation of America. Section 17 prohibits the merger of wire companies with wireless companies. The actual value of the property to be bought is $25,000,000. ' The price to be paid is $40,000,000 of stock. The extra $15,000,- 000 is to pay for contractural rights with foreign governments and alleged values of patents in use. ‘The market value of the stock is more than $100,000,000.. In other words, the purchasers of the stock will be pay- ing $75,000,000 which is watered value. Rates for telephone and cable messages must then be high enough to pay divi- dends not only on the $40,000,000 worth of stock, but upon the more than $60,- ‘Twenty-five millions | t No other | & y of | | Reed. services. Radio, with- all its possible develop- ments, including television and ransmission of electric power without wires, is the greatest na Tesource left to mankind, It is the Nation's last great u;l:m-ln. We must keep it for- ever . & public or vn}mc - monopo- , we must immediately amend Constitution. petition and used to oppress the people must be dissolved. ‘The time come when Congress should broadcast the important debates of both Houses. For two years I have had pendis a_bill to hones in Senate. Many Senators nsist it is impracticable and some of the older and more e tors were shocked at the 1. But the sentiment of the Senate is becoming more favorable. ‘Why not broadcast important Senate debates? Millions of ple would Hs- ten. They would develop a new under- standing of legislative work. It would keep Senators more closely in touch with the peop:: and in !hn‘t way im- rove democratic government. v If the people could have listened to the debate on income tax publicity of corporations desiring tariff increases, as provided for by.the resolution of Sena- tor Simmons of North Carolina, they would have understood why opposition melted away so rapidly that when the vote was taken all the Democrats and nearly one-half the Republicans voted for it. y Source of Relay. ‘How they would have enjoyed hearing Senator Norris, the dean of all Progres- sives hol! all poliuc:.l > fes here in Washington, answe: sflmm:w that he was trying to delay the tariff bill by the resolution to throw Vare out of the Senate last Wednesday! They would have heard something like this: “I ask unanimous consent to vote on the Vare resolution at 4 p.m. Friday,” said Norris. “I object,” said Senator Reed of Pennsylvania. “I ask unani- mous consent to vote at 2 p.m. today,” sald Senator Norris. “I object,” said Senator Bingham of Connecticut. “I ask unanimous consent to vote at 5 p.m. Saturday,” sald Norris. “I object,” said . “Then I ask’ unanigious consent that we vote Monday, 5 p.m.,” said Nor- ris. “I object to all unanimous consent requests for & vote,” sald Reed. “That is sufficient to show from what source delay is coming,” said Norris and sat down. No newspaper could describe the dramatics of the incident. No state- ment can present it as it really hap- pened. If the people had heard it they would understand why nearly all of the | Democrats followed their able leader, | Senator Robinson, and voted with Nor- ! ris, as did nine of the Progressive Re- publicans. ‘What a fine thing it would be for the Senate and the country if we could broadcast the Senate debates on the pending tariff bill. This tariff bill is an excellent example of the legislative in- justices that always result when Con- gress passes legislation to grant special privileges to any class of the people. For years even the leaders of the pro- tective tarlff movement have repeatedly admitted that existing tariff laws place unjust burdens on agriculture. Presi- dent Hoover and his party promised to remedy this inequality. He called Con- gress in special session for that purpose and what is the result? author of the Senate bill, shows the irony of the situation. The President |asked for a tariff bill to remedy in- equalities against the farmer. Mr. Smoot states that the bill as written gives only 1315 per cent of the tariff in- creases to farm products. The other 2 per cent are on manufactured 000,000 of watered. values. t is the economic reason for preventing such mergers. The other reason is to prevent this country. 25.000,000 families have quick, efficient the wire companies from stifling the de- You have only one bill to pay for the entir e work. No matter what improyements you need, whether it be a new heating Qlant. garage, new roof, remodeling work, painting, etc., The Security Finance Corporation will take care of the bill for you. The plan works just the same as if you .bough! an au!omob_lle or furniture on payments. There's no reason why you should deprive yourself and fnm!y of modern. conveniences, .especially when you can enjoy them NOW and pay later in modest sums. Employ Your Own Reliable Contractor to Do the W ork—W €’ll Finance the Bill OU simply engage any reliable contractor ‘to do the work, we advance the money to pay for the improvements, and you can repay us in monthly installments. We 3 Our business is financing home improvements. Thus you are at liberty to choose your own contractor, and we'll finance the bill. : Isn’t this a most desirable way to improve your home, giving you only one bill to: are not contractors or builders. pay for the entire job? If you anticipate having your home improved or