Capital Comment

STOUT, JONATHAN

Capital Comment By JONATHAN STOUT little Steel and Big Politics WASHINGTON, D. C___Confirming prediction* 1% this space in recent weeks, the War Labor Board forward passed the Little Steel...

...In that sentence, as he used it at Charleston...
...1 he three examples of misrepresentation cited above tend to confirm the view that, after all, Dewey is merely an over-ambitious young fellow "on the make," and with no saving scruples about how he makes it...
...Theoretically the set-up is good...
...It has consistently seemed to me, and it still does, that the President was wrong in freeiing the Little Steal formula at 15 per cent above prewar levels, and ia taking out of the hands of the WLB, which established th« formula, the power to disestablish or change it within its discretion, as price levels moved upward...
...There will be an international Military Staff...
...Hull retorted with sharp asperity: "While the subject matter of the publicity is complimentary to that portion of the work done by the Present national Administration to insure lasting peace, 1 must object to it or anything of the kind regardless «f whether it is authorised or unauthorized...
...What we need—and the thing which men everywhere are primarily interested in—is the effective use of economic and military power...
...There is to be, also, an Economic and Social Council discharging, in general, functions parallel to those of the International Labor Office...
...The Security Council will have such powers...
...And while the little man goes on supporting the crushing burden with his meager pennies, the Republican program calls for reduction of personal income tax ates in the upper brackets, and alterstion and reduction of the income tax on corporations, and complete rescinding of the excess profit surtaxes...
...Two incidents brought up contrast...
...What this means is an open secret, and <t should be the center of discussion from now until the final plan is adopted...
...Simultaneously, the ManehmUr Guardian, noted Liberal British newspaper, made the first open declaration coming from British sources that "Britain and the Soviet Union are out of step on practically everything except their fight against a common foe...
...The next largest iron deposits in the Western hemisphere sre in Brazil...
...That comes to $570 and $780 a year, respectively, and anybody can see that's more money than a workers' family would know what to do with, anyway...
...The preliminary discussion, if it is to serve its purpose, must be centered on defects...
...As a res jit, they see no prospect of lowering present Income taxes before 1947...
...POSTWAR TAXES—GO P. VS...
...As exclusively reported by this column last week, Mr...
...Dewey owes Berle an apology for tearing out that ana sentence and presenting it in such a way as to try to make Berle say the very opposite of what he actually was saying...
...It's the Same Old World Onf...
...No one would want to buy an automobile with a 90 per cent effective engipe...
...According to th Russian plan no one of the live super-powers can t proceeded against without a unanimous decision—an no power is to be ruled off the jury while its own affaii are being settled...
...Instead of a realisation of the dream < Woodrow Wilson, we shall have something comparabl with the Holy Alliance...
...ar not planning to relinquish strategic bases, coloniei sources of raw materials...
...This.week there came dramatic confirmation of that report when, following the Red Army's invasion of Yugoslavia, the British rushed troops into Greece and Albania to protect British claims to a hegemony over those two Mediterranean countries...
...And, finally, it could be attacked by a force representing the majority of mankind...
...Dewey knows thst the powers of these 56 corporations are limited solely to administrative functions under laws and rules prescribed by Congress and democratically conceived...
...Dewey knows that in fascist Italy under Mussolini the Council of Corporations was a legislative body, identical in function to that of Russia's Supreme Soviet, and parallel in position to that of our Congress...
...However, the New Desl promises some balancing compensations by advocating raising the hourly minimum of the Wage and Hour Law to at least 60 and perhaps 60 cents an hour...
...The retort constituted such a verbal spanking as only • gentleman of the old school knows how to administer *hen he feels that his honor is falsely impngned...
...The Democrats do s little better, raising it to $15 a week...
...In the meantime notehlng is happening within an of the great contracting states which gives hope c any real change...
...That is to say, wage earners In low wage brackets would pay a smaller percentage on their wages than those in higher wage brackets...
...It is the definite function of the financial system to make this possible at aJl times...
...slaying the monster, our enemy number one—war...
