The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1938-10-27
Cited Benefits This Section Is
Getting. Spoke To Packed
House In Courthouse.
CAREER STARTED IN ASHE

ed 80 years ago, congressman nop-
ertL. Doughton thanked Ashe coun-
tv citizens for the continued interest
and support, lauded the accomplish
ments of the Democratic party and
new deal administration before q
packed house of enthusiastic voters
in the courtroom in Jefferson last
Monday afternoon.
81 did all that could to prevent
my nomination right here IN TINS
courthouse to the state senate IN
1908, but to my surprise I was noml-
mated, elected land two years later
was sent to Congress where l have
served since that time" said the dis
tinguished ninth district representa-
tive who is seeking reelection for
his 18th. term.
'sThere were only three Democrat
ic counties in my district when l
was first elected and now all OF
them are Democratic" he stated.
'In the last three elections l had
majority in each county in the dis
trict.
sI have served under six preSl-
dents of the United States and for
the past six years have been chair
man of the powerful ways and
means committee in the House.
81 take pride in the fact that my
services have been continually ap-
proved by you who first started me
out and also that they have received
some recognition by Congress, he
said.
The ways and means chairman
ship carries with it a lot of influence
and gives me more recognition from
various departments in securing
project approvals, he declared.
Praises Democratic Party
The Democratic party is the Oldest
party in America and the reason for
that is because it is a service par
tv". he warmed to his subject.
"The last election nearly saw the
death of the Republican party ma
tionally, as the Republicans only
carried two states.
1--WE do not claim that the Demo-
cratic party is perfect, but com
pared with other parties it ranks at
the top. The party that does not
make some mistakes does not exist,
but if you will bear in mind the
terrible condition that this country
was in when the Roosevelt admin
istration came into power, you will
realize that the mistakes have been
few and were mostly due to the mis-
takes of the previous Hoover admin
istration," he continued.
Lauds New Deal Acts
In painting a vivid picture of con-
ditions as they existed six year ago,
CONGRESSMAN Doughton stated that
agriculture, finance, industry, and
transportation systems were co1aps-
ing and heroic leader came to their
rescue.
"There were over 100000 farm
ers who had lost their farms, others
were heavily motgaged and the
value of farm products had dropped
to the bottom. Seven thousand
banks had failed, tying up four bill
lion dollars worth of assets, indus
trv was headed toward bankruptcy,
in fact our entire economic structure
was in a most deplorable condition,
he stated.
The first act of President Roose-
welt was to close all of the banks
and to summons congress into ses-
sion and make them safe. To-day
our banks are sound and safe and
YOU can borrow money from them"
he said.
The federal government came to
the aid of the farmers and today
farm income has increased from five
billion to ten billion year. The
new deals assistance to labor was
also cited and stressed.
s'Roosevelt is the best friend the
farmers and labormen of this coun-
trv have ever had. He has done
more for them than any other presl-
dent" he asserted.
Roosevelt's aid to business and the
railroads, lending money to them
through the RFC was discussed ana
emphasized.
With millions of persons out OF
work, the government was faced
with the necessity of providing
relief and recovery program, he
stated. $50 we created a great sys-
tenn of public works and through
this system we have given honest
employment to over 100000"
He said that when he first went
to Congress in 1910 there was no
federal department of public roads.
Such department was established
in 1913 and it has helped the states
finance a great system of highways.
ssSince that time the United States