Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 24 June 1936 — Page 8

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PROGRESS SLOW, STEADY

“As we survey the picture which the world presents and contemplate the four tragic years just prior to 1933, and the slow but steady progress of our country under this Democratic Administration, we are moved by a sense of profound gratitude that the nation today looks . into the future with eyes that see

within reach the goal of a happier |

and more abundant life for all our people. “We come to this convention in the name of a Democracy which is national in its historic background, in its aproach to and willingness to deal in a national way with problems that are national in their scope. “We recognize the complexity of modern life. We covet no power that would deprive the states of the right to deal locally with local responsibilities. These are adequate to consume the energies of all who are willing to devote themselves w their - solution. “But we recognize the undeniable and self-evident fact that because of our growth in territory, population, wealth, the means of production, distribution and consumption and the facilities of transportation and communication which have knitted the American people into a nation, certain great vital questions affecting the daily lives of the people as a whole have been projected into our conomic and social structure.

QUESTIONS UNAVOIDABLE

“These vital questions cannot be stubbornly avoided or their solution long delayed by any political party or any administration which has an adequate sense of its responsibility to the people. “Political.organizations are neither created nor justified merely as means of obtaining public office. Their justification lies alone in affording means of expression and desire, as well as a focus of responsibility, in the administration of public affairs. “Thomas Jefferson is often misrepresented by those who pay to him the dubious homage of the lip as having said ‘that government is best which governs least. “From all the volumes which Jefferson wrote it is indeed uniair to lift and emphasize a single sentence, uttered concerning an ideal state of human perfection never yet attained. If that sentence must be taken without context or reservation, it is but a step to the doctrine that ‘that government is best which governs not at all’ In this age of infinite complexity, of mutual dependence of community on community, state on state and nation on nation, all responsible gov-

ernments must enlarge their field of

ctivity and supervision to the end thet the weak may be protected . from the strong and rapacious and ‘the approximation of justice among ~ all classes may be secured.

WORLD MOVING, CHANGING

“Any political group, therefore, who, in the midst of tragic im- . potence among the people to. adjust unaided their lives and fortunes, and

the impenetrable forests of economic destiny, hides behing the sedentary _indolence of some ancient shibboleth, is unfit for high station or

* responsibility in the society of our

any : “This is a moving, changing world in which we live. New generations, viewing ‘the Siscarvel shell of ancient theories, and impatient with ~ the fatal doctrine of defeatism, are asking why, among all the arts and ~ sciences and achievements of man, only government is a laggard. i ake no mistake abou. 1 they are

Senator Alben Barkley

“Because for 12 years—yea, twelve ‘long’ years—the ancient dactrinaires of special privilege haa stood at the pilot's wheel on our ¢hip of state. Because the powers of government had been exercised to promote the ends of injustice and bring a palsy to the efforts of the people exerted in their own behalf. “Because the streams intended for the unretarded flow of the people’s energies were choked and we found it necessary here and there to cut a new and straighter channel instead of trying to clean out an old and crooked one. “I find no relish in picking or pointing at ancient wounds, But in order to assess the wisdom of the remedies we have administered, let us diagnose the ailments from which we suffered.

‘RESCUED’ MOST ARROGANT

“They are of such recent existence that it ought not to be necessary to recount. them. - But my distinguished friend; the Senator’ from Oiegon, who was temporary chairman of the Republican convention, forgot to mention: them at Cleveland. “And some of those who suffered and have been cured are now the most arrogant in’ their antagonism to the process which brought them through the crisis. Some of those who were rescued from drowning-in the economic flood-waters let loose by the previous 12 ‘long’ years, now complain because in lifting them out we were forced to puli their hair. “When the present. Administration assumed office on March 4th, 1933, all classes of society bore the marks of such a combination of maladies that it is only possible io mention them in.the vaguest outline. “These maladies were not local. They were not set off by metes and bounds. They were not walled in by territorial barriers nor quarantined by yellow flags nailed to a tree. “They were maladies which took root ‘deeply in the whole body of our social and economic fabric and were theréfore chronic. “They -have been fostered by en-: during neglect, magnified by political folly, aggravated by : venality. and perpetuated by ‘the frantic effort to‘cure them by their causes.

