The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-08-17
PROGRESSIVE ALMOST MEANINGLESS

!, the price of bread comes down one-fourth the Igovernnent will start bakery? Why not, in vie wof the mad craze for bobbed hair, de
 mand of barbers that they cut the price of
 hair cuts, under penalty of being put fout of business by government beauty parlor, es-
 tablished, for the benefit of American women? ? Oh, it may be progress to threaten govern
 ment ownership and government control as an attempt to reduce prices, but it is not new. It is as old as the hills. And it has always failed and ever will fail.
 It has not been many years since political speakers in addressing the gum boot dis tricts" of Indiana invariably referred to the opposition as the ssilk stocking crowd" But
 the assaults on silk stockings and their wear CTS accomplished nothing. If the politicians had assaulted the gum boot brigade, time would have vindicated them for with good roads and improved drainage gum boots have
 almost disappeared while silk stockings are to be found on all feet except those of few persons rich enough to laugh in the face of
 style and dare to wear the cotton stocking
 our grandmothers wore So long as ambition to get along in the world exists and desire to get more of the things that the world calls luxuries continues, just that long will it be idle and foolish to assault luxuries and those who crave them.
 If we are really going to. be progressive, I would suggest that we change our method of attack. Let's. quit jumping on men and on wealth. Let's begin our reform not with government ownership nor with government price-fixing, but .hy government abolition of the things that are not essential to the life of the republic. Let's abolish the sleeping car. Men may believe that they must get some place in hurry and travel in comfort, but business was successfully conducted be- fore Pullman cars were heard of. Let's abol- ish all sorts of automobiles, particularly the expensive sorts A standardized inexpensive car will get any one anywhere. Let's abolish the telephone. We have the United States mails, which may be slower, but just as sure. Let's go through the entire list If luxuries and abolish everything that is not a necessity or a decency. Let's build no more good roads, abandon our parks, convert our art galleries into something useful and close our places of amusement.
 We could get down to paying basis easy enough if that was the idea. But that is not our desire. We know that would not be wise thing for us to do. We cannot look the past in the face and say, notwithstanding the grievous inequalities of American life, that the present average of living is not higher and not constantly being raised It is going up all the time because of free play of opportunity which every citizen enjoys to make and to do without interference by his government. We are comparatively free of the threat that if we do not do the governments way it will put us out of business.
 The real progressive" from my viewpoint is the man who would move forward to the point of the least government consistent with the common good, who insists that the honest
 man shall be allowed to make all the money he can and that dishonest men be confined in our penitentiaries. We have had rather successful and satisfactory career as peo- pie. Things are not all right, of course, never have been and probably never will be. But more and more we are advancing and approaching clearer sense of our responsi- bilities, one to another. Let us not re-experi- ment upon experiments that hitherto have proven failures lest like the base Indian we throw away 2 pearl, richer than ail his tribe"