Townsend Plank Called Another Inflation Move
Bonn, William E.
Townsend Plan Is Called Another Inflation Move It Leaves Essential Features of Capitalism Untouched and Seeks To Solve Economic Problem by Taking Money from the Poor And Giving; It to the Old...
...Social Necessity With the exception of the very latest decisions dealing with New Deal Legislation, the recent tendency of the' Court has been to...
...But even -this would require the expenditure of more than nineteen billions a year...
...Such regulation is based on the principle that property may lose its private character by the manner and the circumstances in which it is used...
...During the war, the railroads found themselves unable to meet the demands put upon them and the federal government was compelled to assume cons | and management of them sttbjt did w i t h g r e a t success...
...As a glad-hander, a taker-in of the man from the (areet.she had what it takes...
...There w^re pictures everywhere on the ..fsljs...
...Chief Justice Marshall stated the rule early in our constitutional history...
...pictures of crowds...
...is a good man and a good sign...
...be sharp, canny, close-mouthed aasai...
...It must be spent within the month...
...The wheels will hum, and up we shall jounce out of the depression...
...It will take patience and brains and time and power...
...But don't we all believe in oldage security...
...You knew that the women had borne the burdensegjhe Ladies' Aid Society and the had very faithfully been exIJPW or tried to exploit someone •lie...
...There is a sensitive inter-dependence of all important industries today...
...If i-cBmrnfttee of Congress finds say chicanery in this organization it oust be well hidden in some inner office...
...Or it may be that there just aren't enough simple-minded, very-very-native Americans...
...When that organizer comes tonight, turn the tables on him...
...Here we reach the nub of the matter...
...So—while he jingled nickles into the phone every three minutes—I expounded...
...We have it oa the word of the President of...
...A business which may have been strictly private a half century or even a generation ago may not be regarded as such today...
...Then the phone rang...
...When the legislature has acted, the presumption is in favor of the validity of its statutes...
...In that one re•psct the place might have been a Socialist office...
...In the official tables published in the Townsend Bible the income from the tax calculated on Xhe basis of the business done in 1934 is set down as three and a half billions...
...It is just another western nostrum...
...That bothered me until I discovered she was a chiropractor...
...1 Facts and the Child Mind When children ask about the stork, I suppose one should begin by talking about the flowers or something...
...It is not sufficient for them that they succeeded in raising a doubt...
...I. Pierpont Morgan and Henry lord are held up as our sMg|Bwn...
...But when taxation will be adopted as a means if socialization, and t h e proceeds trill be used to increase t h e permanent wealth and well-being of the people through the acquisition of collectively used property by the public, taxation will, assume a totally different aspect in the public view...
...I didn't refer to the awkward fact that there is a science of economics, that the stork doesn't bring babies...
...We are supposed la...
...Economic planning is condemned as a theoretical brainchild of the professors...
...The frontiersmen after the Civil War time were individualistic in their personal lives, but economically they depended on the government...
...A handsomely printed pamphlet caught my, eye, •ad 4 at once spotted it as the wljr book of the Townsendites...
...Shis girl had the direct manner, the common-people accent, the open-work face that is America's contribution to democracy...
...Private ownership of the industry of supplying water is a rarity...
...He said: "On more than one occasion, this Court has expressed the cautious circumspection with which it approaches the consideration of such questions...
...If negotiation fails sad j j j j p s e t t i n g up of competing eattfpiises does not result ia tat efier by the private owner a sal ais property to the com•aaStjr, Shea the government, to iconptiafc its ends, c a n resort to All private property is held subject to the demands of public use...
...Nothjrjg slow, formal, eastern, cynical...
...It is incumbent therefore upon those who affirm the unconstitutionality of any act of Congress to show clearly that it is in violation of the provisions of the Constitution...
...The Townsend 'Plan,' then, is planless...
...1 At this the good man desperately injected a word...
...All of those billions would be taken from the rest of us...
...In Chicago and Los Angeles there...
...Perhaps the winds are ?oo cold here...
...A law, an appropriation, a change of po|Iitical policy might mean.poverty ^"prosperity to a valley, a plain, an entire region...
...We do...
...She had seen him, not on a mountain top or before the altar, but at a hot and populous picnic...
...No matter what methods or names are used, the rest of the people, the 937c who work and do business, would have to foot the bill...
...There is something in it, apt William Jennings Bryan and Mb- Sunday represent us just as well The two great religions which originated in this country are Mormomsro and Christian Science...
...The break-down of one part of the industrial machine carries grave social consequences to the entire nation...
...It was the time of subsidies and hand-outs...
...wholesome and heart) * young lady was called "doctor...
...Townsend, to be sore, is counting on giving the pension 'to only eight millions at the start...
...The Mayflower, after all...
...Turninq Over Dollars "This vast stun would be paid in dated Townsend money...
