The Pittsburgh Press (October 30, 1944)
Bricker assails financing plans
U.S. debt called ‘postponed taxes’
Flint, Michigan (UP) –
Describing the estimated $300 billion post-war national debt as “postponed taxes,” Ohio Governor John W. Bricker said today that the only way the American people can repay the enormous obligation and, at the same time, get reduced taxes, was to vote Republican Nov. 7.
Entertainment world figures shared the program with Mr. Bricker to urge labor to vote Republican.
Movie star Adolphe Menjou scored Vice President Henry A. Wallace, who, he said, “incited a riot” at his recent speech by ridiculing the DuPont industrial family.
‘No disgrace’
“It’s no disgrace to be a DuPont now,” Menjou said. “If these big corporations didn’t employ labor, I don’t know who would.”
Stage comedian Eddie Bracken drew laughter when he said he “used to be a Democrat but now I’m an American.”
Mr. Bricker delivered his speech at a luncheon meeting which Flint Police estimated was attended by 4,500.
The Republican platform, the GOP vice-presidential nominee said, offers a “clear and workable plan for payment” of the national debt.
Financial ruin feared
“The New Deal policy of deficit financing means ultimate financial ruin and untold suffering,” he said.
A vote for the Republican ticket, Mr. Bricker said, is a vote to “bring taxes down so that men can walk upright again.” But, he warned, this cannot be achieved by “magic.”
He said:
Post-war taxes can be reduced, only by reduced costs of government… We want taxes reduced so that people will be able to work more for themselves and less for their government.