A TRIO OF LEADERS

Waikato Times, Volume 117, Issue 19597, 8 June 1935, Page 13 (Supplement)

A TRIO OF LEADERS

(Current Opinion.)

AT THE END OF DECEMBER American business was engaged in making its sixth attempt to stage a recovery from the depression. The first was in the opening months of 1930, and was based upon President Hoover’s persuasion of public authorities, as states, municipalities, railroads, public utilities, and business in general, to spend freely for construction and equipment in an effort to check the contraction of busiIn the early months of 1931 came the second effort, and the improvement which then occurred was attributable to the huge bonus payments by Congress to Veterans, the majority of whom were not veterans because in America a veteran is not only a soldier who has served in war, but relatives and posterity to many degrees. The third attempt came in the second half of 1932 and was the most important of all because so far it appears to have marked the turning point upwards from the bottom of the great depression, not only in America but in most countries. Then came the banking crisis which Put Things Back Terribly, which was followed by a fourtli effort, when the Roosevelt administration entered into office. The four months which followed gave the most rapid recovery experienced so far but, of course, it petered out, as it was bound to do with ihe uncertainty which prevailed throughout America. The fifth attempt began late in 1933 and continued for about nine months into the summer of 1934. It petered out when the effect of the N.R.A. began to make itself felt with the increase In costs, the Increase In living, and the artificial spread of public money over the country. The sixth effort began towards the end of 1934 and has now been in progress for nearly four months. The conditions existing might be considered as being better than they were in any of the previous instances, being more strongly influenced by natural forces. Nevertheless, there are handicaps which have arisen. One of these is that conditions abroad are less hopeful than early in 1933. In 1933 there was a general expectation that the world would agree on some measure of international economlo co-operation, though it will be recalled that the efforts to reach such co-operation were defeated by President Roosevelt himself. In 1933, too, it appeared likely that there would be some recovery in prospect for those nations •still on gold, nominally or otherwise. Actually the movement of the gold producing countries has been steadily backward. There is another handicap which has entered into the situation. A new element has entered into American life, which is composed of extreme_ nationalism and of the wildest fiscal extravagance. It might. be thought that a nation like America, a nation of individualists which lias built up its enormous wealth by individual effort, would not have much use for such doctrines but, in fact, this new element is

Becoming Very Rapidly a Powerful Feature.

It is represented by three persons, and these three persons may indeed be described as startling phenomena in American life. Nor can their like be found elsewhere. These three are Father Goughian, the radio priest of Detroit; Senator Huey Long, the uncrowned king of Louisiana; and Dr. Richard Townsend, the elderly retired physician of Southern California. The competition between the three is vivid and real as to which, if he got into power, could be the greatest public spender. In that respect President Roosevelt, with his 500,000,000,000 dollars a year expenditure is the historic record holder, but his efforts would be dwarfed into Insignificance if either one of these three gentlemen could get into the White House. There is one difference, however, between the three. Townsend remains simply and solely a crusader of expenditure. He has not expressed, anyhow up to the present any views on general policy. His idea is simply to spend as hard as ever he can and even though, on his own calculations, his methods of raising money to spend must collapse, lie would still go on spending.

He Is a Champion Inflationist.

Huey Long and Father Goughian have, however, policies, if this word Is applicable to the wild thoughts that they so often express. The Reverend Father lives in Detroit, (he microphone is a permanent feature of his study in his rectory, and he is a passionate user of it. Every Sunday afternoon he raves against the money power and calls upon his listeners lo nationalise the banks and the credit machinery. In that he does not differ from a number of other freak reformers of to-day. lie has bandied Pis listeners, who number millions, into what is called the League for Social Justice, and he extends Ills anathema on what he calls the money power to all Institutions which :by the wildest Imagination he can link up with it. For example, the rejection Of the Resolution in Congress that America should adhere to the World Court was due to Father Coughlan’s denunciation of the World Court as an instrument ofvthe money power, and such is his influence that he was able to terrorise Congressmen into throwing out the Resolution. . , The money power, in Ills opinion, is the greatest enemy that the American nation has ever had, and its policy is directed against America, and its hammer blows must one day crush down American nationalism. Therefore, to his hearers by the American fireside lie denounced passionately the Inoffensive tribunal which sits at the Hague, as a- menace to America and Americanism. He quoted the expression: “They confederate against me to make your America the Happy Hunting Ground of International Plutocracy.” Curiously enough, Goughian is not an American, but a Canadian, but America is his spiritual home. The result of bis address was that thousands of telegrams were despatched from all parts of the United States at his behest to Congressmen in Washington demanding Unit they vote -down the Resolution, which they did. The American legislator, either Congressman or Senator, is a weak-kneed, weak-minded, weak-backed animal, lie is extremely sensitive lo wlial are called “pressure groups." They do not recognise themselves, as Edmund

Eloquent But Is Not Logical.

