Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1933-10-05
LIBERTY MUST
BE GUARDED
Continued from Page ~

| OppOScu 10 all Inc IlCuIy vi
whether they have favored company
unions like Mr.. Rockefeller or what
ever their attitude. That this could
come to pass in so short time, when
there was nothing in the speeches OF
Candidate Roosevelt or in the Demo-
cratic platform to indicate that any
thing of this kind was remotely in
the offing, is one of the most amaz-
ing facts in our entire national his
tory.
Tribute to the President.
The liberal must also pay per-
sonal tribute to Franklin Roosevelt.
l am deeply impressed, not only with
the courage, to which 1 have already
paid tribute, but to the confident and
buoyant way in which he has grappled
with problems in every single one
of our economic fields. Perhaps his
buoyancy, almost gaity, is due to a
certain superficiality and incurable
youthfulness-there has always been
something boyish about him. What
ever the reason, his confident, almost
carefree, bearing has undoubtedly
helped to change the morale OF the
American people and to dispel great
deal of their pessimism. He has been
frank, simple, and straightforward,
and without pretensions to superior
wisdom. He has admitted that he
does not know the answer to MIRA
and that he will retrace his steps If
he finds that he is mistaken.
| Ac xr,h0 hos
developments in Washington with
alarm because of the continuous eff
fort on the part of the professional
patriots, the great capitalists, and the
beneficiaries of special privileges to
surround the presidency more and
more with the trappings of royalty,
1 am profoundly grateful that this
man, who has been given dictatorial
power never before conferred upon
any American except in war times.
has not sought to aggrandiZe himself
or to enhance the presidency. You
will have noticed that there is no
marine guard at Hyde Park, as Mr..
Hoover had the marines guard his
precious skin, at his summer camp
on the Rapidan-and incidentally to
make roads for him at government
} expense. like Mr.. Roosevelt's going
off on a very small schooner yacht
with his sons; like his family going
. about its own business of making
, speeches and writing for the maya
! zines. To some this seems undigni-
, fed. Not to me.
l thank heaven that Mr.. Roosevelt
| hasn't assumed a single mannerism
) of a dictator, and has made it clear
that he realizes he is but one of us
and temporarily exalted to the presi-
: dency, who will. within seven and
: one-half years at longest, return to
f private life. But l would preface all
of his statements with the words
"AS YET" for no man can tell, when
we are living in such kaleidoscope
I world, whether we shall be able tc
say these things six months or q
year hence. Mr.. Roosevelt has beer
known to change and twist before
!, this.
, Criticises Lack of Program.
\ When a liberal looks at Washing
: ton, he sees many other things. He
;. sees a president, however, praise
:. worthy, without principle or program
without a definite chart by which tt
sail the ship of state; he has no clear
cut philosophy whether of economics
or of politics; he is therefore in &
q fluid position and can go either tt
! the right or to the left as he may
;nly nf
4, may make it easier for him to try the
. hit-and-miss method, the trial-and
error system of curing all political
ills, but no more than in his cam
: paign for the presidency do 1 fine
that he has permanent signposts SCI
up to tell people just where he i:
to be found.
> In foreign affairs particularly,
think he has Numbered direfully. He
like his predecessors, has degraded
: our diplomatic service by awardin,
Il the largest plumes to those who made
r large campaign contributions and de
, sired to represent us abroad. He ha
n done nothing to settle the inter-alliet
# debt question:; his vacillation AM
k confusion of thought have only mad'
It the matter worse. Despite his ap
d peal to the nations of the world t.
" disarm, he has only confused the dis
IS armament situation and he has no
70 backed up Ambassador Davis in tn
latter's announcement, heralded witt
% acclaim through all Europe, that w
# shall consult with foreign powers t
ID determine the aggressor if a new wa
= should come to pass.
70 His treatment of the Economic Con
~ ference was scandalous in the eX
treme Before the Conference, owe
8 his own signature, he declared tina
\ it must deal with currency stabilize
:, ton. When it met he denounced
:, for undertaking to do that very thin
- and declared that thereby 1t wa
;. dragging a red herring across tn
~ trail of economic recovery. The ez
- cuse is that the American situatio
:. had meanwhile changed. That doe
~ not excuse his not having the courag
g to say so openly or the character G
L. the language he used in abusing tn
Conference. The wreck of that Cor