The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1938-09-27
NEWSPAPERS OPINIONS
EASY MONEY

An interview in Country Gentleman of July,
1881, with the man now president of the United
States, opened with this statement by him:
81 believe we are due for another era of ideal
ism in this country. Since the have passed
through a period of materialism, in which it
was virtually impossible to consider anything of
public interest from an idealistic viewpoint. That
state of mind has left us with number of serious
problems for which it provided no answer.
"A reawakened idealism is the natural
tive. believe getting in the right attitude
for it to become again an active force in our ma
tonal life. If it does can hope to make some
progress with the various questions that arc now
disturbing u.s."
This publication agreed with that view and was
happy that it could do SO. 1t believed that the
mood of the American people had revolted against
the financial eXcesses the racketeering the frenzy
of speculation and the general loosening of moral
restraints that marked the period eliminating in
the depression of 1929-33. They were ready and
willing, it felt, to act with higher personal and
civic consciousness. There almost cruSadlng
spirit in the air This changed feeling noted
in an editorial, two months after Mr. Roosevelts
first Inauguration, which repeated the statement
by him quoted above and said:
THE circumstances are now favorable for such
a force to assert itself. The president, in his
inaugural address. assumed definite leadership IN
that direction. 1t is such influences. acting to
gether which give tone to time"
Nothing of that high expectation remains but
the recollection. The rising mood of ideallsm, with
all the gains il might have bought. fckered out
No one has to travel outside his community
to know what has happened to it One long tale to
IL
try-a tale of easy money, of what is being done
with it and what it is doing to people
Local bosses. more often in debt than out of 1t
few years back have built homes have &C
qured land or other property, sometimes equipped
with lakes and private rOadways. Contractors IN
with the right crowd" have grown rich, Charges
are flung about that the WPA and reliefers are
being forced like feuda vassals to line up for Ger
tain candidates. Charges flung back that other
candidates are using the old-age pensioners Can
didates openly saying IF you want to keep on
getting what you're getting now and get some
more. too, then vote for me-" Repeated stories of
shakedowns of those on public payrolls to finance
campaigns; of public funds being distributed when
and where they will do the most political good.
The Senate Committee on Campaign Expendt
lures refers to gutter politics in state;
eral and state patronage to the limit. The condi-
ton is so widespread that committee member
saws that apparently to get real picture of the
condition the committee ought to have an lnveSti-
gator in almost every voting precinct" The noto-
rious political machines, such as those IN Kansas
City. Memphis and Chicago, become more strongly
entrenched and new machines grow up in other
places Political machines thrive on the dispensing
of easy money"
Pressure groups vie with one another in congress
and the state legislatures for their share of the
golden flood Congressman, in the privacy of their
Offices say that the grab and gimme attitude
was never so rampant The idea of an lneXhaustl-
BILE public trough has become epidemic.
Cause and effect always add up. No such out
mourning of public money was seen on the face
of the earth before. Politics and the frailties of
human nature being what they the results were
inevitable They would have been the same with
any political group in power. easy money" al
ways has the same debauching effect. Merely han
died in a different way, it was what caused the
Capones and the financial racketeers of the sorry
eos,
Without doubt some benefciaries, other than
the politicians and their heuchmen, have been
helped by this vast outpour But in the sum total
moral standards in the undermining of individual
character, in the sordld public atmosphere that
these conditions create, in growing loss of faith
What this publication said when things wore an
other aspect be repeated now 1T Is such IN
fuences, acting together which give tone to
time"
They bear their natural fruit, Such a situation.
exactly like that Mr. Roosevelt described in 1881,
makes it VIRTUALLY impossible to consider anything
of pubIic interest from an ideallStic standpoint,
The same as that other state of mind, which ne
mentioned the prevalent now has left us with
number of serious problems for which it provld-
ed no answer"
The natural corrective remains what he SAID 1T
was then-a reawakened idealism. If it can be
restored as an active force in our national life I'VE
can hone to make some progress with the various
questions that are now disturbing uS.'-Country
Gentleman.
TO CITIES ADVANTAGE