THE I. A. A. RECORD 



Page Seven 



Federal money will be poured into reclamation projects to 

 provide further competition for present producers of farm 

 crops. One can readily understand the zeal of the dry land 

 states in lobbying and log rolling for Federal reclamation 

 money. These projects develop local communities, bring in 

 more settlers, build up local income and create more taxable 

 values for the state. And while the desert blooms under the 

 watchful eye of the government water dispensary, agricul- 

 ture elsewhere languishes for want of a profitable market. 



Some of the middlemen have set up a great howl against 

 the government loaning money to farm co-operatives for 

 marketing agricultural products. So far as we know, the 

 Farm Board in no wise is authorized nor has it sought to 

 subsidize co-operative marketing or enter into competition 

 with private distributors of farm produce. Yet during 

 the past 30 years the government not only has fostered new 

 competition in farming but it has directly subsidized such 

 competition through reclamation and land settlement work 

 throughout the west. Agricultural expansion has been our 

 national policy for generations. 



Only during recent years with the growth of effective 

 organization have farmers come to look upon their business 

 as an industry as well as a way of living. There has been 

 a sad lack of vision, or at least interest, in protecting the 

 investments of agricultural producers against destructive 

 competition from both within and without the borders of 

 the United States. The present administration is the first in 

 recent years to give serious attention to the economic wel- 

 fare of agriculture. But the continuance of federal land 

 reclamation work in the west will not be considered by 

 farmers as keeping faith in promoting their welfare. Cer- 

 tainly such projects are inconsistent with the ideals of the 

 Marketing Act. It is absurd for the Farm Board to advise 

 acreage reduction in the middle west and south while the 

 Reclamation Bureau practices acreage extension in the far 

 west. ■■._'■'■ 



Mussolini Goes After the Swindlers 



DICTATOR Mussolini of Italy recently called his cab- 

 inet together, submitted a decree for drastic action 

 against speculators and dishonest financiers. The report 

 was readily approved. Penalties are as follows: 



One to 10 years' imprisonment at hard labor and fines 

 of from $500 to $5,000 for "promoters, officers and liqixida- 

 tors of joint stock companies" who "fraudulently damage 

 the interests of stockholders." 



Frauds include: (1) distributing dividends unwarranted 

 by the condition of the company; (2) false statements in 

 balance sheets or to the public at stockholders' meetings; 

 (3) concealment of facts relating to economic conditions 

 of a company. 



One to five years' imprisonment at hard labor and fines 

 of $400 to $1,000 for "persons who, for their own or 

 others* profit, circulate false news or by other fraudulent 

 means create fictitious increases in the value of stocks of 

 companies they represent." 



One to three years' imprisonment at hard labor and fines 

 of $400 to $1,000 for company officials who contract loans 

 with their own companies. 



The operations of fraudulent promoters, salesmen and tip- 

 sters, which mulct the American people out of millions of 

 dollars annually, are a national disgrace. Yet, the majority 

 of jhese reprobates are never punished; first, because of 

 failure to prosecute, and secondly, because our existing laws 

 are not drastic enough to fit the offense. 



Men who would be base criminals under the new Italian 

 code are among our highly respected citizens. An army of 

 real estate promoters and stock and bond salesmen operating 

 iit the balmy days before the stock market crash of Novem- 



ber, 1929, defrauded thousands of people out of their sav- 

 ings. The going is not so easy now. Will Rogers said with 

 some truth after visiting a Federal prison, "They got the 

 wrong crowd in there." Certain kinds of criminals are 

 punished, others are not molested. 



We may not like Mussolini's methods, but they get results. 

 Until our government initiates plans for more direct action 

 against frauds whose offense frequently lies in not telling 

 the whole truth, the investing public will continue at the 

 mercy of the rule of caveat emptor — let the buyer beware. 



The Cover 



THE largest building in the world is the mammoth struc- 

 ture covering two city blocks in length, and 23 stories 

 in height, known as the Merchandise Mart, li is located on 

 the north bank of the Chicago River at Wells street, erected 

 at a cost of $30,000,000. 



In this giant structure, having 4,000,000 square feet of 

 floor space, buyers, retail merchants, etc., of the United 

 States, Canada and foreign countries can view under one 

 roof hundreds of lines of the best merchandise. The build- 

 ing houses a city in itself and includes club rooms, restau- 

 rants, barber shops, a branch postoffice, the National Broad- 

 casting Co. Chicago studios and countless other activities. 



The site of the building is that formerly occupied by the 

 old C. & N. W. R. R. station. Part of the building stands 

 over the C. & N. W. tracks. The railroad sold merely the 

 "air rights." Some 200 acres of air right property over 

 railroad yards and tracks are still available for buildings in 

 and about Chicago's loop. i 



Editorial of the Month ^ 



PREPARE FOR REAL REVENUE REFORM 



NO tears are being shed over the grave of the rejected 

 amendment which was proposed to the antiquated 

 and unjust revenue article of the Illinois constitution. Yet 

 every intelligent citizen in the state recognizes keenly the 

 existing public need of a well-devised, modern, enforceable 

 revenue article. Unhappily the amendment that was offered 

 to the voters was inadequate, ambiguous and pitiably lame. 

 If ratified, it might have aggravated the injustices in taxa- 

 tion now so generally and so justly complained of by farm- 

 ers, home owners and other holders of real estate. 



The more carefully the amendment was studied the clearer 

 it became that in operation it would not meet the require- 

 ments of the state in matters of revenue and taxation. The 

 proposal was rejected not because it involved changes but 

 bcause it failed to provide for changes favored by authori- 

 ties on taxation and by citizens who realize the essential 

 elements forming the basis of reasonable equality in any 

 application of the tax burden. 



There is nothing partisan about the question. It should 

 be taken up for full consideration and constructive action 

 by a joint committee of capable legislators, impartial eco- 

 nomists, men of affairs and representatives of farmers' or- 

 ganizations. Amendments to the revenue article of the con- 

 stitution should be drafted with knowledge and in a spirit 

 of justice. 



The Daily News .which for years has been a persistent 

 and consistent advocate of sound tax reform, reiterates its 

 conviction that the tax on personality, tangible and intan- 

 gible, should be abolished and a fair, simple, reasonable tax 

 on all incomes over a certain proper minimum should be 

 substituted for that unenforceable tax. Any mother at- 

 tempted solution would be practically certain to prove 

 illusory and futile. — Chicago Daily News. 



