GOVERNMENT IN BUSINESS.

Hokitika Guardian, 2 April 1929, Page 2

GOVERNMENT IN BUSINESS.

AY AST E AM' KXTK A\' AG AN( H. WHAT KOI SON SAYS. ! (Xinetecn-Tw.-i ' y-Kight ( ommii Icp), Thomas Alva E .soil, at the ripe ol>■ age of eighty-two, remains one of the most alert and sagacious obsencrs • 11 if world ever lias Known. It,. bit« < plorcd, practically, every ... a , science, every development - try. every requirement of n • mb commerce, and even iiv adency of society. He ii • lined himself with pel- has ■not harboured ,p< •• Tee.-. He has approa' lm t prohems he has air a ■ • d with an open mind. I >■ earnest desire to pi interests of humanity. .• ueh a record is flit it led m *ei tful atteniien wh-ei iJi • d succinct words ho expresses in >vs concerning “(Jove.!.i;w>>i|l in business. ’ f

{ THE GREfVTER DANGER. j i ‘‘There is fa if more danger in public monopoly tbia.ii there is in private monopolv. "Mi. Klisou maintained in tin 1 course oi aj recent interview with a joprcsentatifcc of the New A ork “Sator.!.-v Kv/ming Post.” “AYheii the Govertimeq.; goes into business it can always sb/ili. its losses on to the taxpayers. 1;/ ii goes into the power business, tor ; instance ,it can pretend to sell cheap, power and then cover up its losses. ; The Government never real I j goes fin to business, for it never makes ends/ meet. And that is the first veipiii hment of ibusiiiess. The (1 ovor*tni*ej '.ist mixes a little business wit ft V. lot of politics and no one ever >s a chance to find out what is a>‘iunliv going <>n. . . . Any large extension of the Government in business affairs —no matter wlmt the pretence and no matter how the extension is labelled —will he hound to promote • ;Ste and put a curb on our pros; .iv and progress. Somehow

•sod probably it is in the very iiatuie of things, a government office is below tiie level of a private office.”

A CASK IN POINT. ‘When ! was in AYashington durin.: the war,” -Air Edison went on to -ay. by way of enforcing bis contention. “I. needed to have a special article made ii|i for me out ol tin. ft aas not at all a difflcult thing ,to make, and there was at hand a Navy shop entirely equipped to make it. 1 wanted the article in a great hurry. J kept sending messengers over to the bureau and they brought hack encouraging reports of progress. In four days”tlie article was delivered. Some time afterwards 1 was curious to ascertain how long it would take to make the article in my own shop. So L sent for one of my tinsmiths and told him what I wanted. He delivered the article to me in two and a half hours. . . • Cue of the highest duties of the President is to keep the Government out of business. He would perform a great public service if he did nothing else. That is one of the many tilings we can trust Hoover to do. That is Ids biggest job, and I should include in that job the clearing out of the hureaucraeie which are growing up in Washington and becoming a wasteful nuisance. It he can keep the Government out of business and see the Government regulation is fair both to the public and to the private operators we shall go ahead very rapidly.” AMERICA'S AAA'AKENJNG. These are the opinions ol a high authority, who for more than half n century has been too deeply engrossed in his own wide spheres of activity to associate himself with any political party, and who has had unique opportunities to study at first ham the industrial and economic conditions of his own country. llis impeachment of “Government in Rusiiie.xs” is based upon long years of o->-servation and experience and is being endorsed by the great mass ol the American people who are seeking to free themselves from the _ pernicious influences of unnecessary State interference with private enterprise.