PITY POOR INSULL HE'S DEAD BROKE!
Feigenbaum, Win. M.
PITY POOR INSULL HE'S DEAD BROKE! Once be was "worth a hundred million dollars; now he must live on pen-dons, yet none of the real property of his companies has vanished-another Instance of the...
...And yet not a dollar's worth at actual value has disappeared...
...What has happened...
...his own personal fortune was said to have been more than $100,-000,000...
...And because the benefits of the combined and efficiently organized Industries went into the pockets of a small number of men and women whose only claim upon them was that they owned pieces of paper, a class was created, that not only had enormous wealth but that likewise and as a direct consequence gained enormous power over the lives of countless human beings, insult's services as an or-y ganizer were great...
...AU this may ease up the misery In part and thus give us a breathing spell to work out a real remedy...
...Insult do to bring about that catastrophe to himself...
...Florence Q. Thornton, director of the Manhasset Bay School...
...Let them vote for Lincoln's program as represented by Thomas and Maurer and put the fear of God In Wall Street...
...Today he is a pathetic ruin...
...Should Abraham Lincoln return today and reassert his doctrine that labor creates all wealth and by right wealth belongs to those by whose labor It has been created...
...Did he burn up his wealth, or spend it...
...Insull was the controlling genius, the Ivar Kreuger, in vast companies dealing with electricity, with gas, with rapid 'transit and Inter-urban' lines, and with securities...
...No such fear alarms them when shekllng out billions to bankers, railroads and Big Business...
...The mayors' conference in Detroit...
...The gas mains and rolling stock, the power houses and stations still exist Electricity is still generated and transformation 'gas is produced...
...His fortune consists of paper, and that paper Is now considered worthless...
...It was said to have been worth $440,000,000...
...Insull worked for himself and his associates...
...His wealth gave him power, and that power virtually enslaved millions...
...Today, at 73, he is preparing to go back* to his native England and there eke out his remaining years on . three pensions of $6,000 a year each granted by three companies he once headed...
...Dan Hoar By Dan Hoan WASHINGTON, the vocal center of America, presents today a sad, pitiful picture of mental inertia and despair...
...One Ray of Hope There is but one ray of hope In the whole panorama of hysteria: let the American workers and farmers register their protest at the ballot box by the millions...
...Insull operated, not for the common welfare but for private profit...
...but as a reward he was in a position to fix wages and living conditions, to dominate and to corrupt political life, to give the people opera as though it were a gift from him personally, whereas it was a gift by the people to themselves...
...People still hoed gas, electricity and the ln-twrurban trolleys that the Insull interests once were able to of-s^fer them, and they still buy *bat they need...
...Socialism is the only reality...
...The voice that Is raised to point to the consumer as being unable to purchase the choking abundance of our products is quickly drowned In ah avalanche of invective and sarcasm...
...and Mrs...
...By Win...
...He was in a position to select the form wherein the people's lives were to be lived and enjoyed...
...The shrinkage wiped out that $110,-000,000, and Mr, Insull tossed in his own personal fortune in a vain attempt to save the wreckage...
...Insull's reorganization of vital services In and around Chicago...
...A noted professor of economics once -argued in a lecture against Socialism that the creation and successful operation of the giant utilities and industries completely disposed of the strongest argument against Socialism, for such operation proves definitely that Industry can be carried on In large units far more efficiently than in littlej •competitive units...
...now he must live on pen-dons, yet none of the real property of his companies has vanished-another Instance of the insanity of capitalism...
...The national camp of Pioneer Youth, located In the foothills of the Catskllls at Rlfton, N. Y., will open on July 1st, and will accommodate 100 boys and girls from 8 to 16 years of age...
...Highly efficient central plants generated 1 current for them all...
...The ruling Intellects insist that to provide funds for public work sufficient to make a real dent In the problem means to imperil the national credit, and bring on an unspeakable debacle of total anarchy and disaster to every inhabitant of our fair land...
...A few months ago Samuel Insult was one of the "biggest" men in the world...
...that It Is a worthy object of any good government to see that this purpose is accomplished, he would not only be scoffed at as a rebel, but would be promptly court-martialed as a revolutionist...
...Insull proved the soundness of Socialism, and the insanity and unsoundness of Capitalism...
...Insull came and bought them out, caused to be I created vast new central sta-I Hons, and he operated them all I ha a single system...
...Robert Norton, who will direct the boy* and girls' dlvlLet's Put the Fear of God In Wall Street...
...insull was the head of a vast empire of business...
...The Insull operations are the soundest proof that the Socially 1st ideal Is not only possible but that it is the only possible way Jt0 conduct industry efficiently...
...None recognise that even to dole out a pittance of sustenance is but to demoralize the recipients...
...he owned utilities, he bossed legislatures, he modified the lives of millions...
