Evening star., 1936-06-12

meut demands that there must be a
line of defense held by the yeomanry
of business and industry and agri-
culture, not the generaliSsimoS, but
the small men. the average men in
business and industry and agriculture,
those who have an ownership in their
business and a responsibility which
gives them stability. Any elemental
policy. economic or political, which
tends to eliminate these dependable
defenders of democratic institutions
and TO concentrate control in the
hands OF few small, powerful groups
is directly opposed to the stability of
government and to democratic govern
ment itself.
If the tendency In the dozen years
following the World War had been
permitted TO continue, the inevitable
consequence would have been the de-
struction of the base OF our form Of
government. For its splendid struc-
ture there would have been substituted
as a natural result an sutocratic form
of government.
Evils Jump Borders.
I have spoken of the prophets Of
evil who plagued your great reforms
in Texas. They were blood brothers
Of some who seek TO operate on a ma
tional scale After you in Texas had
in opportunity you found as we in
other States found that the evils we
had sought to eradicate had merely
jumped over the boundary into some
other State.
The old abuses OF the railroads were
finally curbed only after teeth were
put into the interstate commerce law
and a Nation wide regulation was
made effective. Banking reforms were
tried in many States. but here again
reform became effective only when
the Federal Government was enabled
TO operate throughout the Union. first,
by the Federal reserve act. and finally,
by means of the splendid legislation
of the past three years
Individual States attempted courage
ouSly to regulate the sale of Secur-
tiles or the control of exchanges.
but you and I know that from the
point OF view OF the Nation as 4
whole, the effective curbing of abuses
was made possible only when the Con-
gress of the United States took a
hand by passing the securities act and
the stock exchange act.
So 1t goes with the constructive
reforms of many other abuses which
In the past, have limited or prevented
democray in opportunity. The more
progressive of the States may do their
share, but unless the action of the
States is substantially uniform and
simultaneous the effectiveness of re-
form is nullif1ed. crippled by the
chisellers. who, like many other evil
doerS, are still with us.
Hits Ownership" Of Labor.
The net result of monopoly. the
net result of economic and financial
control in the hands of the few has
meant the ownership of labor as a
commodity. II labor q to be a COM
modify in the United States In the
nnal analysis it means that we shall
become a Nation of boarding houses
instead Of a Nation of homes. If our
people ever submit to that they will
have said "good-by" TO their historic
freedom. Men do not tight for board
ing houses. They will fight for their
homes.
have spoken of the interest which
all the country should take in this
great exposition. 1 mean this as a
symbol for the concern which every
locality should have in every other
locality in every other State. The
prosperity which has come to Texas
through the products of its farms and
ranches, the products Of its mines.
the products of its oil fields and the
products Of its factories has been
made possible chiefly because other
parts Of the Nation were In possession
OF the buying power. the consuming
power, to use what you have produced
On the other side of the picture
thousands OF factories and thousands
OF farms in the North and in the East
have been enabled more greatly to
sell their wares because of the pros
perity Of you, the people of Texas. I
have spoken not once, but a dozen
times Of the necessity of interde-
pendence OF each State on every other
State. 1t Is a lesson which cannot