SURPLUS OUTLET NEEDED :

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which finds no outlet for the surplus products of its genius and labor. “But in four years—yea, ‘four long years’—under the guidance of the man who was applauded but not renominated at Cleveland, we saw our trade with the world. decline from 10 billons to three billion dollars a year, setting the feet of three mils lion men upon the streets and turning their faces toward the lengthening breadlines.

pelle $0 ACSRE Tor the Dio ucts of his toil less than the cost of their production; saw his debts enlarged and his ability reduced: saw one-half the farms of the nation under mortgage and one-fifth of these on the verge of foreclosure; saw his foreign markets lost and his d | home markets reduced; saw mounting and. unsalable uses in all the basic products of e farm.

FARMER WAS LOSING FAITH

“No nation can prosper long or truly |

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“Industrial production had declined to 53 per cent of normal while industrial employment declined to 61 per cent. The purring wheels of production were silent and. smokeless smokestacks were silhouetted against the heavens like monuments on a deserted battlefield. : “Led on by the sirens of speculative excess, and by the false signals flashed from the doors of the Treasury and the Executive mansion, millions of men and women found themselves stunned by the falling debris of worthless securities foisted on them by investment pirates. - They saw their substance drawn from their hands as if by some unseen magic ‘force. “Archaic and unethical methods of business competition obtained illegitimate profit regardless of merit and ‘strangled smaller units of production and distribution. “Sweat shops, long hours, low wages, unwholesome working conditions and the physical and mental degradation of children remained the crowning infamy of portions of American industry.

“COURAGE BEGAN TO FAINT”

“Unemployment rolls dreamed of by the accumulated pessimism of the century revealed between 15 and 16 million laborers in idleness: “Down went every economic index, while the savings of lifetimes ran slowly out like sand in a weary

hour-glass, and every month new.

thousands: left the security of work until 15 million {ramped the streets in hopeless agony of effort. “Down we were hurled for ‘three long years,’ while confidence like a prodigal went into a far country, and the courage which had braved these barren shores in the days of the Puritan and under the pioneers had extinguished - a : continental wilderness began to faint on- every hearthstone. “‘“Three long years’ of Republi-

can superiority found local charity

and relief everywhere "collapsing, and millions of human’ beings were begging for bread, raiment and shelter, and: uncounted numbers of

f them found sleep only by the road-

side, or upon. park benches from which they crawled with ‘the rising sun like dogs: from a kennel. “Upon the ‘crowded street corner

| the soap-box agitator found it not

difficult to lash into fury the emotions which were aroused in the Hisillusioned souls of men, who had lost not only lands and buildings and jobs and scraps of paper, but their ‘faith in government, in 'so-

ciety and. justice and the spiritual

foundations which sanctify the use and enjoyment of every earthly

g possession.

1}: ASSUMED HEAVY BURDEN

“In 1920 the debauch of the Coolidge-Hoover revelry and the ‘twelve long years’ of Hamiltonian exploitation were ‘over. The dance was ended at last. The gaunt pip ers of bankruptcy, starvation an unemployment had - come to to thei fee. | “One sudden blast of wrath from

never

PRAISES BANKING LAWS

“Need I remind you of that stroke of boldness. which proclaimed the

holiday of banks? Or the passage of the emergency banking: act? Or the banking act of 1935, which together restored not only Banking but public confidence in Which withdrew banks a i feverish speculation of the stock ‘market ‘and made them banks again? Which strengthened their foundations and guaranteed their deposits and enticed from hiding places billions of dollars which had sought security in seclusion? “And need I remind you that the Republicans who manipulated the Cleveland convention nominated a man for President who before the American Bankers Association :denounced the Federal Deposit Insurance Act which guaranteed the deposits ‘of the people throughout the United States, and as Governor of his state exerted every ounce of influence at his command to prevent the banks of Kansas from entering the guaranteed system? “What I now ask and the people have a right to know is whether the miscellaneous assembly of heterogeneous elements which met at

Cleveland two weeks ago, and the|

ticket which it nominated, approve this great financial programs and its results, or whether, if returned to power, they will scuttle it again as they scuttled the great system set up by the Administration of Woodrow Wilson.

