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President Roosevelt is an adept in parrying questions that may have catches in them. Recently a re porter called to his attention the fact that Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia have issued official “prim ers” of policy, and asked if some thing of the sort clarifying policies of the United States might not be desirable. The President laughingly replied that he had a book of the sayings of Benjamin Franklin that was very much up to date. Checking up on the wisecracks of B. Franklin, we find that he must have got under the skin of some of his contempor aries connected with the infant re public, and yet some of his witti cisms are not yet outmoded. It might be worth while for the Presi dent to leave his book lying around where his advisers and members of Congress could get a look at it. Ben said, “Away with your ex pensive follies and you will not have so much cause to complain of hard times. “He that goes borrowing, goes sorrowing. “A man, if he knows how to save as he gets, may keep his nose on the grindstone. “Always taking out of the meal tub, and never putting in, soon comes to the bottom. “Our constitution is in actual operation; everything appears to Promise that it will last; but in this world nothing is certain but death and taxes. “It would be thought a hard gov ernment that should tax its people one-tenth part of their time (in come) to be employed in its service.” Note: The budget estimate of the United States' government recently offered by the President approxi mates $9,000,000,000. All other governmental units—state and lo cal—cost a similar sum. The in come of the American people is esti mated at about $63,000,000,000. What would Old Ben say to that?
Newspaper Details
Hagerstown Morning Herald
Hagerstown, Maryland, US
Wed, Jan 25, 1939
Page 6
Full Page
Clipped by
Pankaj B.
