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About The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 13, 1938)
arbund the NATIONAL CAPITAL toy Carter Field ^ Washington.—Very interesting in connection with all the talk from the White House that only fear is restraining investors from going in to new enterprises, and particular ly in connection with the adminis tration charge that the electric in dustry has been withholding ex penditures for expansions, etc., at the rate of a billion dollars a year for the last three years, are some recent actions by the federal pow er commission. Act 1 was the application of the Carolina Aluminum company for permission to construct a hydro electric project on the Yadkin river, near Tuckertown, N. C. This was denied, on the ground that the Yad kin river was a navigable stream, and hence a license must be ob tained. But the contention that the Yadkin river was navigable seemed absurd not only to the Aluminum company, but to the state officials of North Carolina, in view of the fact that there were already three dams below the proposed site on the Yad kin river, and one above it! So North Carolina joined the com pany in appealing. On December 17 the commission rejected the appeal, and also in a separate action provided for an in quiry into the other four dams, in sisting that they be required also to obtain licenses. Why all this stress on licenses? To read the statements of the com mission one might suspect it was all in the interest of navigation. Pre sumably the commission might tell the operators of the plant, on some occasion, that they could not op erate because that might reduce the depth of water down in the nav igable part of the stream. Pre sumably the amount of water evap orated by being run through a hydroelectric plant would be suf ficiently in excess of that evaporat ed if nature took its course to affect this depth farther down. Gets Power to Intervene It seems a little far-fetched, but that's how the federal government gets its power to intervene, under the Constitution. The federal gov ernment has jurisdiction over nav igable streams. The original idea of the founding fathers, of course, concerned bridges, which, unless there were some regulation, might be built so close to the water that ships could not pass under them. But actually that is a lot of apple sauce so far as the present conten tion is concerned. What the power commission wants is to force these plants to have licenses in order to ir.'pose recapture provisions. Under the federal power act, as amended in 1935, a formula is set up for the government taking over any li censed hydroelectric plant at the end of fifty years. It is to pay. under the provisions of this act, precisely the amount outlined by President Roosevelt in his prudent investment theory— money honestly and wisely invested —no allowance for mistakes, how ever honestly made, no allowance for bribes, no matter how wise it 6eemed to pay them, no allowance for promotion costs, and now allow ance for any increased value in the land! With the further retroactive provision that if it shall be discov ered, when the government is taking them over, that the companies charged too much during the fifty years, the amount of this excess profit shall be deducted from the amount paid the owners by the gov ernment. Needless to say, if the project was a losing one, the government does not have to take it over. So it’s the old "heads you lose, tails the government wins” formula. So some skeptics here think the "prudent investor” will have no part in anything the "product in vestment" theory governs. Trouble Ahead Plenty of trouble impends for President Roosevelt in the regular session of congress. This was made certain in a recent press conference in which the President stated his views about what was causing the “fear” on the part of the investors. The point is that Mr. Roosevelt’s ideas are widely at variance with what a very large number of sena tors and representatives think is the reason. This will affect the very essence of a number of measures which the regular session of congress must consider—all of them, in fact, which have anything to do with business. Of these taxation is the most impor tant. The President in his remarks to the press strengthened the hands of those senators and representa tives—apparently a majority—who think that the liberalizing of the tax op undistributed earnings of corporations should go a great deal further even than the house com mittee has provided. The particular point here is to provide exemptions for any money put into plant expansions. As the conservative members of congress see the picture, the present policy of the government is a tremendous deterrent to investors contemplat ing putting their money in big cor porations in general, and utilities in particular. Big corporations, be cause of the President's antipathy for bigness in business—utilities be cause of his alleged bias against them and because of his frank ex pressions as to what returns they should be allowed to earn. The point of the whole thing is that. Mr. Roosevelt making no al lowance for any money “unwisely” invested by a utility corporation or any money spent for bribery