Evening star., 1944-11-13

tlAl CduQ1QALS. Ffshk A' Aens'
And the President himself fire.
quently used the word "falsifica-
tons" ...
The fact is that the biggest falsi-
hcation of the whole campaign ema-
mated from his own side and it had
its origin back in the early days of
his first campaign.
It consisted Of the charge that the
depression of l930-32 was caused
by the Republican party; that the
Republicans did nothing about it;
that the people were allowed to
starve and were forced to sell ap-
Piles; that the country was in ruins
and that Mr.. Roosevelt rescued it
from complete wreck
So successful was the smear cam
paign between 1880 and 1882 that
these allegations became deeply i'm
pressed upon vast number of un-
thinking and uninformed people
They were promulgated in a thou
sand speeches, in millions of scurril-
GUS pamphlets and circulars.
"Apple Selling" Theme.
Mr.. Roosevelt himself has given
currency to them and has often re-
ferred to apple selling. He did in the
last campaign. SO did Mr.. Wallace
many times. In fact, the Demo-
Gratis started at their convention
to recreate this picture and to yell
apple selling" and Hoover. One
might almost have gathered from
the speeches that the Republicans
had nominated Mr.. Hoover instead
of Mr.. Dewey. And they kept it
up for three months. 1t was part
Of their basic campaign strategy
Before stating the facts it is
proper to point out that in 1880
Mr.. Roosevelt, then candidate for
President, was Governor OF New
York. the richest State in the
Union; that the Democratic party
was in control of the richest city
in the world, and that he could
have met any relief needed and
could have stopped apple dealers
from exploiting peoples sympathy
by marketing their wares In this
fashion.
The broader facts, which history
will record, are that the depres-
sion was world wide; that its ma
jor origins were in Europe; that 1t
swept in on the United States like
hurricane; that it originated
from the backwash of the World
War that by action of the Repub-
hcan administration $4,000 900 peo-
pie were under organized relief;
that no one starved and that the
Hoover administration took drastic
steps to protect the peoples savings
by creating the RFC and the Home
Land Banks and by expanding
agricultural credit institutions. The
bank failures were mostly in State
banks not under Federal control.
Record Of History.
1t Is likely, too, that history will
record that in June and July of
1882 we were on our way out of the
depression with employment in
creasing. but that recovery was
halted when business confidence
was shaken by the impending elec-
ton OF the New Deal; that with the
election, the whole country further
hesitated, waiting the new policies;
that rumors quickly spread that Mr..
Roosevelt would devalue the cur
rency: that, in consequence. people
tried to get their money out of the
banks and that spectators tried to
ship it out of the country; that
Mr.. Roosevelt refused Mr.. Hoover's
request to reaffirm the promise he
had made the night before election
not to tinker with the currency;
that Mr.. Roosevelt refused to CO.
operate in other directions with Mr..
Hoover; that the closing of the
banks was not from fear of a retir-
ing administration and could have
been averted had Mr.. Roosevelt
been willing to cooperate.
Those are the facts. After the
banks were reQpened, it was found
that 90 per cent OF their deposits
were good.
Further, the historical truth is
that the rest of the world, not hav-
ing New Deal" went straight out
Of the depression and recovered its
employment by 1884 or 1885: that
unemployment here in the United
States continued on large scale for
six years and that Gov. Dewey told
the exact truth when he said it
took war to get us out of it.
The whole story of the $780, 1882
depression as painted by the New
Deal publicity agencies beginning in
1882 and continuing straight