A THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK
TN Jealousy is said to be the offspring of Love. Yet, un-
less the parent makes haste to strangle the child, the child
will not rest till it has poisoned the parent.
J. C. and A. W. HARE—Guesses At Truth
Up-Up-Up Go The Rates
: It was no surprise when Dallas Water Co. announced an increase in its
rates this week, but it was pretty much a shock to the thirty or forty local con-
cerns who will have to ante in for approximately seventy-five per cent. of the
total increase the company proposes.
Frankly, there can be little grounds for complaint from the 300-odd
~ domestic consumers who will have $1 a year added to their flat rate. The re-
Li cent improvements are worth that, and a State engineer intimated a year ago
that the improvements the people needed would cost each consumer $1.
But that commercial users should be expected to sit quietly by while their
rates shoot up as much as 500 per cent. is an almost libellous reflection upon
the average business man’s native intelligence.
- We can concede that some commercial users may have been wasteful,
that they were paying a rate too low and that the costs of distributing water in
a scattered community are high, but we cannot discern any element of fairness
in such an attempt to make a handful of consumers shoulder most of the cost
of the company’s improvement.
Such policies create too severe a penalty for being in business in Dallas.
‘They provide welcome opening for such experiments in municipal ownership
as have been launched in other sections of the country.
It is certain that the business places of Dallas cannot accept the rates
“which have been filed. Let it be understood, though, that the complaint is not
with the local office. The men there did not propose the increase. Nothing can
“be gained by, making their jobs more difficult.
This is a matter that can be settled only by lodging a vigorous protest
~ with the Public Service Commission. Since the matter concerns the business
men primarily, we suggest that the Dallas Business Men’s Association meel
promptly and assume leadership.
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The President’s Message
~ About everything that could be said has already been said about Presi-
an Roosevelt's message to Congress last Friday night. The President has been
heckled, praised, criticized, hailed and viewed with alarm not only in his home
territory but abroad. Seldom is any speech studied and analyzed and inter-
‘preted as was Mr. Roosevelt's.
Let there be no doubt but that the speech accomplished a great dead to
check the rising opposition to the Administration. Our prediction—which is not
necessarily our way of voting—is that President Roosevelt will be re-elected,
and we believe his message to Congress will mark the point where opposition
reached its peak and where the swing back to his policies began again. Even
_ here, where Democrats are as scarce as hens’ teeth, there were favorable com-
ments for Roosevelt last Saturday. : »
We believe it is a just criticism jof that speech to say that it devoted too
much time to an attack on critics of the Administration, and too little time to
an explanation of the program which Roosevelt intends to carry out during the
remainder of his term.
~~ ™ As to the squabble over the time set for the speech, we question whether
the President gained much in insisting upon an evening hour which placed him
in direct competition with the Pennsylvania, Troubadours and the comedy team
of Si and Hi. There are, you must remember, folks who prefer hill-billies to
“Congressional messages.
We would have chosen the noon hour, when all America stops to eat and
dawdle from 12 to |. Then he would have had no formidable competition on
the air-waves and he would have been assured of an enormous radio audience,
enjoying its daily recess from duty.
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The Basketball Season Opens
High school basketball teams from this section will launch their 1926
season this week, making the usual appeals for community support in order.
Basketball has always been the more popular sport locally, probably be-
cause, unlike fooball, the teams pick their opponents from local high schools.
' As a result most of ithe contests are even and sporting.
This section has produced some mighty fine basketball players and a few
more are reported to be ready for introduction this year. There are worse ways
to spend some of these winter evenings than in watching your local high school
team play.
: % 2%
Borah’s Eyes On Pennsylvania
The news that supporters of Senator Borah as the Republican candidate
~.1n the Presidential election this year are launching an aggressive drive in be-
~ half of their candidate in Pennsylvania recalls the strength shown by the Idaho
Progressive in The Post’s straw vote last year.
« That poll, started early last summer, began with Republicans voting heav-
ily for Hoover, but in the second week there was an unexplained swing to
Borah. At the conclusion of the poll, Borah had a tremendous lead. The poll
was, of course, purely local, but it was significant in that the people who voted
were doing so spontaneously. It was a natural choice, made before the various
GC. O. P. factions had begun to advance their candidates’ claims. Even Republi-
can leaders were mystified by the strong local sentiment for Borah.
That the Senator’s backers are relying upon support in Pennsylvania is
evidenced by their decision to open headquarters in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh,
and Harrisburg in their drive to sew up Pennsylvania’s delegates to the Repub-
lican convention.
~ The Post’s polls have had no purpose other than to guage sentiment lo-
cally and reflect the opinions of only a thimble full of the country’s vote but
on other occasions they have predicted political outcomes with almost uncanny
accuracy. If, after all the efforts in behalf of Landon, Knox, Hoover and Van-
denburg, the Republicans select Borah we can safely assume that the voters
here make up such a typical cross-section of the nation that their opinions can
be taken as prophesies.
x wx =
The Dairy Industry
Dairying is one of the most important agricultural industries in this section.