THE NEW FORCES IN THE UNITED STATES.

American Is Imperilled?

Burke described himself, as “a member of Parliament, not a member for Bath”; they do not believe that, elected to Congress, they are members for the whole country anti not for some stick-in-the-mud constituency. They would sooner he the Town Hall of the rural municipality than a lamp post in Washington. The American Congressman and the American Senator regards himself as a delegate, an ambassador, from his particular constituency or Stale to Washington. Therefore, a deluge of telegrams to Congressman or Senator commands immediate attention and humble respect. i Less important, but very influential on Goughian s side, is the American humorist Will Rogers, who O.K’s. everything that Goughian says and often follows linn on the radio, and Will Rogers is a real direct power in Congress, because of his ability to ridicule the members. Next comes Huey Long, who at once galloped into the breach that Goughian and Will Rogers had created. Huey Long, nicknamed “the Kingfisher” lrom his inability •to sit still, is as powerful in' invective, a great deal more energetic than Coughian, and has a considerable reputation as a politician. He actually surpassed Coughian in bis denunciation of the Woi'ld Court, and, as is well known, Huey Long’s particular bote noire is the oil interests, lie was able, by some feat of legerdemots, to link up the World Court witli the Rockefeller oil interests, and to do it most picturesquely and effectually, lie added to it a touch of ridicule, and the American parliamentarian is Extraordinarily Susceptible to Ridicule. The justices of the World Court are composed of persons of various nationalities, and the gibe that Huey Long hurled at the supporters of the Resolution was that they were voting for something when they could not even •pronounce the names of the justices, and If anybody could pronounce them he defied anybody to spell them. Nobody had the gumption to go out during this diatribe and get the names and pronounce them, and spell them, which would have effectively defeated Huey. Instead, the Resolution went down, in what the Herald Tribune, of New York, described as a maelstrom of passion and prejudice, •owing to the denunciations of two men who had no knowledge whatever of what they were talking about, but obtained the defeat of the Resolution In order to inflict a personal reverse upon the President. In that regard the apathy of President Roosevelt is notable. Mrs Roosevelt took to the radio and, in a sentimental little speech, tried to overcome the passions excited by the priest and the privateer, but Roosevelt himself, who could easily have achieved victory by a radio speech, sat mum. Nor was the question well handled by the Administration leaders in Congress. The explanation is given in America that the enthusiasm of the President after two years battling is waning, which may well be the case. The resolution is of Importance, not only because :t means that the stagnation of isolation again descends upon America. Its repercussions upon America’s foreign policy may be enormous. Further, it would appear that the State Department which handles American foreign affairs is extremely nervous as the result of the failure of this Resolution. If the Coughlan-Long duo can stampede Congress over such a comparatively unimportant matter as adherence to the World_Court, what could they not do oil mare Important questions, which must actually affect American conditions? What chance of economic co-opera-tion is there if these two radio fiends can stampede thecountry on the ground that

The third horseman of tills demagogic trio Is Dr. Townsend, in South California. As you know, his Proposal is to collect 24,000,000 dollars and give it to citizens over sixty years of age as old age pension. Townsend’s motive arises from his experiences as a physician during the depression, when he witnessed the hardships inflicted upon what is called the “income class” in California. He has had what few of these wquld-be reformers have not enjoyed, llie honour of being examined by a Congressional Committee. To that he explained that the financing of his fabulous sura would be accomplished by a lax on all transactions involving any money payment. In that way the burden on the individual consumer, lie alleged, would he slight. Of course the objection is Ml at the taxes would be pyramided all the way down to the ultimate consumer, an objection to which Townsend declined to make an answer beyond saying that once the money was out and being spent “prosperity would gallop across America like a prairie fire,” which may be

Townsend has announced that he would he a candidate for the presidency in the election to be held in November, 193 G. He claimed to have 20,000,000 supporters throughout the United States, and it is a fact that 15,000,000 signatures have been appended to his simple recipe for perpetual prosperity. His programme of expenditure has been baptised. It is called “ Towsendiarism”; it should be "incendiarism.” Every old person in the land is, of course, ail adherent, and many of the relatives of old persons, who would find the beep of their ancestors and progenitors shifted from their shoulders to those of the State. Huey Long has also announced that he will be a candidate next Nevember twelve-months, and lie claims to have 20,000,000 supporters, and, as you may have noticed, an eminent Roman Catholic cleric 'has stated that there will be '25,000,000 Roman Catholics vote against the Roosevelt Administration because of the ill-treatment of the priesthood and of Roman Catholics in the ncighbouiing country of Mexico. That rather suggests that Fathci Coughlan may be a candidate. As may be imagined, this new element of wild nationalism and wild extravagance in public cxpendituic which lias entered into the American scene is likely create such uncertainly that the progress recorded during the past four month's, slight as if is, will be checked and, too, it. means litis: that there will very probably he no real recovery in America until after the presidential election at the end of next year.