Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1924-06-13

Jui6 lfln.
am indeed grateful to the Com
mittee for its generous partially showr
me. and in giving me alike the OPP
portunity and privilege of addressing
brief word TO the men and women
assembled here representing the oldest
political Party on the face of the globe.
Certainly a party SO enduring has a
message and mission in these critical
times
Never have American institutions
been called upon to meet a more Sc
we're test than they face today. say
that with the utmost faith in those in
stitutions and in the wisdom of the
great patriots of a century and a half
ago, who set them up to endure
throughout the ages. say it with
supreme confidence, that finally
American ideals of government will
emerge from the confusion of today,
and stand vindicated in the eyes of
entire world.
But only false patriotism can blind
US to the problems of the present. We
are in an era of kaleidoscope change
in social, political and industrial con-
ditions; an era that has seen monarchs
shaken from their thrones and empires
crumble over night; an era that has
seen the conquest of the air and the
oceans depths and the achievement of
miraculous industrial triumphs; and
which has witnessed also the slaughter
of thousands of our fellowmen, and the
starvation of countless children; an era
that has produced fabulous wealth and
dire poverty; an era which, more de-
plorable still has lightly tossed aside
many of those social bulwarks which
In the past have safeguarded that
greatest of American institutions-the
home and the family.
Such an era is impatient with tradi-
tons, and forgets Ideals That's why
perhaps in our own country we have
seen the shameless exploitation of a
whole people by groups of men, wealthy
and supposedly upright, seeking greater
riches; the debauchery of public SER
wants of high and low degree, and the
sacrifice of political principles and per
sonal convictions by SO called states
men, anxious to retain or acquire
power 1t is not necessary to dwell or
these occurrences. orto enter into theil
sordid details. Contamination is deer
enough when we are reminded tina
they are as much topic for discussion
in foreign lands as at home. And boil
there and here, they have been dis
torted into an indictment of American
institution themselves. In Europe, thu
advocates of monarchy point to then
as demonstrating the futility of popu
lar government, while, on the othe
hand, our own domestic and importe'
radicals seem to think that these oc
currences afford 10 them the opportun
lily of injecting the poisonous doctrine
of Carl Marx and Leon Trotsky int
that sacred political philosophy handle
down to US by our forefathers.
| Those guilty of exploiting the Amer
can people and corrupting public Of
lficials have done more to breed spiri
OF radica!ism throughout the land tina
| all the flannelmouth Red propagandist
Ieombined.
| That there has been a decided growt
| OF this spirit during the past tire
years Of Republican rule at Washing
Iton cannot be denied The best ev
idence Of 1t Is found in the status Of th
Republican Party itself. Although i
control il nominally in the hands {
the reactionary elements, fully twent,
five per cent Of the Republican men
bers Of Congress are committed NJ
only to general policy Of patterns
| socialism, but to definite program {
class and sectional legislation Tn
important element within that Part
| is closely affiliated and associated wit
lcertain radical groups without; an
There IS ! growing disposition to con
b;nc these fwo kindred elements undt
single leadership. Even as It Is nov
~~-tn;n cnrfsoue az the cOl1nfr1