or any other “dishonest" purpose, and not being willing to allow even in creases ip land valuer if they were “unearned increment” or if the value had advanced through no ef fort of the company, these conserva tives do not look for any rush of un employed capital to the utilities. Or to any other business on which the heavy hand of the government might fall. How They Reason Hence, these conservatives rea son, the only way that money can be employed, and thus provide jobs for the unemployed, is to permit going concerns to use some of the surpluses for expansions without a punitive tax. This does not mean, these con servatives point out, that this par ticular money would escape taxa tion. On the contrary, it is sure to be taxed at least twice by the fed eral government. Thus if the Niagara and Hudson company, to use a specific case, though an imaginary one, should earn ten million dollars above its prudent dividend requirements, and should desire to put this money in to a new hydroelectric plant, it would be permitted to do so without paying an undistributed earnings tax on that ten millions. But it would pay at least 10 per cent in regular corporation earnings taxes. This figure of 10 per cent is the lowest any one in congress is think ing about. It contrasts with the present normal corporation income tax of 15 per cent. Probably, when the law is enacted, it will be nearer 20 per cent and some want it even higher. rresuniauiy mis ten inimuus would eventually be distributed as dividends. When that happened the stockholders would, of course, have to pay their individual income taxes on it And meantime, any addition al earnings occasioned by this in vestment would, of course, be sub ject to the 16 per cent or larger reg ular corporation earnings tax. An Old Story There is a story dating back to 1933, right after Franklin D. Roose velt became President, that some bankers in New York, who hap pened to be the trustee for his fath er's estate, wrote him a carefully worded but perhaps indiscreet in quiry as to what it would be safe to put his money in, in view of what the government might do. According to the story, Roosevelt laconically answered: "You are the trustees.” Also, according to the story, the bankers wired back: "We have put the money in government bonds. Now you are the trustee.” That story is apropos now because of the recent statement to the press by President Roosevelt of his ideas on what return should be permitted on capital invested by private per sons. He was speaking particular ly of the utilities, and he was dis cussing the so-called "prudent in vestment” theory. If you put that statement together with the very well-known ideas of Mr. Roosevelt on interest rates, there results a situation which to any "prudent” investor, would seem to indicate that the sensible thing to do would be to put one's money in government bonds. Es pecially if one had an income large enough to put it up in the high surtax brackets. And that, of course, is where a lot of the money, if not most of it, for all sorts of new ventures and expansions comes from. The point is that Mr. Roosevelt's pattern for private investment con tains no calculation for losses. If an investor puts money into five en terprises, and one of them is a flop, resulting in a complete loss, there is no way, under the Roosevelt for mula, for one of the others to be a bonanza, thus enabling the inves tor to come out even. He is just out of luck. Roosevelt’s Ideas Let's look at Roosevelt’s own ideas of "prudent investment” as expressed to the press. And one must bear in mind that it is Roose velt’s ideas about the famous Bran deis decision, not what the justice really said, that is important. If any of the money was invested foolishly, that does not count. That is just a loss. If any of the money was spent crookedly, that does not count. The President did not men tion promotion, but he does not like promotion, so that does not count. If the company bought some land, which increased in value through no merit on the part of the company, that does not count. So it’s only the money actually put in, and then spent wisely—"pru dently” is the word—on which a re turn should be allowed. Of course, if a company invested a few million dollars, and then encountered a high-jacking city council or legisla ture, whatever had to be spent to save the entire investment would be sheer loss. Copyright. — WNU Service. Filling Insulin Vials. Books, Chemicals and Other Products of Indianapolis Prepared by National Geographic Society, i«hlngton. D. C.