...We know what are the areas of agreement and disagreement, and who caused the trouble...
...That sentence was: ff*Over a period of ytars the government will •W<Ju»:iy come to owit moat of the productive planti •F^M United States " JMffce impression nrfended to be left was that thii ttsutsnce expressed HerU'a personal views, that BerU ffgrefore was a < .•mmunist and, beinf a leading Net* #Daal«' that consequently the New Deal was com• The effort i" i>->ni»/ Berle as a Communist is more than ridiculous...
...This body of 11 delegates will have authority to act with regard to any threat to the peace...
...Dewey owes Hull an apology for this deliberate attempt to east a shadow on his honor and integrity...
...As great nations can taiily coerce smaller ones, the delegates of these five will decide when and how power is to be directed against any potential disturber of the peace...
...Public opinion can be mobilized behind proposed improvements...
...On the contrary, they are creations and creatures of Congress, and exist solely at the discretion of the Congress which we, the people, elected...
...None of these arguments, however, succeeded in moving the President to take the politically advantageous w*y out...
...The weaknesses of the United Nations plan can be pointed out...
...Roosevelt will not make his decision uatil alter the election...
...Each plays the gam of power politics in the same old way, but streamline to meet 1944 requirements...
...OUT OP STEP • Three weeks ago this column noted the fact that Stalin's imperialist designs on the Balkans and the Mediterranean area have caused a deep rift between Britain and the Soviet Union...
...The glaring hole in this elaborate plan is represented by an unobtrusive note which OfUtitutes Section C of Chapter VI: "The question of voting procedure in the Security Council is still under consideration...
...It may, therefore, be argued that the President is **«fly misguided in the notion that he doesn't want * wage increase for the workers to become a political issue...
...As anyone with a more painstaking sense of honor Bight hsve known, such a suggestion was very near to implying that the Secretary of State was playing the President false, betraying him and secretly workins...
...Should any disturbing movement, tike the Nazi Party, appear in any country that country could be warned and then penalized In a dozen different ways...
...Berle, Jr , »n May » , 193D...
...Nor was it honest of Dewey to quote the Senate's »yrd Committee report showing there are 65 government corporations as his basis for saying: "Little by little, the New Deal is developing its own »rm of Corporate State...
...The Republicans would raise the base to $11 a week...
...The threat of a race I: armaments parallels the danger of economic warfar in the race for markets...
...for Dewey...
...He knows that their work is confined entirely to loan and credit relations between individual citizens and the government...
...I wish to •aks clear that my support and loyalty belong pri-» marily to the Government and its present official head, President Roosevelt...
...What we must decide in whether the missing parts are essential...
...An aspirant to the White House should have a more meticulous sense of honorl • * • HULL SPANKS DIWEY • The second incident came a couple of days later when Dewey sources fed certain selected newspapermen *la hush-hush pipelines the suggestion that Dewey, if (Jetted, intended to retain Cordell Hull as Secretary of State...
...But all of these well-meant arrangements have failed in the past to prevent the conditions which result in war...
...Whereas the Home Owners Loan Corporation or the Reconstruction Finance Corporation or the Commodity Credit Corporation (to name only three of the examples of the 55 government corporations Dewey referred to), as any child knows, are not legislative bodies...
...But with this concession to efficiency and speed goes the danger of domination by a few super-powers...
...The center of power will bo, not the Assembly, but the Security Council...
...Government experts, for instance, report that the Mesaba iron range, the nation's largest source of iron ore, is very nearly worked out...
...All of the international conferences which have been held, and more to come, hold* forth the hope of peaceful cooperation...
...Because there could not be any question of a mistake, for only two paragraphs later Berle made very clear what his own views were, in the following words: "In a democratic organisation of economy, the obvious end should be to permit and require private initiative to do as much of the work as it can, consistent with maintaining the national economy on a reasonably even flow, distributing the burdens and benefits meanwhile so that no class will be unduly famed, no class unduly burdened, and a maximum of opportunity be provided for every one to use his abilities, with corresponding reward...