...Its pilgrimage to Washington, may have served to emphasize the appalling menace of starvation that approaches...
...Samuel Insull will be remembered for his contribution to an understanding of our crazy, cock-eyed system...
...Betty Stafford, formerly of Camp Housatonlc and director of the clay shop at she Henry Street Settlement...
...What Insull did in one field and in one locality Socialists insist can be and should be done for industry as a whole...
...Some propose a dribble of federal public works, while others proclaim this will employ less than one in one-hundred of those in need...
...What did Mr...
...Once outside its portals the observer Instinctively senses the pallid features of a dying social order, and the symptoms of an oncoming aimless and leaderless upheaval...
...otherwise the activities accomplished nothing ' li i i...
...Socialist Plan Sound i Once upon a time there were I many little electric companies In Northern Illinois with lmper-I feet plants...
...There was pledged $110,000,000 in cash to cover the securities...
...Only a I year ago Insull caused to be I created a 1,000 mile pipe line to fetch natural gas from Texas, gathered together countless little business units and united them, thus gaining for himself and his associates vast profits...
...It might hasten the adoption of an inadequate program of public work and Federal loans that at best can only scratch the surface of our national disaster...
...Punch and Judy Show Official Washington has but one united hope and that is that out of the two Chicago conventions will come a Punch and Judy show that will outdistance the bull and gladiator fights of our ancient oppressors a thousand-told, and that by astute maneuver fake issues will evolve by which headlines may detract the attention of the electorate long enough to insure the entry of either the elephant or jackass to the capltol, thus again to be the mouthpiece of our fattening financial masters while they continue to pick the pockets of those still lucky enough to be enslaved by a job and to starve those .whom mass-production and capitalistic exploitation has thrown on the scrap heap of misfits and has-beens...
...Though rates at the camp have been substantially lowered this year, the camp staff of twenty-four counsellors has been strengthened by the addition of Mrs...
...There was a collapse — a . "shrinkage" is the smug word for it—in security prices...
...He built it up...
...The once proud arena of the haughty elite, the budding debutante, the cringing flunkies, the boastful politician, the swaggering militarist, the reverent sightseer, is today a dismal despondent conglomeration of shameful poverty, bankrupt aristocracy and mental mediocrity...
...Pfoaeer Youth Camp Ready tor Sea*on Alexis C. Perm, veteran In the field of progressive education for children and director of the Pioneer Youth camp, left today with part of the staff to open the camp for its ninth season and prepare it for the camp staff educational conference before the children arrive...
...But it still is a terrible blow to a man who for fifty years was one of the "Big Shots...
...The park benches prosper with unemployed workers, the river flats seethe with bonusless soldiers, the banks gawk with frozen assets, the treasury bulges with war debts, the White House haunts with fearsome ineptitude...
...there is only the solemn satisfaction of knowing that there are a few unemployed people even worse off...
...and Mr...
...Dole$ to Big Buaineu The alleged statesmen have but slight conception of the abject poverty and actual starvation to which millions of our people are now brought face to fare...
...He was a gracious Maecenas, the Otto Kahn of the West, graciously giving the people of Chicago their opera and causing to be built a magnificent opera house that rises sheerly out of the Chicago River in which it is housed...
...Insult's amazing collapse tells the story of what Capitalism is, tells about Capitalism . at its best—and at its worst...
...The President and his advisors take the position that should the government supply adequate funds to put the unemployed to work, our credit would vanish and the country go to demnitlon bow-wows...
...A few years ago Samuel Insult stood proudly on the top of the hill, a leading citizen...
...Today he is stripped even of his private estate of 5,000 beautifully landscaped acres, sold to meet debts...
...The prevailing opinion has been that if we pour out the riches of our treasury Into the laps of the financial and productive overlords, a magical wave of returning prosperity will overtake us...
...An Insane System It will be hard for Mr...
...He was the leading citizen of his region...
...The answer to the question raised by Mr...
...M. Feigenbaum a FEW months ago Samuel /V Insult was "worth" over one hundred mition dollars...
...If ever there was a striking and emphatic demonstration of, the soundness of the Socialist plans for the reorganization of society it was...
...Insull to live on his $18,000 a year...
...Today that fortune has vanished and the great empire no longer exists...
...Ivar Kreuger created a fantastic empire- of nothing at all, and when he lost his memory it vanished like a pricked bubble...
...Enslaved the Masses * There is, however, a BUT...
...Insull created an empire based on solid, substantial facts, and it, too vanished because it was based on profit rather than use...
...This may cause enough crumbs to be passed around to keep us alive until the producers of America can construct a sane and human Industrial and social system on this continent...
...Socialists have always maintained that Insull—or some other man like him—as manager or technician for the people should do the job for the common welfare, as he did It for himself and, his associates for private profit...
...Today be Is broke...
Vol. 13 • June 1932 • No. 35