-WNU Service. ROM atop a high build ing you see glittering In dianapolis spread over the prairie, Nebuchadnezzar, who viewed Babylon from his flat-roofed palace, would en joy the picture here, with all its temples, shrines, monu ments, and tree-lined ave nues. Here are restful parks and floral displays, quite as satisfying to many as were the hanging gardens of the Euphrates; and here is a war memorial as impressive as any temple raised by Baby lonians. No one great city, however, dom inates Indiana; Chicago pulls at it on the north, Cincinnati and Louis ville on the south. Yet Indianapolis, its capital and nearly its geographic center, is the seat of Hoosier power. In 1820 a small spot was cleared of forest here, and the capital later moved from Corydon, in the south. One wagon, two weeks on the wil derness trails, hauled all the young state’s papers, furniture, books, and money. From the streams men seined fish in such quantities that wagonloads were fed to hogs. Settlers increased; the national foad came through from the East, driving west toward the Missouri. West-bound “movers” multiplied. Some days saw hundreds pass in covered wagons, freighters, stage coaches, often with women or girls driving the teams while men and boys herded other animals after the wagons. Crossroads for Highways. Today Indianapolis stands, a typi cal, well-balanced midwestern city, intersected by four national high ways used by three-fourths of all transcontinental motorists. High above the city rises Ameri ca’s largest neon aviation beacon, usually visible from 75 miles away. About the city runs the first belt line railway built in America, and the seven-acre Union station with elevated tracks accommodates 40 trains at once. Every 24 hours, 82 mails—by air, rail, and truck— reach the city; and it averages a convention a day—five days out of every week the year round. One auditorium seats 10,000. What a change since Henry Ward Beecher preached here in his small church, and edited his farm paper! Get up early, any morning, and you see some 500 trucks coming into town from all directions, hauling hogs, cattle, calves, and sheep to the largest stockyards east of Chi cago. Among world grain markets the one here ranks sixth, and as a cash mart it leads in the United States. Some 840 factories make many things, from insulin and inner tubes, automobiles and canned food, to birdcages and popcorn machines. One shop can make 5,500 bicycle tires every day. Another makes chains—chains that went with Ad miral Byrd to the Antarctic; chains for the first Wright plane; for the dirigibles Macon and Shenandoah; for battleship hoists and elevators; chains for 40 foreign countries. I Doorbell ringers all over the na tion sell silk hosiery made here, while another product is advertised by a singing barber who fills the air with saponaceous rhapsody, i Armored cars for the shah of Iran; trucks to haul pipes that car ry oil from Mosul to the Mediter ranean; hams and bacon for the world’s breakfast — they originate here. Center for Literature. If wastebaskets gave up their ! dead, what a place a great publish ing house in Indianapolis would be to trace Indiana’s literary career! It has bought and published many a manuscript which brought fame to a hitherto unknown writer. Not only Hoosiers, but writers from all over the Union have been launched by this house. Long ago it started Mary Roberts Rinehart, whose first work, "The Circular Staircase,” other houses had ignored. Lately it pub lished “Oil for the Lamps of China,” which brought fame to Alice Tis dale Hobart. Look over its lists, old and new, and you are astonished at the mil lions of books issued from this mid western plant. Charles Major’s “When Knighthood Was in Flower” sold more copies than did “Uncle Tom's Cabin.” This firm, putting on what James Whitcomb Riley called “its literary overalls,” published ev ery book the famous Hoosier poet ever wrote, and all without ever a written contract! It introduced Har old MacGrath to the world with “The Puppet Crown," and Meredith Nicholson with “The Main Chance” and "The House of a Thousand Can dles.” Other titles are remindful of days gone by. Here Brand Whitlock brought “The Thirteenth District”; Emerson Hough his “Mississippi Bubble”; Anna Katharine Green, “The Filigree Ball”; George Ran dolph Chester, “Young Walling ford”; Zona Gale, “Romance Is land”; George Ade, "The Slim Prin cess”; Earl Derr Biggers, “Seven Keys to Baldpate”; Ring Lardner, “Gullible's Travels”; and Irving Bacheller, “The Light in the Clear ing.” Because of its early conspicuous success with fiction, fiction especial ly is associated in many minds with the publishers. But its contribution in other lines, aside from its law and educational publications, shows scores of titles on subjects from “Backward Children” to “The Chi nese”—too many to list here. Great Chemical Laboratory. Carved on the stone front of a great laboratory at Indianapolis are the same chemical symbols used by ancient alchemists—who took them from the Chaldean — who thought the earth’s metals were re lated to the planets! Hence such old planetary names for drugs as lunar caustic and saturnine poison. Yet look into this plant and see what incredible strides chemists have made since the dim, distant age of alchemy, quackery, and philosophers’ stones! In this temple of scientific re search and in the giant production plant attached to it, where machines roll 500,000 pills a day and grind tons of strange things, from dande lions to bovine stomachs and liv ers, you meet a thinking brigade of chemists, pharmacists, bacteri ologists, and medical investigators representing the best scientific brains of many lands, from Eng land to China. How to turn new ideas, theories, and discoveries about medicine into practical use is the business of this vast industry. It worked with the Toronto Insulin committee and with the