Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 25 June 1936 — Page 10

ecovery Delay

WNUTT IN THICK OF THINGS AT CONVENTION.

CONVENTION HALL, PHILADELPHIA, June 25. ~The text of Senator Joseph T. Robinson's address to the Democratic national conven-

tion follows:

“National campaigns heretofore usually have involved sharply defined issues on which political discussions have centered. The principal concern of the recent Republican convention at Cleveland was 10 reconcile its candidate for the presidency . with the declarations embraced in its platform. “It was not the first time in our history that a nominee, in advance . of accepting the nomination, has Jaced his interpretation on the guage employed, but it is the first instance in which a candidate by keeping silent on national public questions and sdfter maneuvering himself into a position assuring his selection, has indicated a disposition to bolt on five or more subjects on which his party had spoken. “It-is also the first case in whicl: the platform committee and convention have anticipated the purpose of a prospective nominee to break away in a direction opposite to their movement by declaring that it would constitute a breach of public faith and of private honor should he fail or refuse to conform to the policies laid down for his guidance. “Republican leaders lately have shown tender, if too long delayed, appreciation for the platform on which the Democrats won the election of 1932. “Their speakers enfer this campaign declaring that we have betrayed the country by failing to carry out the promises which at first they regarded as repugnant but which are now dear to the hearts of our opponents.

BLAMES CHANGING CONDITIONS

“The Roosevelt Administration has faithfully ‘complied with the spirit of the Chicago platform promises. If there has been partial departure as to the letter of the planks in that platform relating to economy and balancing the budget that failure is attributable to the constantly changing conditions and necessities, and to the guerrilla warfare of the Republican army. ~ “Because of the policies of three Republican Administrations extending over a period of twelve years, a condition existed March 4th, 1933, which can nof be adequateiy de- . scribed. Breakdown was threatened in the government of many states as well as in that of the nation. Millions of laborers were out of work. The spectre of poverty cast its appalling shadow over the land. “Credit sources were dried up, financial institutions were bankrupt; factories were closed down; agriculture was profitless; the savings of citizens were being swept away; business was at. a standstill; our foreign commerce had aimou:t disappeared, and hoarding was general. “These conditions had resulted in large part from governmental policies, economic isolation, riotous speculation, promotion of monopolies and the contracsion-of credits for the private profits of market manipulators. “You have not forgotten—can you ever forget the glooin, the scrrow and the distress which clouded the hopes and hampered the activities of all of our people?

HOOVER SEEMED POWERLESS

“President Hoover seemed powerless to suggest any method by which the engulfing tides of adversity might be impeded or turned back. All he could do, apparently, was to boast a refracted vision which he claimed enabled him to see prosperity around corners. Having employed the Army to drive from the capitol thousands of hungry war veterans, he retired to the cloister of the White House and indulged in crystal gazing to predict the quick return of better times which never began to return until after he had been retired to the sun-baked gardens of Palo Alto to give place to the new leader of the nation, President Roosevelt. “The Democratic leadership recognized that drastic changes in governmental policies were necessary to bring back courage and confidence and to restore financial stability. “Feeble and ordinary processes had been tried and had failed. New and decisive methods and measures were demanded and required. They were necessarily: formulated with haste. It is not surprising that difficulties were encountered or that mistakes were made. To have awaited then the slow working out and execution of plans for recovery would have been fatal. No one is wise enough, even with prevision, to know what would have happened if extraordinary legislation had not been speedily enacted and put into effect. “The banking laws were revised; insurance for bank deposits was provided; runs on banks were stopped, and the national credit was . employed to prevent bankruptcy and ruin of banking insti- ~ tutions, of railways and of key industries. ;

SCORES MARKETING ACT

“For 13 years before March 4, 1938, blican administrations

1 Repu ‘had grappled the farm prob ] ~The only important

Firmly grasping the Indiana standard, Gov. Paul McNutt is seen in the center of the Hoosier delegation at the national Decoratic convention as the crowd was brought to its feet by a burst of oratory.

ings were exhausted and millions of formerly self-supporting citizens were compelled to accept charity.

