c-ii 



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On Dividing The Wealth 



"The World Owes Me 



DIVIDE the wealth. 

 Give every family 

 15,000 or more. 

 Scrap our economic sys- 

 tem. Make every man a king. These are some of the ideas 

 being bandied about the country today. And promoters of 

 various schemes, largely irresponsible agitators, are getting a 

 ready hearing. For never were there so many people, includ- 

 ing many unfortunates who lost their shirts in the current 

 cycle of deflation, so eager to listen to new plans for bringing 

 on Utopia. 



Extremist views are not to be wondered at. They are the 

 outgrowth of injustices and Inequalities resulting from defects 

 in our economic order or disorder with its changeable, cruel 

 system of measuring wealth and debt. Granting these defects, 

 to say that the American system should be wrecked because 

 it has weaknesses is to say that the patient should be killed 

 to cure the pain. Extreme leftist propaganda should not be 

 confused with the progressive and justifiable stand of the 

 Farm Bureau movement for "Equality of Opportunity" and a 

 fair share of the national income for agriculture. 



It is apparent to any stu-. ' ;,. ; 



dent of economic history that 

 part of the evils in our pres- 

 ent; system have been brought 

 about by special legislation. 

 The high industrial tariff is 

 an example. Monopolies have 

 grown up, giant corporations 

 and organizations created to 

 stifle competition and exact 

 an unreasonable price or re- 

 turn for manufactured goods 

 and services. The trend to- 

 ward concentration of weiilth 

 and power has been aided and 

 abetted by seizure of natural 

 resources and the results of 

 science and invention for sel- 

 fish ends rather than for the 

 public welfare. Relatively un- 

 organized groups, such as 

 farmers, have been at a tre- 

 mendous disadvantage. 



For years farmers had 

 been selling in an unprotected 

 market abroad while buying 

 in a highly protected market 

 at home. Thus the exchange 

 value of agricultural products 

 in terms of manufactured 

 commodities Has been low. 

 Agriculture has been denied 

 a full measure of UHJiustrial 



goods and services. Obsolete, dilapidated farm buildings, worn- 

 out machinery, rusted fences, depleted soil, lack of modern 

 eonveniences in the home, unimproved roads, and inferior edu- 

 cational facilities particularly in the South all tell their own 

 story. 



Despite efforts of certain economists in the employ of big 

 eastern banks to prove otherwise, there is and has been a 

 distinct trend toward the concentration of national income and 

 accumulation of capital among a comparatively small minority. 

 Recent studies of the Brookings Institute set forth in the new 

 «>o<>k "America's Capacity to Consume" substantiate this 

 claim. In the year 1929 it has been shown that 66 per cent 

 of all heads of families and unattached individuals in the 

 United States received less than $2,000 net income, or 27 per 

 cent of the total net income. More significant is the fact that 

 this 65 per cent had only 1.74 per cent of totel savings. 



Taking the other extrem^ the Brookings Institute study. 



Views 



regarded as the latest and 

 most authentic statistical 

 data on the subject, re- 

 veals that heads of fami- 

 lies and individuals having $500,000 and over net income in 

 1929, representing only about one one-hundredth of all spending 

 units, had 19.54 per cent of total savings. Again, while only 

 two per cent of heads of families and unattached individuals 

 received $10,000 and over of net income in 1929, this small 

 group had more than 61 per cent of total savings. 



It is this unequal distribution of net income which is giving 

 rise to the share-the-wealth movement. There is a growing 

 feeling that too much of the fruits of labor go to the chosen 

 few, that those in strategic positions of control relegate to 

 themselves a larger share than should rightfully be theirs. 



While recognizing all these things, thinking people are not 

 for throwing overboard an economic system which, despite 

 abuses, respects property rights, and generally rewards indus- 

 triousness, initiative and thrift. After all we have developed 

 a high average standard of living compared with most other 

 countries. Our rjch natural resources, of course, had much 



; to do with this. Yet it is well 

 to beware the danger in 

 a headlong flight away from 

 where we are toward 

 something that is infinitely 

 worse. The "Divide - the - 

 Wealth" movement might 

 conceivably result only in a 

 greater diffusion of poverty. 

 No thinking person wants 

 to kill the goose that lays 

 the golden eggs — capital and 

 labor working in harmony. 

 Thoughtful people are seek- 

 ing a way to keep the goose 

 laying but to divide up the 

 golden eggs more equitably. 

 Our economic system is not 

 as bad as painted by its ene- 

 mies. Nor is it as perfect as 

 those perhaps benefiting by 

 special privilege would have 

 us believe. 



Equality of opportunity is 

 all that any honest, industri- 

 ous citizen asks for. This 

 much together with some 

 supervision in the interest of 

 fair play government owes 

 and no more. Thrift and 

 industry must be rewarded. 

 "Every man his brother's 

 keeper" doesn't mean that 

 the industrious should support the indolent. There is a grow- 

 ing feeling everywhere that unemployed people who are able 

 to work should no longer be kept, on the dole. With so much 

 work to be done, improvement of secondary roads and city 

 streets, for example, it is almost iinbelievable that unemploy- 

 ment relief authorities have required almost nothing of able- 

 bodied men in return for food and shelter provided for them 

 and their families. Idleness has been encouraged rather than 

 discouraged. The system followed has spread the idea amons 

 many that the world owes them a living regardless of the 

 individual effort put forth to earn a living. That President 

 Roo#evelt has taken the lead in meeting this great problem by 

 advocating a work relief program for employable people is a 

 hopeful sign. The times call for courage and determina- 

 tion to proceed with reform and improvement, but not for 

 the hair-brained schemes which 'would lead to nothing 

 but chaos. — Editor. 



FEBRUARY, 1935 



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