In recent years, sales of dairy products have amounted to about 25 per
cent of the cash income of all agriculture. And in 1934, the cash income from
dairying was higher than the combined cash income from wheat and cotton.
It was almost as high as the combined cash income from hogs, cattle and
calves, a part of which is represented by dairy cattle.
It is an interesting fact that American dairy farmers have been among
the most progressive of all farm groups in forming and supporting cooperative
organizations. In the great eastern area, for example, dairy farmers are served
by a pioneer co-op, the Dairymen’s League Co-operative Association, Inc. In
other areas, large and strong dairy co-operatives are helping to bring better
times to the farmer. The pre-eminent place of dairying in the agricultural set-
up is not entirely due, of course, to the success of dairy co-operatives—but
those org: nizations have done and are doing a mighty important work in behalf
of their members and the public at large.
'
TheDallasPost
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HOWELL RERSHL Lite ids Sa Managing Editor
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Subscription, $2.00 Per Year (Payable in Advance), ~
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THE DALLAS POST PROGRAM
THE DALLAS POST will lend its support and offers the use of its
columns to all projects which will help this community and the great
rural suburban territory which it serves to attain the following major
improvements:
1. Construction of more sidewalks for the protection of pedestrians in
Kingston township and Dallas.
2. A free library located in the Dallas region.
3. Better and adequate street lighting in Trucksville, Shavertown,
Fernbrook and Dallas.
4, Sanitary sewage disposal system for Dallas.
5. Closer co-operation between Dallas borough and surrounding
townships.
6. Consolidated high schools and better co-operation between those
that now exist.
7. Adequate water supply for fire protection.
8. The formation of a Back Mountain Club made up of business men
and home owners interested in the development of a community con-
sciousness in Dallas, Trucksville, Shavertown and Fernbrook.
9. A modern concrete highway leading from Dallas and connecting
with the Sullivan Trail at Tunkhannock.
THE BUSINESS WEEK
This survey of business conditions during the last seven days is com-
piled by The Post from business figures furnished by the United
States Department of Commerce.
The sustained forward movement of trade during the last half of the
year, followed by an extraordinary cleanup of most lines of merchandise dur-
ing the holiday week, pointed to the necessity of manufacturers increasing
their output, not only in general merchandise but of durable goods, according
to Department of Commerce reports from 32 leading commercial and industrial
cities.
The year ended with the volume of retail trade rising to the highest level
in several years. Not only did the Holiday trade run from 5 percent to 50 per-
cent ahead of last year according to the reporting cities, but business for the
month of December ranged 10 to 25 percent better and the year’s gain varied
among cities from 5 to 15 percent.
Although retail stocks were low for the seasonal clearance sales, trade for
the last week of the year continued ahead of the comparable period of the
year before. The depletion of stocks resulted in optimism in wholesale circles
with record breaking numbers of buyers expected at the wholesale marts.
New Year statements of business and financial leaders were the most op-
timistic in several years and a continuance of favorable conditions was predict-
ed. These statements were based on reports from various sources on the steady
and rapid recovery of industry during the latter half of the year; an abundant
grain crop, sustained rise in stocks, ample bank reserves and large gold imports,
the latter representing largely investment of foreign capital in the country. The
gold monetary stocks of the country rose to the unprecedented high of $10,000.,-
000,,000, representing a gain of $1,800,000,000 in the year.
Other significant reports were:
Payments of dividends to stockholders was the greatest since 1931, aggre-
gating $2,900,000,000 for 2,666 corporations paying quarterly dividends. The
market value of 100 leading stocks gained $5,453,096,000, or 41.3 percent.
The stock market staged the longest Retstained advance in 25 years. Class |
railroads enjoyed the best year since 1931, a total of 31,450,000 revenue
freight cars having been loaded. Life insurance gained $2,500,000,000 to
$101, 000,000,000, greatest increase since 1930. Power output for the year
reached a new high of 92% billion kilowatt hours, a gain of 9 percent over
1934 and 2.7 percent of 1929. Shoe production reached an all-time high of
368,000,000 pairs, surpassing 1929 by 6,500,000 pairs and 1934 by 11,000.-
000 pairs.
“COLD TURKEY"
An analysis this week showed that the industrialists who decided in New 2
York recently to work for a “constructive farm program’ knew something
about the problems which vex the farmer.
Their pledge was contained in a resolution adopted iraniodly by be
Congress of American Industry, attended by nearly 1,500 manufacturers. More
significant, though, was the make-up of the committee which presented the
resolution. ity
Forty-seven) men were on the committee. Of that number, more than one-
third—16, to be exact—either were born on farms or worked on them. At
least three more now own farms and know the size of the deficits in recent
years.
The resolution recognized ‘ ‘the economic unity and interdependence of
agriculture and industry.” It continued:
“The one produces wealth on the land. The other produces it in the fr ;
ory and mine. Each is vital to the other and to national progress and it is es-
sential that work and investment in agriculture and in industry earn a com-
parable reward for the same effort and risk.”