...Eift far the tarry doe to inflation, the oil would bay that much mere and the young that much leas...
...By William E. Bonn •jiflE...
...should not be supposed from that discussion that a Socialist federal government -would seek to e^ert control over all phases of economic and social activity...
...test' the constitutional validity of statutes involving economic and social policy on the basis of facts showing social necessity...
...She had been personally commissioned by Dr...
...They are .taking in UfiOO new members a day...
...decades to overcome...
...Taking money from the young poor and giving it to the old poor doesn't change the general picture...
...and has declared, that in no doubtful case, would it pronounce a legislative act to be contrary to the constitution-*' The classic expression of the rule was given, however, by Mr...
...Now and then I heard a reference to the 'Director of the Area...
...Phone to Jamaica "Dr...
...The idea w to give two hundred dollars a month in special, dated money to every, .man and woman ovvrsrxty years of age...
...The whole outfit moved up with the oranges and the movie* films...
...today, elementary schools, secondary schools, colleges of liberal arts and sciences, and even professional schools are pu t>licly owned, and administered...
...It provides merely Tor a redistribution of purchasing power...
...Through the postal savings bank and its money order division, the...
...There was "*terature" there...
...So I am one of the 14000 who joined that day* « only I could see the other 13,999...
...They meet, both of them,, every day of the week, in crowded theaters...
...There were in the United States in 1927, 2,198 municipally owned electric light and power plants, principally in small communities where private ownership failed to function, as compared with 2,137 privately owned plants...
...That won't do...
...The scheme, then, is not a plan for increasing either oar production or ear purchasing power...
...But we are supposed to be an ingenious and venturesome people...
...Deeply typical, too, was her apostolic spirit...
...said the voice from Jamaica, "the Townsend organizer will be back tonight, and if I can't answer his arguments I'll have to join...
...Townsend testified before the House Ways and Means Committee that in 1929 the typical dollar was turned over 132 times, and that with the dizzy acceleration induced by the operation of his plan this would be raised to 528 times...
...Though many of them were eM...
...I replied: "I can't do it over the phone...
...Women messing in a garbage can don't square either with the Sermon on the Mount or with the Declaration of Independence...
...According to the Statistical Abstract of 1934, there were in the country 10,385.006 persons who had reached this age...
...ffpe ownership, reports the fsfffc Research Department, has • f i e itself to be an effective j B s d i v e to capitalism, by sucSSSfaUy conducting, in every gjriSssd country, an extensive and osataatly widening range of prosskon, distribution and exchange...
...So far as depressions are concerned, their causes would continue and their rhythm would proceed unbroken...
...enlarging upon the family of businesses, regarded by law as being "affected with a public interest,'* ss for example, housing, and milk...
...So accustomed have we become to public education, that we do not stop to think what a gigantic project of public ownership it represents...
...ibad nothing un-American...
...and inflation doesn't bring prosperity...
...We can do it...
...They would not be currency, could not be used by anyone except the original recipient...
...Wide-Eyed Simplicity "As far as this plan' is concerned, profits and reserves woald continue to pBe up...
...But millions of us stake our lives with wide-eyed simplicity on a pure act of faith...
...Throwing their billions into the market each month win speed up the sale of liniments and ear-muffs and radio sets...
...Judicial Views What ie necessary to promote the general welfare is for the legislature, not the courts, to determine...
...are Angle elabs with more than 20,000 members ' each...
...After I had seen all the pictures and heard all the numbers, I was allowed to see him...
...The same childlike faith looked out of his eyes, but I soon sensed the fact that the adolescent mind- in the little, old body was up against a puzzle...
...It takes courage...
...The Townsend Plan loses its, mystery if you just think of-it as another inflation scheme...
...As I looked into the blue eyes of my bubbling faith-healer and into the tired eyes of my rather blue "Director of the New York Area," I funked completely...
...Christian Americans getting mad—and getting mad at the right things—is a good sign...
...Post Office Department entered into the banking business and was able to keep its doom open when other banks were compelled to shut in 1933...
...Give me your address and I will send you something...
...Then the butchers, clothiers and radio dealers would take the dated bills to the Treasury and exchange them for regular money...
...Plan far the Planless This is what I said to the man in Jamaica—while he paid for it by jingling nickles into the telephone...
...Orthodox economists have proved that we are not corning out of the depression very fast because our economy — even under NRA — did" not provide for a redistribution of income...
...The Su«•** Court has well said that^the * • * to tax is the power to dcWSh power of taxation inWmt in government can, thereWSse used to destroy the evils e*ag from the accumulation of WO bj the hands of a few...
...If we- have thersense to take this step, we can have plenty and security—not just for the seven per cent over sixty, But for everybody...
...His soul was scarified at the sight of respectable American women digging_in a garbage can for food...