remodeled, let us finance® the ‘bill for-you: - -Simply: instruct your through the Security contractor to, finante ‘Finance Corporation. ucts. Thus, instead of remedying |the inequality, the bill will make it | worse. Let me give you just one illustration No combination of men | Thi shall p:fl it. | si: ‘The statement of Senator Smoot, the | ing [ 428, EART 1. en“want a on new bill provides a 10 per cent tariff for hides and then a 20 per cent tariff on imported leather for harness, boots and shoes. The United States Tariff Com- mission reports that a 3}, per cent tarfff on is sufficient to compen- sate for a 10 per cent tariff on hides. , the manufacturer secures a tarift X is needed- to equalize conditions resulting from hide tariff. Only a few farmers raise hides, but all farmers buy harness and shoes. Let me call your attention to another illustration. This bill provides a tariff of 70 per cent on surgical and scientific instruments. What good will that do the farmer? Anyhow, 90 per cent of such instruments are manufactured abroad. If the tariff is to benefit these Ameri- can manufacturers, why not have it ap- licable only to instruments made in 0 has ageicafure isto burden the sek el ure i sicl and tgose in the hospitals. The only increased rates for' industry which President Hoover's message sug- 7 ted was for industries that are languishing because of foreign competi- tion. This bill fails to provide a tariff for some of such industries, but gives increased rates for industries already prosperous. If we are to have a pro- tective tariff system, tnen every .in- dustry in need of protection is entitled to protection. To leave out any industry in need of protection is not only unjust but makes the tariff bill indefensible. ‘That is the principal reason the farmers complain. They are not only entitled to protection, but also to have that protection made effective on surplus products, either by a debenture plan or | has an equalization fee plan. That is why the E‘roduoera of manganese insist upon a riff. The steel trust wants the tariff taken off so they can buy cheaper man- ganese abroad, but manganese producers are entitled to protection. ‘That is why the shingle mills of my own State of Washington insist upon a tariff. When we had a shingle tariff the shingle business prospered. When the tariff was removed the shingle busi- ness went bankrupt. With the tariff, ‘we produced 5,000,000,000 shingles every year, Without a tariff, 2.500,000,000 shingles are coming in from Canada an- nually, and one-half of our mills are closed. If shingles are not entitled to a tariff, no manmufactured product in tle United States is entitled to'a tariff, If shingles are on the free list, all the manufactured artieles in the ' United States should be placed on the free list. Dollar Out for Every Dime. For every dime the farmer will gain under this bill, he will pay a dollar in higher cost for what he buys. There is scarcely an article used upon the farm or in the home that will not cost tle farmer more. Unless the bill is radically changed it should and probabl: will be defeated by the Senate througl a combination of the Democrats and Progressive Republicans. ‘While the tariff bill is the immediate business before the Senate, Congress is confronted with another problem with which we must deal in the near future. 1t is assuming greater proportions eves day. I refer to the formation of b\lslz ness mergers. For more than a generation we have had combinations known as trusts. We no longer have trusts. They have a new name now. They are mergers. Merger is not such an objectionable name. - The masses of the people are not familiar with that wore So the new super-trusts are mergers. This new name merely covers an old evil greatly enlarged. The merger is a form of combination by which a hold- company reaches out and brings under co-operative control the corpora. tion units in any kind of business or industries that are closely related. ‘These mergers are fast covering every actlvity and every kind of business in | America. They no longer control mil- /1t is the what were formerly considered mam- moth corporat have given reason—or excuse, at least—for even more gigantic bank mergers. The result is that all financial credit in America is passin, into a few hands in the great cities o! the country. Pinancial credit is the life-blood of commerce. Nobody can picture the tremendous power for good or ill to the people as a whole possessed by those who rontrol financial credit. We can get a slight conception of what it means when we recall that there is $4,500,000,- 000 of actual money in the United States and $44.000,000,000 in bank de- posits. Thus $4,500,000,000 is money and $40,000,000,000 is credit. Those ;:l: K’e"::'u'fl' crc;litthn( the country ves of e people within their power. i Danger in Practices. The mere fact that business is or- ganized into big units does not neces- sarily mean that it is bad. The danger is in certain practices in which these enormous mergers indulge that would be impossible were they not so organ- ized. Almost every time a merger is formed the new organization issues mil- lions of dollars’ worth of watered stock. upon which dividends are to be paid 1 out of profits from high charges to the people. | Another dangerous practice is the| splitting