...The argument is that a lot of American boys won't be coming back from abroad to collect old-age insurance...
...We have been told that the plan represents a 90 per cent agreement...
...This is what Dewey tried to misrepresent in that slippery sentence...
...This figure of speech is deceptive...
...also, war injuries snd lowered resistsnce will keep thousands more from living long enough to reech retirement age...
...It forthrightly passed the lie right back to over-anxious Candidate Dewey...
...Before this week, there was no occasion b question the New York lovernor's personal sinerity, honesty and fairess...
...As for Big ¦•finest . . . well, they're going to vote for Dewey anyway, no matter what Roosevelt does or doesn't do...
...good thing can be said about the Dumbarton Oaks conference...
...There is quiet urging that the United States should require in its lend-lease contracts with other nations thst after the war all iron and other metal scrap which we have been sending abroad in the form of shells, jeeps, cannon, tanks, etc., be returned to this country...
...The New Deal tax program also promises a reduction for the upper personal income brackets and business taxes, but not so generously as the Republicans...
...And that, self-evidently, expresses the very opposite of what Dewey tried by misrepresentation to make Berle appear to be saying...
...KWiY MISREPRESENTS BERLE • Speaking of high principle brings up a contrast in fcwey's conduct) this week...
...Let as not cover the brntal facta with illusions and wishful thinking...
...But it cannot be denied that, mistaken or not, ft took a lot of high-principled guts to make that <I*i*ipn and stick to it...
...In this connection it is interesting to contrast the Democratic end Republican postwar tax proposals...
...Dewey ">ade tricky and ethically questionable use of the easy confusion between the terms "corporate" and "corporative...
...And in order that no American citixen may be misled, this will continue to be my attitude...
...Five great powers will permanently occupy five out of eleven seats, the others being filled by delegates of smaller countries designated for two-year periods by the General Assembly...
...Tithe main structural outline of the new security organization seeks to avoid the defects of the old League of Nations...
...That will mean a long and expensive haul to the Pittsburgh steel mills and will have a widespread affect on our internal economy...
...No enemy of the Administration has a right to complain about secrecy or subterfuge...
...Dewey knows the difference between a "corporation* in the customary business use of that term, and a "corporative state" in the fascist use of that term...
...It wouldn't seem that Roosevelt could lose by ordering th« wage increase now rather than after election...
...Three years ago it should have gone to two percent in order to provide for the heavy drains when old-age retirements begin to show up in bulk...
...The reason he has given is that he wishes to remove the question of wages from the list of political issues...
...Capital Comment By JONATHAN STOUT little Steel and Big Politics WASHINGTON, D. C___Confirming prediction* 1% this space in recent weeks, the War Labor Board forward passed the Little Steel football U President Roosevelt this week in the form of a factual review W the relative positions of wages and prices, Vet without rooommendation on action to be taken...
...Every possible provision is to I e made looking to the peaceful settlement of international disputes...
...Certainly, a wage increase now would serve to Win the President hundreds of thousands of wavering labor votes—the fence-sitting vote...
...In an attempt to rove his charge that, the ommunists are backing oosevelt because the New leal wants a "governmentwned America," Dewey lucked one sentence out of voluminous report made tjafere t h " S e n » t * ' * Temporary National Economic jEawpoly Committee by Auiitant Secretary of Stati IA...
...The fate of the Little Steel formula ia now completely ¦p to the President...
...I read the Berle report...
...Behind the Republican strategy to spare employers increased social security taxes is the cynical and cold-blooded figuring that the casualties of American blood in the war can be turned to financial advantage...
...In large measure the unanimity rule caused the Irapotence of the League of Nations, Throughout the dii cussioiu the Russian delegation insisted upon a um nimity rule for the Security Council...
...Now Republican Senator Vandenberg of Michigan threstens to block the scheduled increase to two per cent agsin...
...In 1919 we were given a finished plan for the League of Nations...
...Russia, particularly, seek strategic frontiers while Britain and the U.S.A...
...The first incident came p in Dewey's speech in harleston, W. Va., last unday...