LAUDS WORK OF RFC

“And what, I.ask, and the people have a right to know, is whether some of those who journeyed to Washington in the days of their distress with a tin cup, a pair of blue glasses’ and a dog and obtained from the Treasury, through the Reconstruction Finance Corp., $2,250,000,000 of the people’s money in order that they might live, now propose: to belittle their past predicament and those who rescued them from it and made it possible for the national banks alone to turn an annual loss of $150,000,000 to & net profit of more than $200,000,000. “During the four long years Just prior to the Roosevelt Administration, more than 7000 banks went out of business, and total deposits in all banks decreased by more than $15,000,000,000. “Ask the 8,000,000 depositors in these vanished banks whether they desire to return to those days of ragged individualism. Ask them whether they favor the repeal or crippling of the guaranty of bank deposits and the election of a man as President who struggled to obstruct both its enactment and its administration. “The answer will be an overwhelming no! “While under Mr. Hoover, more than 7000 banks, closed: their doors permanently, only 264 state and national banks have closed since March 16, 1933, the end of the bank holiday, -and only eight of them were national banks. Thus far in the good year 1936, not a .single national bank in the United States has closed its doors. in: the faces of the Pespie,

CLAIMS GAIN IN COMMERCE

“Need I here recount the efforts of the great Secretary of State, Mr. Cordell Hull, to pry ajar the gates

| of foreign trade and start again the

‘movement ' of international merce and good will? “Through the trade agreements authorized by Congress ana consummated under that authority, our commerce with other nations has increased from 27 per cent of nord | mal in March, 1933, to 56 per cent of normal in April, 1986; or from $3,853 000, ,000 in 1932 to $4:300.000,000 “But in spite of this, we ‘witnessed

which had blown into their nostrils an alien odor; and the result was the passage of the Security and Exchange Acts for the protection of the people.

“These measures were denounced |

in bloc. But the issue of new.and honest securities has increased 50 per cent; the value of old -ones by more than 40 per cent... “In “their platform they stammer a pious sentence in behalf of regulation of interstate securities and interstate activities of public utilities. But we already have dune it. “They sat in .the folds of comfortable and luxurious upholstery while a giant system of holding companies was ‘built one upon another in the public utility field, wringing exorbitant profits from investors, operating companies and consumers.

‘NO RELIEF PROPOSED’

“But did the leaders of old or new guards in Republicanism lash their faces into scarlet or their hearts into indignation over the spoilation of innocent people? “Among all the tethered and muzzled spokesmen of the doctrine of laissez faire no warning was uitered or relief proposed. From the lips of none who controlled or were chosen by the Cleveland convention came or has come either movement or utterance indicating either knowledge of the subject or ability or nclina~ tion to deal with. “The Administration of Franklin Roosevelt found the spreading cancer and removed it, and will administer to the affected parts the healing processes of honesty from which will come a healthier growth and fuller service. “What I ask and the peopie have

a right to know is whether the Re-. publican’ program contemplates the honest enforcement of the ‘new en-{

actments; whether those who shape that program will divorce themselves from whatever allegiance may have held them to these interests; or whether they . propose to. undo the work we have accomplished. “The croaking noises which rise from the swamps of old deal complacency will not suffice. The people call for assurance that the ture of honesty and freedom which we have erected shall not pe destroyed. Has that assurance come out of Cleveland? Is it in their platform? Was it couched in their insulting speeches? No!

CLAIMS PROMISES BROKEN.

“When we take stock of the nation’s farming interests; how may I adequately portray the new hope; the restored confidence, the economic resurrection of the American farmer? “In 1920, 1924, 1928 and. 1932 the hollow and : hackneyed promise was made by Republican platforms and candidates to restore agriculture to economic equality with industry. The promise never was fulfilled or intended for fulfillment. It has been repeated again in their platform in 1936, with no more thought: of its accomplishment now than in the past. ag

still higher on the farmer's back,

while half a billion dollars were |

taken from the Treasury and poured out into a fantastic exhibition of agricultural pantomimicry ‘It is interesting and revealing to revert to the recent past ana revive

some of the platform and conven- |

tion utterances of the Republican group which now complains against our successful program of farm res habilitation.

- “ “The market f four sistance in the J Hoover.” lang Yous of financial lines and, where diversifi- ary of Commerce Dancation is needed, governmental as-|| lel C. Roper: “It was one of sistance during the period of transi- || the greatest speeches delivered -f tion.” ! a a ; convention ro : and far greater-than anything i ever delivered at a Republican POINTS OUT 1932 PLANK convention in the history of p America. ” Senator ‘Tom Connally (Tex““The Republican Party pledges|| 85): “It was a great

“During the ‘four long years’ of | Mr. Hoover the burdens were piled |

Great’

By United Press PHILADELPHIA, June 24.— Democrats enthusiastically ’ Alben W.