“When the Roosevelt Administration began, local agencies, the states, cities and counties, had well nigh exhausted their resources, and charitable organizations were unable to meet the constantly growing demands upon them. “Hundreds of thousands of young men, many of them college or high school graduates, were entering life without prospect. The professions were overcrowded, and the immediate future held little promise for the youth of America.

CCC WINS PRAISE

¥

“There was devised .the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, and Civil Conservation Corps organization and the Civil Works Administration. When the Conservation Corps first was established it was ridiculed as a costly and useless experiment. “In spite of the contempt of those’ who had stood motionless and dumb while the catastrophe was approaching, that organization has demonstrated its effectiveness for keeping deserving young men from becoming hoboes, and for giving them useful service in the construction of highways, the improvement of public parks, buildings and grounds, the reforestation of denuded areas and in other helpful spheres of labor. Now the value of the emergency Conservation Corps is generally, almost unanimously recognized. Former President Hoover vainly boasts that he was its originator. “The Civil Works Administration required comprehensive. planning. It was difficult to find useful employment in the neighborhood where the unemployed were located. The consensus of opinion is that more than 75 per cent of the funds expended through that agency was of substantial and permanent advantage to the communities in which the work was carried on. . “Wthen the Civil Works Administration had served its purpose it was found that the ranks of. the unemployed were. constantly. being augmented by those who in the beginning of the depression had been able to live upon their savings, but who as time progressed were compelled to spend their savings. . “While many key industries had been restored, following recovery measures, to an aproximately normal state, private agencies continued to pursue economical methods and to substitute machinery for hand labor with the result that a comprehensive program of . public works became necessary and was authorized under the act .of 1935, contemplating a nationwide system of public works, some of -them consisting of permanent structures.

DEFENDS WPA SPENDING

“In order to take from the dole 3,500,000 laborers, the Works Progress Administration was organized and plans were made for Public Works in thousands of communities in which the unemployed resided. “Manifestly the number ‘of the Federal emergency relief rolls could not be concentrated in the communities where public buildings and similar works could be located; so that it became necessary to plan for the employment of the majority of them in or near the communities where they lived.

wasteful and foolish. : “The theory of the Works Progress Administration is that it is better to give those who are willing to labor the opportunity to do so

“The opponents of the present Administration advocate the abdication by the national government of control over the Administration of Federal relief funds. They assert that such. funds should be expanded solely by local agencies of the states. Their contention is that this will eliminate politics and prevent waste and corruption. Experience has not shown that to be true. “To require the federal gcvernment to provide the funds, and to relinquish all control over their expenditure would be to invite competition among the localities to secure grants from the government which would result in demands so great that the national credit would be impaired. “With respect to politics, the record shows that there have been less abuses than under any other plan that has been employed. State officers are not exempt from political influence. Indeed, local pressure on state and county officers might prove" irresistible and overpowering. “There is no plan conceivable under which no waste will occur and under which all abuses may be prevented. So long as the national government provides the major portion of the sums necessary for the unemployed, it must, for its own protection,. and for the protection of those who are required to pay the bill, retain a liberal measure of supervision both as to the purpose and manner of the expenditures.

CLAIMS MONEY SOUND

“The drain on the national Treasury by reason of extraordinary measures particularly . including those relating to unemployment has been great. It must be reduced as soon. and’ as rapidly as circumstances permit. Unemployment assistance can not be abandoned so long as there are large groups of American men and women unable to find an opportunity to earn livelihood. “Much will be heard of sound money during this campaign. “When world economic conditions were approaching their worst, Great Britain and many other powers went off the gold standard and resorted to what is known as. ‘managed currency.’ The advantage they thus derived in trade and commerce over peoples still dealing under the gold standard became manifest. To prevent our foreign trade from being taken over by competitors, and to avoid further contraction of credit which threatened, we reduced the gold content of the dollar. We did not create an unsound currency. : : : “Indeed, United States currency is the soundest and the best in all the world, and we propose to keep it so. Had we remained on the gold standard while competitor nations were resorting to managed curren-

cies we would have ‘lost, not only. our foreign commerce and have

witnessed our domestic trade reduced to the point, but the government would have. been compelled to face a demand for monetary inflation that would have been irresistible. : . “Once the printing presses are started turning out money, you can never hope to stop expenditures or to stabilize values until the mania has run its course. That has been the experience of every nation known to history.

