I 



ture are to command the respect of 

 thoughtful people, they must meet pri- 

 vate business in the field of competition 

 on a basis of comparative economy and 

 eflFiciency. Certainly no cooperative is 

 warranted that has to depend uf>on tax 

 evasion or tax advantage. 



Some Seek Selfish Advantage 



Notwithstanding all that has been 

 said throughout recent years by leaders 

 of government and leaders of business, 

 labor and agriculture as to the impor- 

 tance of a sound, stable and fair eco- 

 nomic balance between wages, prices 

 and profits, we are forced daily to wit- 

 ness the many efforts that are being 

 made by some so secure selfish advan- 

 tage. Throughout the war, farmers 

 have wholeheartedly cooperated with 

 and supported all honest efforts that 

 have been made to secure and maintain 

 this balance and to avoid dangerous 

 inflation. I wonder if the leaders of 

 other groups of our economic life could 

 honestly make the same statement. You 

 will remember that when the price con- 

 trol law was first under consideration 

 by the Congress, it included wages as 

 well as industrial and agricultural 

 prices. Labor strenuously opposed the 

 inclusion of wages. It is well to re- 

 member that it was the President of 

 the United States who said, in effect. 

 "Leave wages to me." The Little Steel 

 Formula was adopted as a yardstick to 

 keep wages in line with prices. This 

 formula, repeatedly violated, has been 

 little more than a myth for a long time. 



Unit Cost Increase Dangerous 



I would not have you think that 

 either as an individual or as a spokes- 

 man for others, I oppose either sub- 

 stantial, regular wages, or the best of 

 working conditions for the workers of 

 the country. Neither do I fail to rec- 

 ognize the importance of large scale 

 employment and industrial activity. But 

 I do strenuously and uncompromisingly 

 oppose the continuing efforts on the 

 part of some leaders of labor to secure 

 for workers more and ever higher 

 wages for doing and producing less 

 and less. Stating it in another way, it 

 is not the high wage that is dangerous, 

 but the ever-increasing per unit cost of 

 producing industrial commodities. I 

 oppose such policies because I know 

 that if permitted to succeed, they will 

 contribute to further unbalancing the 

 economy and ultimately will not only 

 undermine, but will destroy the free 

 economy of America. 



Farmers' Record Clear 



The condition of our country, its 

 obhgations and its financial stability 

 are such that we cannot afford to con- 



tinue coddling any leader or group of 

 people. I realize that this is plain and 

 serious language, but dangerous en- 

 croachments upon the broad public in- 

 terest that threaten the foundations of 

 government itself require and call for 

 such plain and serious treatment. No 

 group have more at stake, and no group 

 of citizens have a greater right to speak 

 out than farmers. Throughout this war 

 they have been called upon to do more 

 and more with less and less. Their 

 record is one of which we can all be 

 proud. There have been no farmer 

 strikes and there have been no slow- 

 downs or sitdowns in agriculture. No 

 one has gone hungry in America be- 

 cause of a let-down on the agricultural 

 front. The record is clear. On a basis 

 of that record and because of farmers' 

 belief in and devotion to the funda- 

 mentals of our free institutions, free 

 enterprise and a nation of free men, 

 they demand that government immedi- 

 ately revise policies and programs nec- 

 essary to assure fair and equitable 

 treatment of all classes of men, whether 

 engaged in the factory, in the office, or 

 upon the farms. It is not pleasant to 

 think of, nor does it make us comfort- 

 able, but every true American must now 

 fully recognize that the obligations of 

 the United States now approximates the 

 value of all tangible property. If the 

 boys and girls of today, yes, even the 

 young men and the young women who 

 have borne the real brunt of the terrible 

 war, are in the future to live in a nation 

 of free men, it is already a late hour for 

 getting our national economy in order. 

 Present trends do not offer much en- 

 couragement. 



Need Substantial Tax Structure 



Congress has already p.issed and the 

 President has approved a bill providing 

 large reductions in next year's tax rev- 

 enues and the removal of millions from 

 the obligations of direct federal taxa- 

 tion. Are equal efforts being made for 

 the reduction of federal expenditures? 

 Are people who are doing useless or 

 non-essential work in the employ of 

 the federal government being retired 

 and made available for the require- 

 ments of legitimate business.' The 

 answer is obvious to every student of 

 public affairs. What America needs 

 and must have is sound laws and sound 

 policies in the administration of law 

 that will permit, will encourage and 

 will sustain a large national income. 

 This can only be accomplished through 

 large scale industrial and agricultural 

 production, which means large scale 

 employment. This goal can only be 

 achieved through policies that recognize 

 the importance or sound and fair eco- 

 nomic balance between all groups of 

 people. I say all, because the largest 



group of all, the so-called "white collar 

 workers" together with retired people 

 who depend upon investments for a 

 living, are seldom considered in their 

 proper sphere of importance to a 

 sound National economy. Such a sub- 

 stantial National income must be main- 

 tained if for no other reason than to 

 constitute a reservoir for the purposes 

 of taxation essential to maintain the 

 solvency of the United States. 



Some of you may feel that I am plac- 

 ing too much emphasis upon the neces- 

 sity of maintaining a very substantial 

 tax structure. Some people seem to 

 think that obligations of government 

 are different, because in effect the 

 people are the government and, there- 

 fore, we owe this financial obligation 

 to ourselves. I do not agree with such 

 theories. I have never been and I do 

 not want to be either a pessimist or 

 an alarmist, but only a few weeks ago 

 I heard a very prominent United States 

 Senator say that America had been slip- 

 ping and was now speeding into a situ- 

 ation where ultimately, unless present 

 inflationary trends were curbed, Amer- 

 ican money and bonds would become 

 nothing more or less than printing 

 press money. Ladies and gentlemen, I 

 ask you to think seriously, are we war- 

 ranted in supporting any effort to re- 

 duce federal revenues in the belief that 

 we save something of value to ourselves, 

 when by so doing we run the risk of 

 destroying the value of the saving it- 

 self.' It is my profound belief that we 

 are warranted only in such revision of 

 the tax structure as will stimulate busi- 

 ness activity to a point where the in- 

 creased National income resulting there- 

 from will constitute a basis of taxation 

 that will increase Federal revenues and 

 thus protect our money, our bonds, our 

 property, yes, the Nation itself. I 

 firmly believe that every citizen, ex- 

 cept those in the lowest incomes, should 

 be a direct taxpayer. To be a taxpayer 

 makes a better citizen, because it en- 

 courages civic consciousness when one 

 becomes a partner in the financial af- 

 fairs of government. ' I . 



Labor-Industry Relationship 



We stand now at the threshold of de- 

 cision as to what will constitute the ba- 

 sis of relationship between organized 

 industry and organized labor and what 

 shall be their combined attitude toward 

 the importance of a stabilized agricul- 

 ture. Millions of American boys have 

 offered their lives if need be to pre- 

 serve the essentials and ideals of true 

 democracy and hundreds of thousands 

 have given of their all for this purpose. 



We are informed that there are as 

 many as 800 official committees and 

 commissions which have given more or 

 less of their time throughout the war 





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L A. A. RECORD 