It ‘was a clear cut defense of everything the New Deal has tried to do to aid the farmer and the common man.” Secretary of State Cordell Hull: “The speech is one of the very highest in the order of convention speeches. The indictment against the opposition will have great influence in the coming campaign.”

derly distribution. : “ “The Republican Party pledges itself. fo the development and enactment of measures which will place the agricultural interests of America on a basis of economic equality with other industries to secure its prosperity and success.’ “In 1932 the Republican platform contained this declaration: “The fundamental problem of American agriculture is in the control of production to such volume as will balance supply with demand. In the solution of this problem the co-operative organization of farmers to plan production, and the tariff to hold the home-market for American farmers, are vital -elements. -- A third element, equally vital, is the control of acreage of land under cultivation, as an aid to- the efforts of the farmer to ‘talance production.’ “In 1928, the Democratic platform contained .the following declaration on agriculture: ““The Democratic Party recognizes that the problems of production differ as between agriculture and industry. Industrial production i$ largely under human control, ‘while agricultural production, because of lack of gpo-ordination among - 6,500,000 individual farm units, and because of the influence of weather, pests and other causes, is largely beyond human control.

to meet their market. When they shut down because of a slack in demand, they ‘plow under’ their machines for the time and discharge their wage earners. “When business is ready to produce for abundance and not for profit, ‘it - will then be logical to ask the farmer to do likewise. But not until then.

“They have wept over the slaughter of a few little pigs as if they had’ been tender human infants nestling at their mothers’ breasts. They have shed these tears over the premature death of pigs as if they had been born, educated and destined for the ministry or for politics. “But their bitterest tears are not shed over the fate of little pigs. Their real grief comes: from the slaughter of the fat hogs of privilege and plunder ‘which they have fed on the people’s substance. “They are not weeping because we plowed under a few rows of colton.” Mr. Hoover started that. Their real sorrow springs from the fact that we have plowed under the sorded ‘conceptions of old deal gov~ ernment and its chance ever to be

restored. to the control of American

Having declared tor 20 yeats Shag

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purposes proposes mental’ aid to farmers in developing new crops.

NOT CONSISTENT, HE SAYS

“In one breath, they propose to assist in selling agricultural sure pluses abroad by the bargaining process, and in the next they would embargo all agricultural imports, which would render ‘idle 50,000,000 acres of land in cultivation for exe port crops; and in still another breath, they propose to repeal the law authorizing trade agreements. “With that omnipotence which they claim but never exercise, they propose to increase consumption. But it was their dismal faiiure for ‘four long years’ that rendered con~ sumption by one-third of our population impossible except for the bounty of the government. “They reject now controlled pro duction, but offer the mirage of a bounty from the treasury which would ultimately render impossible the balancing of all budgets and the payment of all debts. The whole scheme is put forth to deceive the American farmer, which is the only consistent policy of the platform writers of the Cleveland convention,

pointment and disillusionment sufered by the farmers of this nation as a result of Republican incapacity and duplicity, it is inconceivable that they will again be taken in by those ‘who have perpetrated the wrongs of the past. “To call this a platform is flattery indeed. It is a revolving eye ‘that

nothing. “But the people have been told

that the foundations of national (Turn to Page 9.)

BOTH ADVOCATED CONTROL

“ ‘Producers: of ‘crops whose ‘total volume exceeds the needs of the domestic market must continue at a disadvantage until the govern-

| ass BROOKS "MIDSEASON

ment shall “intervene. as. seriously

and as effectively ‘in behalf of the farmer as it has intervened in behalf of labor and industry. There is a need of supplemental legislation for the control and ord:rly handling of agricultural surpluses, in order that the price of the sur‘plus may not determine the price of the whole ‘crop.’ “In the Democratic platform of 1932 will be : found the Tollowing pronouncement: aE “‘We advocate the extension and development of the farm co-opera-tive movement, and effective control of crop surpluses so that our {farmers may have the full benefit of the domestic market.’ : “I have recalled: these party pledges to remind you that by 1932 both political parties had recognized the agricultural problem not as local, but as national. Both parties advocated the ‘control of od tion in order to prevent

‘what it said and was immediately fulfilled when the opportunity came to us.

REPRESENTED

| resmteesmanneane

&/ clegfncé of yorgeousmems White and Stummer styles that brings unequalled Values! Don’t miss hls grout Money 3 Saring

“After the years of bitter disape .

looks in all directions and sees

Baoan HRY an

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