CITES G: O. P. BATTLE

| a compromise.’

land platform was a failure. Candidate Landon’s declaration on the subject evades the issue by the use of language that clearly shows he does not believe it safe and practicable to re-establish, at this time, a gold standard currency.

RECALLS LAST CLAUSE

“The Cleveland convention did an |

unusual thing.” It impliedly questioned the good faith of its prospective nominee and his willingness to stand upon the platform by the last clause in that document which is as follows: “ “The acceptance of the nomination tendered by this convention carries with it as a matter of private honor and public faith an undertaking by every candidate to be true to the principles and program herein set forth. ; ' “When that language is considered in connection with the well known fact that in five important particulars the platform committee rejected the views of Gov. Landon, it is undeniable that the committee jwas preparing for a candidate whom it knew to be out of sympathy with the platform. “That there are" five particulars in which the candidate was turned down by the platform committee, the press reports from the pen of Mr. William Allen White, who constitutes the head of the Landon ‘brain trust,’ may be cited. “In a copyrighted article emanating from Cleveland on the llth

‘| of June, 1936, Mr. White published

these five points raised by the candidate and rejected .by. the committee and the convention. * “What are the five points? “First: (Quoted from Mr. White's article) ‘Landon telephoned from Topeka this morning he would like to have a declaration putting all post office employes, including the Postmaster General, under civil service.’ Neither the committee nor the convention would stand for placing cabinet officers under the civil service.

ASKED COURT CURB

“Second: “He also desired a plank curbing the Supreme Court decision denying to states the right to control hours of service, working conditions and wages. Landon advocates an amendment to the Conestitution. . .’ His plea was denied. “The committee and the convention not only denied his plea but adopted declarations that the integrity and the authority of the Supreme Court have been flaunted, and pledged - resistance to .all attempts to impair ‘the authority of the Supreme Court. ‘He also advocates the adoption of state laws to abolish ‘sweatshops and child labor, and to protect women and children with respect to maximum hours, minimum wages and decent working

conditions—which is exactly what|

the Supreme Court held in Morehead vs. Tipaldo. the states can not do. Sta A “Third: The third particular in which Mr, William Allen White declares that candidate Landon was rebuffed by the committee and the convention is with respect to the gold standard and a currency convertible into gold. Mr. White said: After considerable protest he ceased firing on the currency. “Fourth: According to Mr. White, the Kansas delegation (for Governor Landon) offered a plank

but: under the protective theory. The plank as it stands represents

“Fifth: In 1932, the Republicans

Barkley Worries as Com Then Breaks Ru

By United Press

failed to do so his action

out the platform ang 3} charge made in advance that

rejected. : “The Cleveland

“Under the reciprocal tariff

had the effect of stimulating -our

foreign commerce without materially |

interfering with our domestic trade. “To repeal his law and impose embargoes will mean virtually the end of our foreign commerce. American ships will rot at their docks, and our vessels will disappear from the seas. Under the Republican policy surpluses will continue to pile up ia the home market to the ruin of American producers. “The Republican platform declares for the immediate balancing of the budget without additional taxes, but simply reducing expenditures. This suggestion is intended to attract taxpayers. No ‘one close the leadership of the Republican party regards the proposition ‘as practical in the immediate future.

