The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1935-01-02
AND MIRACEE-SEEK-
FRS ARE BARRIERS TO RECOVERY

B Under the above caption ROOert d'a1ildii'
Editor of The Ashevile Citizen, contrlbut-
I'd To the latest number of Southern Agr1-
sulturist an article which is worthy OF the
widest possible reading by the people OF
Fhe South. Desiring to pass it on to read
srs of The Times-News this newspaper IS
ewing its editorial space today to the ar
Eele. without comment 1t is as follows:
- Great have been the gains from the low point
Sf the depression, they have not been as great as
tbey should have been. Why is this true?
= A main reason, undoubtedly, is that radical
Semagogues in different parts of the country have
frightened the people with money to invest
y Another main reason is that Missionaries with
weIl-meant but utterly impracticable schemes for
having the government take care of a large part
our population permanently have distracted the
S6kscf vast numbers of persons and weakened
&&< Eense of obligation to take care of them
a i'll y $ { )hst il has been plain that one of two
csnfs vSola. " fsllowed in this country.
Ether, on the one hand, business would grad
ually do more and more on its own account, thus
creating markets and employment and enabling
individuals to do more and more on their own ae-
count; or else, on the other hand, government
would be forced into increased expenditures and
enlarged activities, with the consequent further
drying up of private enterprise and basic change
in the character of civilization.
l do not believe that Southern farmers want
such basic change. know that it would be bad
for the South and particularly bad for Southern
farmers, large and small.
Yet there are hundreds of thousands of people
in the United States today, perhaps millions who.
have been deluded into believing that without work
on their part it is possible for government to sup
port them in comfort if not in something like lux
ury l believe that the Southern people have too
much sense to be taken in by such nonsense.
Patrick Henry in a passage familiar to every
schoolboy declared that he had but one lamp by
which his feet were guided and that was the lamp
of experience. The experience of the human race
from Adam down has taught us that man must
live in the sweat of his face.
There never has been, there is not now, there
never will be any device by which mankind can
escape this obligation which was laid upon Adam
when he driven from the Garden of Eden.
We had in America, and the thing hap
pened in most other countries, breakdown of our
economic and financial machinery With markets
destroyed and business paralyzed for the time be-
ing, government has had to feed the hungry and
create PUBIC WOrhS IN the EFFORT TO give WORK TO
the unemployed
Governments have done that many, many times
in the past The Pharoahs did it in ancient Egypt
when they built the Pyramids. The BabylOnians
did it thousands of years age when they built their
temples and hanging gardens. The Romans did it
three hundred years before Christ when they built
the famous Appian Way.
But, while our government was forced to as
the obligations of relief, it cannot carry this
burden, mounting steadily and rapidly in size,
for more than time without disaster to all of u.s.
There is limit to the money that can be raised
by taxation. There is limit to the credit of the
national government just there is a limit to the
credit of states and cities and counties
Our hope lies today, as from the first, in getting
back to work in industry, in agriculture N
business.
The pcfticai agitators who keep those with
money to invest IN. such a state of alarm that
they are afraid to put their money out are doing
violent diSservice to the people as whole. 1t
has always been the fresh investment of capital
that has kept the wheels turning
The rainbow-chasers who persuade people into
thinking that there are magic formulas for restor
ing prosperity and for providing large numbers OF
persons with an ample living at government
pense are performing like disseryice They slow
down recovery by diverting the attention of many
from the things that are essential.
Some things government can 90, and is attempt
ing, to make things better for the future. 1t is