Harvard Pernicious Anemia committee to put their drugs quick ly into doctors’ hands. Here is not only pure research'in many things, from toad poisons to Chinese herbs, but such mass-pro duction problems as packing mil lions of doses of ground liver in cap sules instead of vials. In plain English, here in Indiana is an astonishing example of how highly organized, efficient business takes up where science leaves off. Jenner learned long ago how to vaccinate against smallpox, but it takes huge capital and infinite skill to make enough vaccine and supply it fresh to the whole world, when and where needed. You can think of many such ex amples, from common disinfectants to diphtheria antitoxin. But for such mass production of drugs, chemicals, and medicines, we could not check or control in fectious disease and epidemics, de spite the great discoveries of Koch, Pasteur, Lister, Sir Ronald Ross, Schaudinn, Von Wassermann, and Ehrlich. iNor couia mankind Denent from the findings of a Hopkins, a Mendel, or an Osborne as to vitamins, nu trition, and the prevention of nutri tional disease, nor dare to hope in face of tetanus, diabetes, and ane mia. Look at all the live animals on which tests are made; look at all the strange weeds, plants, roots, that come to this busy place—and look at the endless barrels, boxes, jars, and bottles of mysterious mix tures that issue from it, and are shipped to drugstores, hospitals, -armies, navies, and to doctors all over the world, and you walk out with this thought: What good is any discovery in medicine—no matter how great its potential value—unless some indus try exists like this one, able to make the new serum, vaccine, drug or tissue product m big lots, and then send it to places where people need it? \\7HETHER you line your new * * draperies or not will depend on how heavy the material is. It is important, however, that the top of draperies be stiffened when a French heading is used. A soft canvas which may be purchased in drapery departments is gen erally used for this purpose. From four to six inches is a good depth to cut the heading canvas. Turn the top of the curtain material over it and sew as at A. Start to sew the plait about an inch down from the top of the drapery and sew it the depth of the stiffening, as shown here at B. Pinch this plait into three small World "Times Square" In his book, “Junglemania,” Ar thur Torrance. M. D., says: “Sin gapore is the Times Square of the universe. There are as many ships passing through Singapore as there are taxicabs in Times Square at theater time. There are just as many shows—shows that you don’t have to pay to see: Sailors from every port in the world; women in strangely allur ing costumes; silk shops; peculiar bazaars such as are found in Chi na, Ceylon and Java; jewels and precious stones sold at street cor ners by a polyglot of carefree people who speak languages that don’t have any dictionaries.” plaits and, starting two inches down from the top, sew through as at C. Sew these plaits the depth of the stiffening, so that they appear as shown here at D. Now turn to the wrong side and sew a ring to the back of each plait as at E. Every Homemaker should have a copy of Mrs. Spears’ new book, SEWING. Forty-eight pages of step-by-step directions for making slipcovers and dressing tables; restoring and upholstering chairs, couches; making curtains for ev ery type of room and purpose. Making lampshades, rugs, otto mans and other useful articles for the home. Readers wishing a copy should send name and address, enclosing 25 cents, to Mrs. Spears, 210 South Oesplaines St., Chicago, Illinois. / H VI3 r.l 1 ikgij i ■ (j-i 111 ®pr?!; <4?^; <** t ? f47 $& ji x;#f Irium Contained in BOTH Pepsodent Powder |J and Pepsodent Tooth Paste • Thanks to “The Miracle of Irium”, Pepsodent smiles reveal teeth that glisten and gleam with all their glorious natural radiance! Use this modernized dentifrice twice a day — and you’ll quickly appreci ate why Pepsodent Paste and Powder containing Irium have captured America! And Pepsodent containing Irium is Safe! Contains NO BLEACH, NO GRIT, NO PUMICE. It reveals natural, pearly brilliance in record time . . . leaves your mouth refreshed, tingling clean! “Fourth Necessity" The automobile has become so necessary in our modern life that it is often called the “Fourth Ne cessity,” giving way only to food, clothing and shelter. Stoop to Rise Soar not too high to fall, but stoop to rise.—Massinger. I - l^reETSUfW^EREANS \ LET ME HAVE A LITTLE QUIET.1 ) I DON'T WANT MY BREAKFAST V ms doctor, told volTto\ -\ QUIT DRJNKINQ COFFEE AND }/ ON, \ DRIAJK POSTUM INSTEAD! J{ 1 WILL, \ WHY DON'T YOU IF VOU'LL N.DO IT? \ KEEP I -7/-QUIET! / y jfscRAM, _^ y ^ y « “tVUETETn7~STSFVEUJNGriEnrM3T^ERS GET UP, \VLL GET UP ItJPEN 1 FEEL j DADDY! j LIKE IT! SME KNOWS MY / M07MER- / MEAD ACMES AGAIN TUlS S SAYS ITS/<^MDRNINGI^^^^^ IaIMHR^S'S s'*' MV COFFEE'?)/ BUT. DEAR---■ you \ IMI4V ISN'T / MUSTN'T DRINK SO \ IT READY? / MUCN COFFEE! 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Economical, easy to make, delicious, hot or iced. You may miss coffee at first, but you'll soon love Postum’s own rich flavor. A product of General Foods. (This offer expire* July 1, 1938.)