The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1934-08-24
pADIcAIJsM IS NOT DEMOCRATIC OR
REPUBLICAN PARTY POLICY
SAYS John E. Edgerton, President OF the
Southern States Industrial Council:

Southern States Industrial Council:
From jefferson to Roosevelt and from. hanili-
ton to Hoover, no National Democratic or Repuo-
Tean platform has ever been so contemptuops Oh
American traditions and institutions as to declare
outright in favor of the governments gong INTO
competition with its own citizens IN any business
which they can better conduct themselves onE
Socialists and wilder elements have had such stu
pd courage Doctrines of naturalization, regimen
tation eolleetivism, and destruction OF mdlVidu&I
liberty are not native to the American soil, ana
they have no history to commend them to natural
ization or adoption. Like the coral polyp, suen
doctrines can thrive only in the turbulent waters
of economic discomfort. Let no one be misled
therefore into the belief that Party regularity re-
oures hostility to established institutions nor that
economic distress can excuse the abandonment Of
principles whose sound virtues has been proven"
Because American citizens have voiced
opposition to the federal govtrnments' en-
trance into business in direct competition
with citizens of this country, the said cltl-
zens have been branded as Tories and re-
dictionaries by the holier-than-thou radicals
of the nation. President Edgerton's state
no platform of either of the great national
parties of the country has ever declared
for this course. At no time have the
American people voted for this thing, as
a clear-cut and understandable issue in
politics. Therefore, the endorsement of
the federal government in business is not
a party issue and opposition to it is not
a matter Of party regularity.
Those who are obSessed with the notion
that party regularity is one of the chief
virtues, are in this case released from the
thraldom of that fetish. They are not COM
PEELED by party regularity to turn their
backs upon the American system Of gov
eminent and social order and throw the
records and achievements of more than
$50 years in this country into the discard
at the behest of foreign and domestic radi-
Gals. They can oppose the turning of this
country into Socialist or Communist State
without deserving either the Democratic OF
Republican party or striking blow at
either party.
The Democratic and Republican parties
have never endorsed government owner
ship and operation of business in eompeti-
ton with the private enterprises of citizens
of the country. The introduction of the
Socialistic program in this country has
been done without party endorsement,
without the approval of the American PEG.
pie at the polls, and without the under
standing consent of a majority of the
people.
1t is the duty of the leaders of both par
ties to call the American people back to
allegiance to American ideals and tprinci-
pies; to call them to take their stand by
the old landmarks of American freedom
and representative government. The fall
ure of either of the great political parties
to take this course in the immediate future
will stamp the party that so fails as the
party of radicalism and the friend of alien
doctrines and economic and social schemes.