TAX COLLECTIONS UP

“The Roosevelt Administration has balanced the budget except as

to extraordinary expenditures and

the question is whether unemployment relief expenditures shall be discontinued in order to accomplish what we all desire to be done as speedily as possible, namely establish complete balance between revenues and government expenses. “The last session of the Congress, with the approval of Republican members, authorized approximately $750,000,000 to be expended for flood control, the expenditure to be spread over a period of years. “In addition, there have been a billion and a half dollars appropriated for work relief during the fiscal year 1937. These and other items keep the budget out of balance for the present. To balance the budget promptly would be to terminate at once all relief. Is this desirable? Do the American people wish to deny all assistance from the national government to workers who are out of employment and who: can not secure engagements from private industry? “A comparison of the income tax, the excess profits tax, alcoholic liquor and other miscellaneous internal revenue, exclusive of the agricultural adjustment tax, for the first six months of the fiscal year ending June 30,.1932 with the same months of the year ending June 30, 1935, shows an increase of almost 100 per cent. Br ; “pDuring the six months period July 1 to Dec. 31, 1935, revenué collections were about equal to those for the full fiscal year of 1932. During that year $1,557,000,000 from the sources named were collected. During the fiscal year 1935, $2,730,000,000 came into the Treasury from the same sources. - “The. Democratic policy contemplates balancing the budget as promptly as this can be done without permitting citizens who can not secure private employment to experience suffering from hunger and cold. This policy we believe to be justified from both an economic and a humane standpoint. :

ABIDING BY COURT

“By the quick adoption of machines, employment in America has beer: maladjusted. Added to this has been the loss of purchasing power incident to the depression and unemployment arising because of the reduction of business

l| looking ‘directly to lower tariffs, | beca

tural Adjustment Act, the ‘Guffey Coal Law and some other laws in-

“This bit of convention history | discloses that the platform committee in the convention doubted | whether the candidate would carry |

if he |

there have been negotiated vari-|

sies, ‘eliminate. unfair competition in trade and in industry and to secure - fair prices for agricultural ucts. <1 : “In spite’ of these decisions the American people are going forward.

‘are final and ‘we abide by them. Nevertheless, we do not regard the court as above and beyond those factors and causes which naturally influenice the minds of human

beings. . “The decision in the Guffey Coal Act case held that the Federal gov-

‘| ernment has no power to prescribe

maximum hours and minimum wages for workers in coal mines, because, among other things; it constitutes a transgression of the rights and functions of the states. “In the New York Maximum hours and minimum wages case recently handed down, the majority held that the states can not prescribe maximum hours and minimum wages on the theory that to do so violates the right of contract secured to our citizens by the Federal Constitution.- : “Notwithstanding this situation, the Republican party advocates legislation by the states, and binds its candidate not to seek an amendment to the Federal Constitution authorizing the Congress or State Legislatures to regulate mhximum hours and minimum wages. for laborers. - o

ATTACKS LABOR DECISION

“Whatever may be the just basis for differences of opinion respecting other decisions, the bar of the

pudiates the denial by the Supreme Court of the power to regulate maximum hours and minimum wages. By the decision, the right of private contract is not fortified and strengthened. In a practical sense it is weakened and destroyed. “What right of private contract is secured by the majority opinion to the woman who exhausts her physical energies by toiling excessive hours for starvation wages. in unsanitary sweatshops to support herself and her dependent children? What power. has she, unsupported by law, to protect her rights to secure fair and adequate compensation for her labor? How does: this decision strengthen freedom or glorify justice? : Tar “Oh blind" and impartial justice,

thy name! Liberty, art thou both deaf and dumb! Canst thou nét be-

‘hold the pallid faces, the emaciated

forms, the sweating brows, the trembling hands of millions of women and children workers who by: the decision are left at the me

4 decision in: Morehead vs.’ that due process of law clause which

“8

tended to prevent labor controver-

RE (Zig age J

=a

We recognize that the decisions of the Supreme Court until reversed

United States overwhelmingly re-.

what blunders are committed in!

of those -who have neither pity nor! charity for the oppressed and the| dec

been unjustly invoked as: its|

UPHOLDS CRITICS RIGHTS ||

Emphatic declaration that the Roosevelt Administration had complied faithfully with the spirit of the 1932 platform promises was made by Senator Joseph T. Robinson of Arkansas, in his nent chairman at the Democratic national convention last night. The Democratic Senate leader is. shown above in militant pose. :

speech as perma-

Tipaldo would be of doubtful constitutionality. F “The weight of the argument in the opinion of lawyers and laymen, it is believed, sustains the minority, rather than the majority opinion. “Certainly when such judges as Chief Justice Hughes, Justices Stone, Brandeis “and Cardozo -declare a statute consistent with the fundamental law, and criticize the views to the contrary of the judges constituting a majority as unsound and subversive it can not be disloyal or revolutionary for citizens who believe that the consequences inevitably will be to deprive women and children laborers.of valid legal protection to express their opinion on the subject with firmness and emphasis. : “Everyone, including those sagacious politicians who until recently sought partisan advantage by praising our highest judicial tribunal for upsetting various features of the national recovery program, now seeks concurrence in a plan to overcome a decision which, they say, if permitted to stand will prove oppressivee. : .. “The Cleveland platform. denounces the Democratic party for the policies and measures which have been adopted during the

Roosevelt Administration for the

promotion of national recovery.