...was an immigrant ship1—just filled with a lot of foreigners...
...If used-as a common carrier, or in connection with the gas, electric or telephone business it is no longer strictly private...
...there was something very very trusting, in their eyes...
...Figure it out for yourself...
...They "•*** such good people looking out fromthe frames...
...A man in Jamaica, Long Island, said: "I want you to tell me all the arguments against the Townsend Plan...
...Collectivreotion Collectivisation has been- proceeding steadily in the...
...United States...
...It to the Old Poor—Classed with Free Silver and Greenbackism as Utopian...
...The wind knocked the California mood out of my mind...
...As good Americans we are supposed to believe in rugged individualism...
...Convert him to a real plan, a plan to organize American industry and distribute American income...
...What a meeting we could hare...
...The funds would be inadequate, the child-like aged would be cruelly disillusioned, the productive and fiscal structure of our country would be more disorganized than ever, and the baekwasi woald create a distrust of social security that it would require...
...The legislative branch of our government is, or at .-any rate should be, immediately responsive to the needs of the community and should act accordingly...
...On account of the tax, prices would rise, and we could bay that much less for oar money...
...But when this man set his Christian American intelligence to work it produced a traditional frontier American idea...
...Iu the modern complex industrial organization, however, a setback affecting industry in one part of the country is promptly reflected in industrial operations generally...
...In her love of numbers and size, for example...
...those state-wide in scope, by state public, agencies...
...A Big Crusade r In deeper ways she was American, more American than the Scar Spangled Banner or apple pie...
...There is a lot of wishful thinking here...
...Possibly there are too many workers and capitalists...
...Complete centralization would tend to become the negation of democracy...
...The Port of New York Authority, created by the States qf New York and New Jersey, in 1921, constructed several interstate bridges, including the famous George Washington Bridge spanning the Hudson, and is now planning various other large-scale ventures...
...From California she had brought her warmth to humanize our windswept, ice-bound manners...
...Next week I will discuss the different forms of taxation that may be used in a program of socialization...
...Photographs Of the two "founders," Dr...
...Just give as more money and all will be well...
...In Michigan 22,000 hopeful neophytes joined in fifteen days...
...And that is one reason why we should oppose this plan...
...These people are a little tired, a little worn, but their •jsaare wide like those of children syeand a Christmas tree...
...So this Christian American swore an oath, and from the incandescence of, his wrath flashed out the Townsend Plan...
...It's getting a bit thick," he gasped.* "Maybe I had better read a book...
...Ben Frauklin, Cal Cooliat...
...I just turned up my collar and braced myself against the icy wind of Madison Avenue...
...A legislative finding will be presumed to be true, unless it is shown by facts that it was without any basis...
...1W first weapon of acquisition 4 Stepnty for society a s a whole i m one inherent in all soverSgeJbs—that of eminent d o m a i n . Oset tke nation has decided upon woaStatios and the government • • t a r t s apon such an economic UM aoasssaaasf t h e instrumentalities ef cttdkV t h e utilities and •Ju beak adsstries...
...And a business still thought of as private today may not be so considered tomorrow...
...Only a century ago, education was a private-profitmaking venture...
...But this campaign is not for security: it is for recovery...
...Francis E. Townsend and ¦____ Robert E. Clements, seemed to give it the proper sacred character.- I pointed and said: "How much...
...American, too, was her exuberant sad vocal faith...
...If the rise in prices resulting from the tax or from government borrowing: or from the direct printing of money did result in a brief fever of manufacture, it woald merely be the prologue to deeper depression...
...He represents the old...
...Never have we had a more pathetic exhibition of faith in the government, in the magic of a law...
...It belongs with free silver and greenbackism...
...The requirement of the Fifth amendment that no p r o p e r t y shall SI tabes without just compensation has been held to be not a limitation on the power to take •J* only a condition upon its exerote, We have already seen t h a t in seders society ail basic industries jfcct the community at large, •sses, the taking of such industries under the power of eminent hashi would be a taking for a The federal government, as well •*Jps4afes, possesses the power' ^Tssajion is a second means of *J^«f socialization and a better *Baotkm of wealth...
...He, too, is from California...
...Socialism does not call for a federal Ixtreaucracy which will have complete centralized control over the business of the nation...
...And this, in addition to paving the pensions, is expected to provide for a 'reserve to cushion minor waves in" business volume.' So the securing of the nineteen billions is a mere matter of speculation...
...So the federal government would have to raise nineteen billions by taxation, borrowing or inflation...
...Changes that have taken place in our social life, necessitating collective ownership, have been and will continue to be recognized in determining the constitutionality of legislation molded to meet the ne>w conditions...
...Of coarse, since all would have a common interest—namely, service to the community and the satisfaction of public needs—there would necessarily be an integration of effort...