The industrialists emphasized a desire to
agriculture for the development of a greater degree of national prosperity.”
And to show that they meant business, they suggested that the National Asso-
ciation of Manufacturers name a committee to study various farm-aid pro-
posals and to keep industry informed about progress. The committee will be
named soon.
“cooperate more closely with
{
* * +
Sane analyses of the Townsend pension plan showing exactly why it
couldn’t be made to work’ are beginning to force its backers into the field of
political strategy. Washington generally believes that the politics are Just as
amateurish as the economic fallacies on which the plan is based.
The first overt move of the Townsendites was to say they wold put a
third party ticket into the field. Republicans and Democrats welcomed the
idea, many of them saying they would like to run against candidates whose
only plank was the Townsend plan.
When that attitude became known, Dr. F. E. Townsend made a change
of front. He remarked the third party idea was a little premature. In other
words, he threatened to set up a third party unless the old-line candidates em-
braced his idea. They won’t. The good doctor will find out that even politicians
think a little before promising.
% =»
Some statistics which worried the Townsendites into their new endeavor
included these:
The doctor and his economists agree it would take $24, 924, 000, 000 an-
nually to pay $200 a month to each person over 60. They promise to raise the
money by a 2 per cent tax on transactions. They quote the federal reserve
board as estimating that the total volume of transactions at the last count was
only $600,000,000,000 a year. Thus, a 2 per cent tax would produce only Aaa
$12,000,000,000, less than half the money necessary. 4
Yet apply that tax"burden to a simple commodity. Assume the frie? or
$1 a bushel for his wheat. When that wheat reached the consumer in the form
of flour, the taxes on transactions would add up to 11.2 cents on the original
$1 worth of wheat. If the tax were increased enough to raise the necessary
$24,000,000,000, the $1 worth of wheat would be taxed 24.4 cents. Thats,
taxing with a vengeance. (if
&
* * *
The plan couldn’t be administered for nothing. It would be necessary, for
instance, for each farm wife who trades eggs to her storekeeper, each farmer
who sells a single pig, to have a license and pay a 2 per cent tax. It wouldll
take a dozen revenue agents in each town in the land to watch neighbors to ~~
see that they weren't bootlegging, The agents would have to be paid out of
the 2 per cent tax, leaving even less for the pensioner. ;
* ¥* » } UA Jad
Then there’s the cost of living. Economists figure the plan would ike a
$600 automobile sell for $1,200 because of many transactions involved in the
manufacture of that product. With the cost of living already headed skyward,
not many folks want their monthly bills increased even 50 per cent. ey :
# 5% tr
A “Retire At Birth” plan has been
Townsend's. Under it, each new born babe would get a $20,000 Dbmisory iy y
note. Until he was 20 and could claim the money, his parents would get 3 per- 7 : Cy ti Hi
cent interest, or $50 a month. Thus, a couple could marry at 20, have $40,
000 capital and get $200 a month from the government in addition by raisigg
four children. Then nobody would have to work. ie
% nia
advanced as a substitute for Dr.
The Honorable James A. Farley, postmaster general and the Democratic i
party boss, said sarcastically ahe other day that “big business” will help build
up a “huge fund” for use against the New Deal administration in elections
next year.
Which led some Washington wisecrackers to remark that here was an op~
portunity for a new Harry L. Hopkins boondoggling project. The idea: In-
stall a giant] bell in the Capitol dome and keep a gang of men on three eight-
hour shifts to ring it merrily every time “Genial Jim’ turns down a campaign
contribution from any source. ne
~~.
Needless to say; the bell-ringers would have no more work to do than a }
lot of Hopkins’ other boondogglers. ie 4
G3 |
|
i
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President Roosevelt has announced he will not ask Congress to make any
more lump sum appropriations for public works. That means, of course, that
Congress will be allowed hereafter to specify what projects it wants built.
PAnd'it also means a revival of the old log-rolling, back-scratching, pork-
barrel system in Congress. That is the one under which a Congressman from pat
Tennessee votes for an Oregon project not because he thinks it sound but be- = =
cause the Oregon members will vote for his pet Tennessee project. ;
E MAIL BAG il
In this department The Post presents letters from its readers on cur-
rent problems—suggestions, criticisms, bouquets. The Post need not indorse
any sentiment or criticisms expressed here, neither can it vouch for the ac-
curacy of any statements made. It recognizes only that in this country
people have, within reason, the right to express themselves.
tablished form of government.
And Lenin, first leader of the So-
viets, described state socialism as one
of the necessary rungs on the ladder to
Communism.
First steps are dangerous if taken i in
the wrong direction.
K. R. W.
Dear Editor:
The transition of Soviet Russia
“from Socialism to Communism,” re-
cently hailed by Leader Stalin, should
be of more than passing interest to
Americans.
The alarming spread of Socialism in
high official circles in this country must
be viewed as a real menace to our es-
Sweet Valley