Many Republican members in both ad

branches of Congress suggesting no substitute voted for the passage of the legislation because they, as did Democratic members of the Congress, recognized the extreme and unusual conditions which made extraordinary action imperative. “This is true of the most important laws held unconstitutional by the Supreme Caurt, including the National Recovery-Act, the Agricultural Adjustment law and the Guffey coal measure. It would be interesting and perhap§ surprising to those who have beén impressed with

‘the denunciation of the measures and policies of the Roosevelt Ad-

ministration by ‘the Republican convention to hear the names of the prominent Republican leaders in the Senate and in the House of

‘Representatives: who supportéd the measures referred to and who now

find themselves denounced by :their own - convention as -intimidators, 's and -advocates- of tyrannical policies. RC

- STRONG NAVY BACKED

“National: defense is’ a subject: of interest to every citizen loyal to. our

flag ‘and to the institutions which: it

symbolizes. - The Republican platform on ‘this ‘subject is indefinite. It favors an Army and Navy, including air corps, adequate for defense. No standard is raised as to. what

Tipaldo should be reversed under] trite

g

Rell Hike

by

:

ATTACKS MONOPOLIES

“There has been no impairment or threat to impair any of them by the . Roosevelt Administration, al. though the misrepresentation has been made that in some mysterious way they have been disregarded and held in contempt. The principal danger to the liberties both of the individual and the masses exists in the power of monopolies and trusts which under the last three Republican administrations thrived and prospered with respect to both production and distribution. Nothing of importance was done during any one of the three administrations referred to, to check the tendency toward monopoly. “On the contrary, unfair business practices for the suppression of competition were indulged by large combinations without the slightest interference or restraint. It is at once amusing and shocking to wit ness ‘this pretended devotion to sacred" causes by the delegates to the convention while they paraded and danced to the thrilling strains and inspiring sentiments of the Republican campaign song, ‘O, Suzane na Don’t You Cry.’ : “Your chairman ‘is prompted by consideration of propriety to bring his Speech to a close. “We do not fear any comparisos which the Sppogilion FB par We meet their challenge in the open, face to face. Democrats during the present Administration have made a record of great things accomplished. We are not discouraged by the obstacles which have been thrown in the way. Our opponents, paralyzed with fear, did not even attempt to overcome the results. of their own mistakes and follies when the collapse of 1929 occurred. Keye noter Steiwer complains that Mr, Roosevelt, after his election, did not ‘advise President Hoover and COoperate with him in the hours of the latter's extremity and failure,

LAUDS ROOSEVELT RECORD

“Keynoter Steiwer denounces our leader as a President without cone science. President Roosevelt may not possess the kind of conscience with which Republicans are familiar in their conduct of public affairs, He has, however, a conscience which

takes note of the distress and helplessness of the feeble and the despairing. A conscience keenly alive to the necessity of maintaining the national honor; of promoting national happiness by repealing laws that have destroyed it, and by advocating measures designed to ade vance it. : “Mr. William Allen White, spone sor of the Republican candidate, Gov. Landon, characterized his favorite in the article already quoted from as ‘the dumb, smiling enigma who has America guessing.’ That is not my characterization. It is the statement of the candidate's Slosesi ig made in an effort to making demands to the committee on platform at Cleveland for the insertion of certain planks and then in yielding those planks, his candidate had sudcapacity ender .. ts sometime denounc President Roosevelt as a rir No President has demonstrated a kindlier nature or more : generous spirit than President Roosevelt. He has ‘maintained amicable relations with every department of the gove ernment. If he has been given exfraordinary authority by law, it is because the Congress trusted him

ADIT. GEN. STRAUB GIVEN COLONEL’S RANK