Vagabond Editorials

By Jack Dionne

It was Monday night, of the sixth day of January, nineteen hundred and thirty-six. And I knelt down before I crawled into the hay, and said: "Oh Lord ! I thank Thee for those nine old gentlemen in the black robes, at Washington ! What they have saved us from only Thou knowest."

And what they are "airr-g";g-to save us from, I have a very definite idea. The same stick that tarred AAA cannot help but do likewise to other iniquities built upon the same philosophies and the same foundations. And as each one hurries on its way to the eternal promiscuity from whence it came, conditions in this country will improve. ,B**

The definite improvement which we are all noticing and concerning which we are all rejoicing, began exactly at the hour when those nine old gentlemen in Washington put the coup de grace to that first monstrosity which did so much to hamper business recovery and darken the souls of men _NRA.

And the same sort rr r"r**U J.rrg" "r,u urge unquestionably will follow the destruction of AAA. There will be mouthing and mumbling with regard to finding substitutes for same, just as there was after the NRA debacle. But don't worry. There won't be any, any more than there were with NRA. Even our rubber-stamp Congress is going finally to learn that passing unconstitutional and un-American legislation is not only bad statesmanship, but bad politics. ***

The most vicious piece of legislation still remaining on the Federal statute books is the Wagner Labor Law. That it will go the way of AAA and NRA as soon as the nine old gentlemen reach it, there can now be no doubt. And THAT eventually will be indeed a blessing. Class-hatred, social unrest, unemployment, and trouble galore cling tightly to that measure. When it dies, an army of men will find employment who cannot find it now. ***

Yes Sir ! I think we will see tremendous improvement in business as a result of the AAA decision. I am entirely unwilling to believe that any man ever thought it was constitutional. They simply thought it would "get by" ,over that well-worn ttemergency" route. ***

Just stop and consider it a moment. (That is quite the thing to do with the departed). They deliberately reduced the production of crops for the specific and definite purpose of raising the price of farm products. So Mr. Consumer paid the difference. Then, to get the cash with which to pay the farmers for NOT producing, they charged heavy processing taxes to the manufacturers and refiners who further handled those crops and products. Unless that manufacturer and industrialist was entirely bereft of reason, he looked upon that tax as simply an additional cost of doing business, and added it to his cost, and to his price. So Mr. Consumer (the most forgotten of all the "Forgotten Men") paid it once more.

All AAA did to the consumer was punch him in the stomach, and as he bent forward in agony they brought the other fist up under his jaw. Outside of that they treated him fine.

It was all to help .n" ,;,r:, l, "o,.r"". Helping the fellow who has to do the paying and who outnumbers the farmers many times over, didn't enter into the picture. But when the Supreme Court got hold of it the nine old gentlemsn-si:( of them, anyway-soon discovered that the chief actor had been left out of the picture. So they took a big chunk of chalk and marked it N.G. and threw it out the back window. **rk what is sauce for the ;"": ,: not always sauce ror the giander, however. While the lumber and building industry suffers and the water hauling business stagnates, the rail- roads from the Pacific Northwest to California markets are swamped with business, transferred from water to rail shipment. Many mills with orders to fill, change to rail and pay the difference, two or three dollars a thousand more. The water trouble has just started. Most men believe it will be of considerable duration. ***

Watch and see how definitely and provably business recovery and improvement is accelerated ! Of course there will be apparent great roars from the farmers. According to recent figures published throughout the land Mr. Wallace now has NEARLY ONE AND ONE-HALF MILLION PEOPLE ON HIS GOVERNMENT PAYROLL. I have no doubt but that many salary-getters will be able to arouse considerable interest among their customers. But it will pass, as the roar over NRA passed. And better things will come.

The decision directly lifts the morale of business of all sorts because, as the Supreme Court decision wisely says, if they can do that trick with farm products, they can do it with ALL industry. Sure ! Business has been thinking that all along. And the knowledge that such a broad-sword no longer hangs over their necks is going to help a lot.

Hard luck dogs the heels of the lumber business on the Pacific Coast. At a moment when every root and branch of the industry from Bellingham to San Diego is almost booming, building permits soaring, lumber buying fast and furious, lumber folks not only buying for present needs but stocking up in anticipation of big and better trade this year, reports on every hand of volume of business hugely increasing-comes more labor trouble.

No one is going ,o *rialr* a*an about the situation, so deadly serious has it become. It might, indeed, be dangerous to state the facts. But the lumber folks know and discuss them with lowered brows and tense emotions. Lumber hauling ships tied up everywhere, the water movement of lumber at a standstill when for the first time in five years there is a great need and demand for lumber. If I were to write the things these lumber folks who own lumber hauling boats have been telling me for the past two weeks, it would stagger belief. And what kilts their souls is that the backing, encouragement, and assistance of our own Federal Government seems to be the basis for most of the trouble.

Signs and reports of business improvement in various territories and in numerous lines of business and industry, continue to pour in. Improved facilities for financing building seem to prevail throughout the land. That this will be a building year in spite of politics and everything else, is now the confirmed opinion of many wise men. 'When a nation needs buildings and building things as badly as this nation does, the tide once started will leap all hurdles.

The age-old weakness "; ; rlrtu". industry toward the curse of price-cutting is (besides the labor situation on the Pacific Coast) the most difficult fy in the ointment. After six years of no business and no profit it would seem that the lumber folks would have learned a lesson, and would use their every ingenuity to get a decent profit on their products, now that the swing has come the other way. Yet the reports of price cutting seem general; and most regrettable.