...It also advocates the reform of basing social security taxes on the principle of ability to pay rather than on the present simple payroll percentage...
...I found that he was diseassing government fiscal policies as an aid to business recovery and had devoted several lengthy pais, graps to describing all of the possible policies—both good and bad—which might be pursued and what could result in each case...
...Which makes what appened this week all the lore regrettable...
...He knew very well there was no honest comparison with fascism there...
...i is a public document and therefore open to anyone t'o read for himself...
...At the same time, it is certaia that the President will order an upward revision •f the Little Steel formula after November 1. And that's what makes the President's decision to setoff the wage question until after the election almost a oaixotie feature...
...There is still time for discussion...
...The parliamentary tieory of government has been abandoned in favor of centralization The hope is that we shall be saved from having another debating society on our hands...
...Much of it has come from labor leaders friendly to the Administration who privately have reported that they see finding it more and more difficult to stem the indignation of workers who find their real earnings drastically cut by the increased cost of living...
...The "hat potato" is now in his lap, but in the least controversial form in which it could be handed him...
...We have, at best, merely taken the first few feeble, faltering steps toward...
...Cordell Hull at 73 la a doughty old gentleman, still full of Are and quick wit, as the newspapermen who regularly cover the State Department have reason to know...
...There wl be no one to judge the judges or to police the polio A disturbing influence arising in Germany will be take care of, but not one originating in any of Ave grei empires...
...But thus far, it is still the same old world...
...Both propose raising the base at which taxes start from the present $600 a year, which is approximately $9.60 a week...
...It was i« ausassing up one of these policies— which Berle thought would be bad for America— that he pointed oat the result would be that "over a period of years the Government will gradually casts to own saost of the productive plants of the United States...
...Too bad it's wasted...
...To the Dewey sneak punch, Mr...
...We have— before the end of the war—a preliminary plan, a plan with glaring holes in it...
...What Berle roally said is written in the record...
...It is insincere, dishonest and unfair It should have been beneath the dignity and high principle of a man who aspires to the highest honor within the power of the American people to bestow...
...They make no laws...
...There was nothing to do but take it or leave it...
...In every country where there is a free press there will be vigorous debate...
...The report of its proceedings presents a clear picture of the world'a present dilemma...
...There is a good deal of worry being quietly expressed in government circles st the rate at which America is stripping its natural resources In the furthering of the war effort...
...And it is crystal clear...
...As a lawyer and as the Governor of a great state, he knows that it was necessary to create these government corporations in order to make it possible for private citizens to borrow* money or receive credit from the Government, that otherwise private citizens could not have received aid from the public treasury...
...The lacking 10 per cent might represent the sparkplug...
...A great deal of presaure has been brought to bear oa the President recently to lift the Little Steel ceiling...
...All members are to be ready to contribute "armed forces, facilities and assistance necessary for the purpose of maintaining international peace and security...
...If Russia refuses to back down, we shall have a flv< power alliance (actually dominated by the big three but no international security organisation...
...Payroll deductions for this purpose originally started with a one percent tax...
...The situation today is far better...
...Each government plans the mainti nance of a gigantic military establishment, indicating lack of faith in collective security...
...It isn't the kind of thing about which one can make a mistake...
...All of this h good and approval of it is practically automatic...
...KNIFING SOCIAL SECURITY • For the past three years the reactionary majority in Congress has been blocking the Increase in social security taxes for old-age insurance as originally scheduled under the law...
...There is a chance that by the time a formal council meets to make final commitments the citizens here, in Great Britain, in France, and in many less powerful nations will be sufficiently informed and interested to exert a decisive influence...
...Eventually it was scheduled to go to three percent in order to build up the insurance fund so that when large numbers begin to retire regularly every year, there would be enough money in the fund to cover the payments...
...NEW DEAL • Treasury experts have been figuring what it will take in the way of taxes to pay for the war...
...Tbii, it my be said, is as the President wished it...
...The tort of organization which is visualized would be in a position to act quickly and efficiently...

Vol. 27 • October 1944 • No. 42


 
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