The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1935-06-12

silver on basis of sixteen to one IN reia'io' "
o.oId Rut # contained nevertheless, decara'o''
tbo+ ;s strikinglv pertinent in the present "
stanca During all these years" 1t deciareu' '
Democratic marty has resisted the tendency Oh 'e'
6sb interests to the Capitalization or go'elhie
tai power. and steadfastly maintained Ihe !e
ritv of the dual system of government eS'"'
nv the founders of this Republic OF hepuoi'
Under its guidance and teachings the great PtNN
pie of local sef-government has found us oes
preston in the maintenance OF the rIgh's u
States and it's assertion of the necessity Vi 'o,
ing the General Governmet to the exercise VI -"
mowers granted by the Constitution of the Oniteo
States"
In the Democratic platform of 1908 there is a
particularly strong declaration this same SUD-
iect and it has direct application to the present
situation inasmuch as it refers both to the extern
sion of the powers of the government by Judicial
construction and to interstate commerce lha'
platform declared Believing with Jefferson III
the support of the State Governments IN all Vner
rights as the most competent administrations ol
our domestic concern, and the sureSC oui""t"
against anti-republican tendencies anu III ~
preservation of the General government III l'o
whole constitutional vigOr as the sheet ahchor u
ON, naaca ar home and safety abroad, we are OPP
rosed to the Capitalization implied in the suggeS-
tior NOW freouentlv made that the powers OF the
.coreraI Government should be extended by judi
.oio1 CONSTRUCTION. There is no twilight zone be-
+voon the Nation and the State in which exploit
mo interests can take refuge from both; ana IL
is as necessary that the Federal Government shaH
exercise the powers delegated to 1t as II IS thaV
the State Governments shall use the authOrlVy
reserved TO them: but we insist that Federal RENE
dies for the regulation of interstate commerce ana
for the prevention of private monopoly snail oe
added to. not substituted for, State remedies
II is significant that the above declaration, be-
ginning with the words there is no twlhgnt zone,
was repeated word for word in the Democratic
platform of 1912, on which Woodrow wilson was
elected to the Presidency, and that the l9l2 plat
form also made the following declaration: "beheV-
ING that the most efficient results under our sys-
tenn of government to be attained by the 1ull
exercise by the States of their reserved sovereign
powers. we denounce as usurpatlon the eHorVS VI
our opponents to deprive the States of any OF the
rights reserved to them and to enlarge the
powers of the Federal Government"
These party declarations, so often repeated and
anplifed with such cearneSs, it seems to me, are
sufficient to establish the integral character OF the
principle they enunciate They reflect the long
struggle of the party against various moves IN
the direction of Capitalization, and particularly the
successful battle against the doctrine of national
supremacy" during the decades Immediately fol-
lowing the Civil War. They reveal Enthusiastically
that throughout the partys history the principle
they embody has been of the very warp and wool
of Democratic party doctrine and suggest that
for the party to abandon this principle, to say
nothing of adopting attitude of hostility and
opposition toward it, would be equivalent to the
party's death.
It may be, as President Roosevelt's reported ex-
pressions would imply, that the doctrine of Fed
eral Government of limited powers specifically pre-
scribed in written Constitution, and strictly con-
strued belongs to "the horse and buggy age" but
to say much is to say in effect that the funda-
mental principles of the Democratic party, consti-
tuting the soul which has animated it through the
vicissiudes of more than century, belong to the
horse and buggy age" 1t is equivalent to dec
laration that the form of government which the
Democratic party has supported and defended
during all of its not altogether nglorious existence
IS now obsolete, and that the Democratic party as
such has reached the end of its usefulness. 1t is
nothing short of a sentence of death, pronounced
by the titular head of the party himself.
Already political gossip is to the effect that the
party'S platform next year will embody the views
expressed by President Roosevelt in his talk to
the correspondents. United Press dispatch from
Washington on Monday says: politicians believe
the No. l plank of the 1886 Democratic presiden-
tial platform will indorse expansion of the Con-
stitution to assure Federal authority in national
social and economic questions the broad basis
sought by President Roosevelt. That means the
Constitution will be an issue in the 1886 campaign
as it has not in the memory of any person active
in politics" This correspondent it seems to me-
is extremely conservative, for the spectacle of the
Democratic party attacking the Constitution in a
Presidential campaign as an old-fashioned and out
NODDED instrument, fit only for the horse and buggy
age, would be something which no person, whether
active IN politics not, has ever witnessed at any
time in all our national history at is possible"
continues the United Press correspondent, "that
this issue will lead the Democratic and Republican
parties to the great breakup. Reaignment of po-
tical parties has been discussed on the stump and
IN Washington salons since the New Deal arrived
But no issue of the magnitude necessary to rock
parties to their foundations had developed until
last week when the Supreme Court outlawed the