...Townsead to become a missionary to all the heathen in the East...
...In Los Angeles on August 18th they had 134,000 people st a picnic and served more than 86,000 dinners...
...On the contrary, an indispensable principle Of Socialism is democracy...
...The United States Post Office Department, which originally de-, voted itself solely to the distribution of mail, has successfully entered into competition with private express companies in the delivery of parcels...
...It is a flood, a revival, -a crusade...
...Socialism Does Not Aini At Federal Burocraty Federal, State and Local Agencies Can Be Adapted to Administrative Needs—Industries and Services of a Social Character Continue to Increase in the United States and Collectivization Has Proceeded Steadily...
...It is now weU established, declared the Supreme Court, that "neither property rights nor contract rights are absolute...
...It can't be done by passing the McGroarty Bill or any other one bill...
...Back in my office at the Rand School, the whole experience seemed far off, unreal, comic...
...Christian aversion to cruelty and the old American yearning for the good life...
...Yes," I agreed, "that might help...
...Much jjore American than ifce Mayflower...
...Upon their continued operations depend the lives and the welfare of minions of people, and under such circumstances business ceases to be private...
...T h e legal weapons a the hands of the community s re Ssitrous and have been used exmstnly by many governments...
...the United States that the depression was caused by insufficient purchasing power in the hands of the common people...
...In a year, then, each flashing dollar would bring in $10.56...
...The thing is not going well in the New*York Area...
...So there, she was, and I was her heathen...
...A year's experience in the Townsend Wonderland would discredit the whole idea...
...Leaving out of account the element of inflation and all the harm it would do, the Townsend Plan leaves our method of distributing income—as between rich and poor, capitalists and workers —just where it found it...
...Perhaps there are" not enough disillusioned middle-class people...
...the legislative process of soasfcaticn will probably vary with OeuBwtances...
...For the vast fanning sections the faith in fiscal manipulation became a "national religion...
...I didn't even mumble: "There's* an interesting book in the Public Library...
...Twentyfour hundred dollars a year for .that many people will amount to $24,924,014,400—call it twenty billions for short...
...Can it be said that the steel, copper, coal and automobile industries as organized today, are private businesses...
...By Louis Waldman VI IN my previous articles I have discussed the necessity of adopting a program of social legislation on a national scale...
...Townsend Wonderland "But let as leave that item . Take for granted that if the McGroarty Bill were passed the astronomical sum would be raised...
...We save faith in the all-mighty dollar —bat also in the all-mighty holler...
...But I hadn't quite finished...
...Our national government owns extensive forest reserves...
...Some 126 cities own their gas supplies, while 21 cities in 1927 owned their street car systems...
...Congress may, therefore, find it necessary, in the interest of the general welfare, to legislate on an ever . expanding number of economic activities...
...I could hardly remember that I had left those pictures, these people, in that queer little room...
...Industries and services citywide in their scope, would, under Socialism, be controlled by local public agencies...
...The "general welfare" demands continuous and uninterrupted operation of business and social services...
...We have been continual...
...InWM in taxes for the mere pur•ja«f covering increased gcwern• g l expenditures is not Very |**"m, for governments, like individuals, are apt to follow the policy of " t h e more they have, the more they spend...
...There he bad looked into her eyes and said: "I want yon to go...
...This immense sum, much more than half our national debt, is to be raised by means of a transactions tax...
...The dear old people are to save the nation by heroic spending...
...A little bald, a little thin, and very tired was the "Director of the Area...
...Such has always been the rule...
...Equally fundamental with the private right is that of the public to regulate it in the common interest...
...Haw I Joined Being visual-minded, I wanted to carry something away...
...What it gives to the people over sixty it takes from those under sixty...
...Justice Strong, speaking for the Court in the Legal Tender Cases: "A decent respect for a coordinate branch of the government, declared the Court, demands that the judiciary should presume, until the contrary is clearly shown, that there has been no transgression of power by Congress—all the members of which act under the obligation of an oath of fidelity to the Constitution...
...He had to fish up another coin while I made a proposition...
...I was worried about the 48,000 people who went without dinner, but my mind was quickly harried on...
...God may be far off and our knowledge of economics may be weak, but issuing a new kind of money will sot open the gates of heaven...
...At its very best we get it from 'southern California along with the prunes...
...Because of the changes, that have taken place ia oar social life, it ia therefore eaii stitattoaal today to reajlnte, sn*% industries, and to the extent that the use of private property is so regulated it is a denial of the rights ia the property to the owners...
...People would still be unable to boy in proportion to our output, and investment to heavy industry would still be unprofitable...
...The glad-handing chiropractor took my quarter with enthusiasm, fussed a minute at a desk, handed me a filled-in slip and said: "Here's your membership card...
Vol. 19 • March 1936 • No. 12
