Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1920-07-28

country which are aimed to destroy
our economic system and to commit
us to the colossal tragedy which has
destroyed all freedom and made Rus
STA impotent. This movement is not
to be halted in thrOttled liberties. We
must not abridge the freedom of
speech, the freedom of press, or the
freedom of assembly, because there Is
no promise in repression. These lib
critics are as sacred as the freedom of
religious belief, as inviOlable as the
rights of life and the pursuit of hap
piness. We do hold the right to crush
sedition, to stif1e menacing contempt
for law, to stamp out a peril TO the
safety of the republic or its people
when emergency calls, because secur-
ity and the majesty of the law are
the first essentials of liberty. He who
threatens destruction of the govern
ment by force or flaunts his contempt
for lawful authority, ceases TO be a
loyal citizen and forfeits his rights
tn the freedom of the republic.
No party is Indifferent to the well
fare of the wage Garner. To us his
good fortune is of deepest concern,
and we seek to make that good for
tune permanent. We do not oppose
but approve collective bargaining be-
cause that is an outstanding right,
but we are unalterably insistent that
Its exercise must not destroy the
equally sacred right Of the individual.
In his necessary pursuit of livelihood.
Any American has the right to quit
his employment, so has every Amer
lean the right to seek employment.
The group must not endanger the in
dividual, and we must discourage
groups preying upon one another and
none shall be allowed to forget that
the governments obligations are alike
to all the people.
We are so confident that much OF
the present-day insufficiency and IN
efficiency Of transportation are due to
the whitening hand of government op-
GRAFTON that we emphasize anew our
opposition to government ownership,
we want to expedite the reparation
and make sure the mistake Is not re-
peated.
A state of inadequate transporta-
ton facilities, mainly chargeable to
the failure of governmental expert
ment, is losing millions to agriculture,
1t is hindering industry, 1t is menacing
the American people with fuel
shortage little less than a peril. Ii
emphasizes the present-day problem
and suggests that spirit of encourage
ment and assistance which commits
all America to relieve such an emer-
gency.
Gross expansion of currency and
credit have deprecated the dollar just
as expansion and imitation have dis
credited the coins of the world. We
inflated in haste, we must debate in
elaboration. We debased the dollar
in reckless finance, we must restore In
honesty.
In all sincerity we promise the pre-
vention of unreasonable profits. we
challenge profiteering with all the
moral force and the legal powers OF
government and people; but it is fair.
aye. 1t is timely, to give reminder that
law is not the sole corrective Of our
economic ills.
Let us call to all the people for
thrift and economy. for denial and
sacrifice if need be. for a nationwide
drive against extravaganza and lux
ury, to recommittal to simplicity OF
living, to that prudent and normal
plan Of life which is the health of the
republic.
New conditions which attend amaz-
ing growth and extraordinary indus
trial development, call for a new and
forward looking program. The Amer
lean farmer had a hundred and twen-
ty millions to feed in the home mar
ket, and heard the cry of the world
for food and answered it, though he
faced an appalling task amid handicaps
never encountered before.
Contemplating the denfenselessness
VI tic lllulN hiIi W ihtNt 'hN
organized buyers of his products and
the distributors of the things the farm
er buys, l hold that farmers should
not only be permitted but encouraged
to join in cooperative association TO
reap the measure of reward merited
by their arduous toll.
Our platform is an earnest pledge
of renewed concern for this most es-
sential and elemental industry, and In
both appreciation and interest we
pledge effective expression In law and
practice. We will hail that co-opera-
ton which again will make profitable
and desirable the ownership and OPP
Grafton of comparatively small farms
intensively cultivated and which will
facilitate the caring for the products
of farm and orchard without the la
inevitable waste under present condi-
lions.
America would look with anxiety
on the encouragement of farming ac-
tivity either through the governments
neglect or its paralysis by socialistic
practices. A Republican administra-
ton will be committed to renewed re.
pard for agriculture and seek the mar