of shares, issuing two shares for one, or.three for one, as stock div- idends and then repeating the process a year or two later, after the long-standing reputation of thé corporation, or merger, caused the public to bid the stock up to par or above. The ultimate results of these practices may not be so evi- dent while business is prosperous, but when business depression comes they will make crashes more certain and more disastrous. ‘Mergers do things that trusts dare not do, because of the Sherman anti-trust law. It is a doubtful question whether present laws can be applied to mergers. In any case, the Attorney General is as silent about them as an oyster and apparently as helpless. If the laws do not apply to mergers, he should =0 in- form Congress, and Congress should pass legislation to control and regulate these enormous organizations. One of the worst practices of thes~ great organizations is the use they make of small stockholders to propagandize Congress whenever legislation is pend- ing affecting them. We had a practical demonstration of it a year ago when the Walsh resolution to investigate the power trust came before the Senate. Widows, clerks, workingmen, school teachers, in fact, every class of our .the law. citizens who had their small savings | in a few shares of stock, either of some | |Tocal electric light and power company | or of soms larger company, Wrote or wired their Senators urging them to | vote against the investigation, because it would endanger the value of their stocks. A majority of the Senate dis- | regarded these appeals, and what was the result? ‘The Federal Trade Com- | ‘mission has unearthed the most vicious. | gigantic and dangerous propaganda to ! | poison publie opinion ever indulged in | by the financial interests of this| | country. | We live at the beginning of the elec- | tric age. Electricity is the manservant and the maidservant of all our people. Next to air, water, food and clothing, | greatest necessity of modern life. It is available to 18,000,000 of our 25,000,000 families, and yet the power | trust keeps electric rates so high that | in more than one-half of the homes | equipped with electricity, women rub |the clothes on the washboard and turn | the wringer by hand. | Cost of Electricity. | | In cities and communities where | municipal ownership keep down power | washing or ironing costs only 3 cents per hour. For 5 cents'a housewife can run an electric fan for 10 hours, a sew- ing machine 7 hours, keep a refrigera- tor cold for 4 hmmi Tun 2 vacuum cleaner 3 hours and light the lamp a whole evening. Why not take all ex- cess profits out of the electric power bu_s‘!hnw;‘h' {u Congress the dis. e n over - position of Muscle Shoals has been a fight to keep the Government from demonstrating how cheaply power can be supplied to the people of Alabama, Tennessee ' and Georgia. The moving purpose behind the fight over Boulder Dam was, to prevent the Government from demonstrating the profit and graft in the electric power business. But the people are. awakening to their rights and interests in these great water pow- ers of the country. The progressive Democrats and the progressive Repub- licans in Congress are fighting shoulder to shoulder against the power trust, and will continue to work and vote for leg- islation to protect the people’s interests. In conclusion let me say a few words of encouragement to the independent and progressive voters of this country.| Let none of my radio listeners mis- understand what I have said nor my attitude toward conditions in _this| country. With all the troubles, difficul- ties and dangers besetting the pro- gressive movement, there are abundant reasons for rejoicing and for hope that wrongs will destroyed. Newspaper editors and maga- zine writers may sneer at those who fight for progressive measures, but we | have had a fair measure of success in Tecent years. | Progressives of both parties including | almost all the Democratic Senators, | drove Daugherty, Fall and Denby from | office and carried forward the fight that finally placed Sinclair in a com- mon jail. We forced Smith of Illinois to resign from the Senate and thanks to the efforts of Senator Norris to force early action, we will vote Vare | out of the Senate in December. We fought the confirmation of former Senator Lenroot for customs judge and be righted and injustices | and it or have no farm bill at all. ' We are figl her now to rewrite the present tariff. bill so0 it will be just to the farmers and to the consumers. . Let me add that we are making head- way for the people’s cause in Wash- ington. D. C. We can't win every battle, but no reverse of the people’s cause is ever a permanent defeat. Sometimes the sipporters of progres- sive measures are numerous and some- times they are few, but there is always a small nucleus of progressive men in ¢he House and Sepate who carry on the battle. Italians May Lose Lunch. ROME, September 14 (#).—Mussolini is thinking of abolishing. lunch. for workers. Most office and store employes in Rome take three hours off to eat and sleep and work until 8 pm. It is proposed to make the hours 9 am. to 3:30 p.m. RS A white swan was seen recently by passengers of a liner 900 miles from Ireland, the nearest land. 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