Evening star., 1936-10-26

ant vote.
met with group of representative
men of the State, virtually all OF them
planning to cast their ballot next
week for the reelection of Mr.. Roose-
welt. I sought to learn what the vote
in North Carolina would mean.
Would it be a mandate to Mr.. Roose-
welt in the event of his reelection,
to continue the New Deal along the
same lines as of the last three and
a half years? Did it mean that the
voters of North Carolina were giving
Mr.. Roosevelt a blank check for him
to fill out after election? Did 1t
imply in any way dissent from some
of the New Deal policies Of the last
three years and if so, how strong was
the protest?
Prosperity Returns to State.
I was assured that the dominant
note in North Carolina sentiment Is
one of gratitude to the President.
Cotton mills are humming. Tobacco
growers are happy. Farm income is
Uay up. Prices are good. Homes
and farms have been saved from
foreclosure and altogether there is
a sublime faith in the humanlta-
rianism, liberalism and capacity OF
Mr.. Roosevelt to continue to assure
the prosperity that seems, here at
least, to be attributed to the hand
of the Government in general and
Mr.. Roosevelt in particular.
I confessed to the group I met
certain puzzlement. In North Caro-
lima all seemed on the surface at
least to me serene. There was no
quiver of apprehension about the
Constitution or a possible change in
the form of Government. There was
no alarm about insurance policies
being eaten up with high prices in
an inflationary era, indeed no real
concern about imitation beyond the
relatively small group that interests
itself in the statistics Of fiscal affairs.
Yet in North Carolina they are
debt conscious. They feel better
here about their own State finances.
having achieved not merely bal
anced budget, but a surplus of s5,OOO,-
900 in the treasury. A Slo,ooo,ooo
income from sales taxes has been
godsend in helping the State take
over large part Of county expenses.
There has been, moreover, a reouc-
ton in property taxes. North Car
olinians have felt the sensation, in
cidentally, of having their State bonds
go down as low as 10 in 1882 and rise
in 1888 above par when the budget
was balanced. So they ought to know
something about the Importance OF
having income and outgo balance IN
the Federal Treasury, too.
wait and See Prolonged.
realize that fiscal matters are
hard for the average man to follow,
except when they hurt credit or send
prices skyrocketing, but since neither
of these things has happened as yet,
there is happy-go-lucky disposition
to cross those bridges when they ap-
pear on the scene.
So I inquired whether the South,
and particularly State like North
Carolina, which is certainly far from
backward and more in the category
of the up-and-doing States, would
swallow the New Deal 100 per cent
after election, as it seemed to be doing
by its attitude before election.
I encountered sharp differences OF
opinion on this point. I was told,
for instance, that the protest against
the New Deal would this year be re-
fected by a sizable Republican vote
and by a diminished Roosevelt ma
tority. was given to understand
also that the South would scrutinize
with care any proposals to revive the
N. r. A. and put into the hands OF
the Federal Government again the
power to regulate wages and hours.
But there were some who insisted
that the South would not be found
ultra-conservative or stubborn about
meeting any changes in law, or Con-
stitution that might have to be made
to secure national objectiveS. But
even on a matter as abstract as this
I could not find any concrete appre-
hension about the extremes to which
New Deal policies might go.
Party Regularity a Code.
Indeed, so far as North Carolina is
concerned, unless one digs beneath
the surface and gets folks off to one
side to penetrate their thinking, one
is likely to acquire the impression
that DR.. Tugwell, Henry Wallace and
Harold Ickes on the subject Of Dem
ocratic faith are the true descendants
OF the eminent men in North Caro-