The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1933-08-05

open to white settlement before
to live and to prosper than for
their descendants to adapt them
selves successfully to conditions
produced by the rapidity and the
recklessness of their predeces-
sors. Our grandfathers might
replenish the larder with rifle or
fish-hook; our grandchildren
must find a job or risk starva-
ton.
This is not the place to enter
into a discussion Of the. vast
ramifications of the great issues
presented to the American peo-
pie in this the current proposals
of our political leaders; of So
cialism, communism, individual
ism, democracy, personal liberty,
controlled industry, regulated
currency, and all the rest of the
weller of theories and attempts
at a solution of conditions now
grown acute and likely, if not
wisely solved, to become catas-
trophic. Our aim here is to seek
solution of our own problems
i'll the French Broad valley, in
the light of probable action by
the federal government which
may vitality affect our material
interests, and also of its possible
action as well as of such possible
cooperative voluntary action and
of what the state might or ought
to do.
It is to be noted that we have
already been very substantially
affected by governmental action
in several important ways-in
heavy burden of taxation; in the
highways with their revolutionary
Influence; in the devotion of so
much of our area to the National
Forest; and in the Specialization of
our education, and the tendency
to specialization Of other functions
such as public health, medical
attention, control over game and
fish, regulation of diaries, and
canneries, and the recent enor-
nous development Of the public
welfare activities of both national
and state governments. 1t is no
longer a theory as to whether
government should regulate bust
ness; it is a question as to how
far it should go, and how the
Regulation should be effected.
Our primary question is--What
do we need which can be done
only by mass action, by concert
of labor, by community of effort?
We are realizing at last that we
must act together.
Mountaineers are additionally
individualistic. The mountains of
! the world were probably originally
settled by men seeking to escape
from mass-cOntrol in one form OF
another. Certainly our own noun
tains were first opened up by such
men, Hereditary influence then
added it's force to the environ
mental conditions promotive of in
dividualism in making the subse,
quent population highly jealous
of its personal preogatives. The
way the estate of Franklin" tried
to become Independent of NORTH
Carolina in early colonial days is
an illustration. John Sewer anc
his men might unite with Other
forces to march on Kings Noun
tain under pressure of the threat
of British invasion, but as soon a:
That peril was over, they were
ready to secede from the state
rather than be governed by their
cousins of the east. The difficulty
in getting cooperative action in
the mountain counties has often
been noted. Each community OF
family group tends to pull fol
what is conceived to be its own
interest with little regard for
benefits accruing to all from wide
spread cooperation. The fact may
explain in part the relative slow
ness in the Valley in developing
many public and semi-public en-
terprises and functions.
There has been a change of late
years for the better, but the i'm
petus was supplied largely from
the outside. ...
But it is noteworthy that when
mountaineers do decide to coop
crate, they often do so with pc
culiar tenacity. The history of
Switzerland and of Scotland IL
Illustrates this. If we can find OBJ
jectS worthy of united action, our
people may act concertedly to
promote them as energetically as
they have for so long maintained
their individual rights and prerog-
atives.
Hiph Price for Land