Albuquerque morning journal., 1922-06-16

The following speech was deilV~
cred by o. L. Phillips of Ration,
chairman of the republican state
central committee, at a dinner
given at the y. NJ. c. A. at Albu-
querque Thursday night:
Mr.. Toastmaster:
Fellow Citizens and Fellow Re-
publicans:
We are met here tonight to open
the republican campaign of 1922.
Your executive committee has
conferred upon me the honor of
being your state chairman from
now until the state convention. /
accept this high honor with full
appreciation of the important du-
ties and the high responsibilities
which it entails.
1t is fitting and proper that on
an occasion of this kind your in
coming chairman should say some
thing of his plans and outline his
program,
For year and a few months
the republican party in the nation
and the present republican state
administration have been in charge
of the affairs of the government in
the nation and in our state.
Democratic BlundCring.
In 1920 the republican party was
swept into power by the greatest
popular majority ever given by
our American electorate. To a re-
publican president and congress
was delegated the task Of solving
the greatest problems that ever
confronted sovereign nation.
These problems were both foreign
and domestic. They were the re-
suit of the greatest war in history
and eight years Of democratic
blundering. waste and eXtrava-
gance. Thirty million of the
worlds best manhood and woman
hood were either dead or hope
lessly crippled and rendered nom
productive. The nations were
staggering under a war debt of
four hundred thousand million.
For example, the debt OF France
equalled co per cent Of her total
wealth and she was still continu-
ing to live beyond her means.
Foreign currency was demoral-
ized--the rate of exchange was at
low ebb, and foreign trade was i'm
possible.
We were still technically at war
with Germany.
From the Pacific there came
rumblings foreboding trouble. In
the offing were grave latent dan
gers of future war.
AT home we found a public debt |
of twenty five billions and our un-
finished debt of three billions. |
Our appropriations for tho year
ending June 80, 1919, had been |
S2I665,000,OO0.
War Time Tax Measure,
\ war time tax measure was |
rapidly drying up the sources of |
revenue. A deranged credit had |
caused liberty bonds and munic-
pals to drop to IS. The agriculture
al industry, the basic industry
which includes almost one-half |
Of our population, because of an
all too rapid liquidation was
threatened with bankruptcy. I'm
desirable Immigrants seeking to
avoid the burdens Of war torn
Europe, We're flocking to our |
country-further increasing our
unemployment and making more
difficult the problem of our own
working man-and against this
flood of immigration there was no /,
law affording adequate protection.
The business of the country was
still in an inflated condition. The
cost level was too high. Freight
rates were decidedly too high and y
American business was struggling
against necessary decrease in pro-
1uction and transportation costs.
The war machine whose legitimate
functions had ended was still (
amuck and sapping the !
financial resources of our gov I
ernment. |;
The same domestic problems
that confronted our national gov
ernment in a considerable meas
ure confronted our state govern
ment. The cost Of government
had to be reduced, the efficiency
of government had to be i'm
proved. TO get a great deal more
but spend a great deal less was !
the problem that confronted us.
Accept the Challenge. 4
My fellow republicans, the dem
ocrats charged that we have done \
nothing. We accept the challenge.
We will stand on the record we !.