The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1938-05-16
NEWSPAPERS OPINIONS
A PICTURE OF Mr.. ROOSEVELT


The New York Sun devotes four columns of its
editorial page to "A Picture of Mr.. kooseVelI'
Mostly in His Own Words" Its first quotation Is
from Mr. Roosevelt's acceptance speech Of July z
1882: .'.>.'
''For three long years have been going up ana
down this country preaching that government
costs too much. ] shall not stop that preaching.
propose to you, my friends =. that government
. be made solvent and that the example be set
by the president of the United States and ms
cabinet"
At Sioux City, Iowa, Mr.. Roosevelt said
"And propose to use this position Of high res
sponsibility to discuss up and down the country
at all seasons and at all times, the duty Of reduc-
ing taxes of increasing the efficiency OF govern
ment, of cutting out the underbrush around our
government structure, of getting the most puphc
service for every dollar paid in taxation. That l
pledge you and nothing l have said in the cam
pagn transcends in Importance this, covenant with
the taxpayers of the United States. ... ).
~ accuse the present (Hoover) administration
of being the greatest spending administration IN
peace times in all history 1t has piled bureau
on bureau, commission on commission, and mas
failed to anticipate the dire needs and the reduced
earning power of the people. Bureaus and bureau
Gratis, commissions and commissioners have been
retained at the expense of the taxpayer" ..
Discussing the settlement of a threatened auto
mobile strike the president said on March 20, 1884
"The government makes it clear that it favors
no particular union or particular form Of employee
organization representation. The governments
only duty is to secure absolute and uninfuenced
freedom of choice without coercion, restraint, or
intimidation from any source" ..... ...
The president moves from position to an
other with all the ease of the daring young man
on the flying trapeze. He assures one thing only
to assure the opposite. His position on pubic
spendngs is antipodal to that he voiced when he
was campaigning in 1882 His position on the
rights of the states has been reserved He has not
hesitated to use all the pressure at his command
in order to coeree the two chambers OF the con-
gress.
picture of Mr.. Roosevelt "mostly in his own
words is a strangely inconsistent, strangely
conflicting portrait. 1t is of his own making. he
has enjoyed wider powers in peace time than any
president before him. What the federal govern
ment has done the last five years Mr. Roosevelt
has done, for congress has been doing his bidding
To Mr.. Roosevelt congress delegated powers 1t
should have held for itself -.
Notwithstanding assurances that public spend
ngs should be closely scrutnized, the president is
responsible for the suppression of public records
by Harry L. Hopkins and others of his personal
choosing There is no question that the president
is the champion of champions in spending other
peoples money. 1t was at Pittsburgh on October
10, 1882, that Mr.. Roosevelt said
Taxes are paid in the sweat of every man who
abOrs . If those taxes are excessive, they are
reflected in idle factories, in taX-sold farms and
IN hordes of hungry people, tramping the streets
and seeking jobs in vain Our workers may never
see tax bill, but they pay They pay in deduc-
tons from wages, in increased cost Of what they
buy or in broad unemployment throughout the
land =. Our people and our business cannot carry
its excessive burdens of taxation. "-Charleston
News and Courier. 90. ..- o.. !