corrente

"...in these days of so-called Republican prosperity..."

"It was borrowed time anyway-the whole upper tenth of a nation living with the insouciance of a grand duc and the casualness of chorus girls." - F. Scott Fitzgerald

During the presidencies of Harding and Coolidge in the twenties, the Secretary of the Treasury was Andrew Mellon, one of the richest men in America. 1923, Congress was presented with the "Mellon Plan," calling for what looked like a general reduction of income taxes, except that the top income brackets would have their tax rates lowered from 50 percent to 25 percent, while the lowest-income group would have theirs lowered from 4 percent to 3 percent. A few Congressmen from working-class districts spoke against the bill, like William P. Connery of Massachusetts.

I am not going to have my people who work in the shoe factories of Lynn and in the mills in Lawrence and the leather industry of Peabody, in these days of so-called Republican prosperity when they are working but three days in the week think that I am in accord with the provisions of this bill. ...When I see a provision in the Mellon tax bill which is going to save Mr. Mellon himself $800,000 on his income tax and his brother $600,000 on his, I cannot give it my support.

The Mellon Plan passed.
[Zinn, People's History of US, pg. 375-376]

Sounds familiar.

"It was, in fact, only the upper ten percent of the population that enjoyed a marked increase in real income. But the protests which such facts normally have evoked could not make themselves widely or effectively felt. This was in part the result of the grand strategy of the major political parties. In part it was the result of the fact that almost all the chief avenues to mass opinion were now controlled by large-scale publishing industries." ~ Historian Merle Curti [Zinn, People's History of US, pg. 374]

Again, sounds familiar. The institution of marriage was also apparently in grave danger in 1928. And of course as we all now know today it is nearly an extinct institution thanks to all them dern furiners. Leave it up to the homosexuals to dive in and finish it off. The Volstead Act was of course a great success. We should bring that back. Yup. The mind of the conservative. Great ideas that stand the test of time.

The following appears in a fundraising/promotional notice distributed by the Loyal Legion of American Mothers in 1928.

LLAM notice ~ 1928 / as follows...

LOYAL LEGION OF AMERICAN MOTHERS

1. Supports the sanctity of the Volstead act, the President, the Holy Bible and patriotism.
2. Supports the purification of the American girl and idealism.
3. Opposes the marriage of Americans and foreigners and insidious propaganda.
4. Opposes all entangling alliances between the races.

National Headquarters and Reference Bureau
Bethany Building, Washington D.C.
President - Mrs Gutherie Willis Watson, A.B.
1000 Chapters Nationwide.

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