The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1949-12-15
Richie Was Right

The late GOV, Albert =. Rltcnle OF
Maryland-a thoughtful man and an
exceedingly clear-headed politician
looking at the situation in this coun-
try one day during the second Roose-
welt Administration, said to some
friends; "They have started some
thing that can't be stopped" His
reference was to the political strate-
gy of appealing to great groups of
voters, not with reason but with
promises and gifts.
The gifts, of course, came from the
Government and formed the founda-
tion of the New Deal-cash subsidies
for the farmers, unemployment re-
lief for the idle, social security pay
ment for the INDECENT and aged, legs-
lative favors and White House sup
port for the labor union bosses, UNI
limited payroll patronage for the
politicians. All this created the def
cts against which the Democrats had
pledged themselves and piled up the
national debt to hitherto unap-
preached heights However, both of
these were welcomed as wholesome
-"particularly the debt, because"
as they said, eve owe it to our
selves"
1t was poor arithmetic and worse
logic, but it certainly was successful
at the polls. 1t was this success, plus
the desperate effort of the Repub-
Leans to regain lost strength in the
bought groups by compromising the
Democrats, that was behind the
Richie remark that they have
started something that can't be
stopped" Conditions now-twelve
years later-make it clear the Mary
land Governor knew what he was
talking about. In that time, we have
gone to extremes in the business of
buying the groups such as were not
dreamed of when il first started.
More than two million people are on
the Federal pay roll. As pointed out
the other day by DR.. Namevar Bush,
one out of every four persons in the
country, directly or indirectly, is re-
ceiving Government money. The size
of the debt and the depth of the def
cit are far beyond the direst predic-
ton of the most pessimistic of the
anti-spending element.
To the lonely voices of Senator
Harry F. Byrd and a few others who
for years have been pointing out that
this policy of buying the voting
groups and ever enlarging the
Government pay roll was the sure
way to calamitous national bank
ruptcy has now been added the
powerful one of Mr.. James F. Byrnes,
ex-senator from South Carolina, ex-
Superior Court Justice, eX-Secretary
of State. What makes Mr.. Byrne's
voice more potent at this time than
any other is because from the in
ception of the New Deal spending
policy to the time he left the public
service he had been one if its most
effective supporters, follower of the
late Roosevelt, an Administration
wheel horse. Few who knew him well
ever believed Mr.. Bylnes a convinced
New Dealer. Quite clearly it was his
party regularity and personal loyal
ty to the President that carried him
along then.
No one suggests now that the re-
versal of his position is due to any
thing save conviction. Since his re-
tirement he has had time to reflect
upon the lengths to which this vote
buying policy has carried the country.
Released from all obligations he is
now free to express his opinions and
has done so with great vigor. The
"Fair Deal and welfare State poll
cies he regards as contrary to all
sense and certain to end in ruin. He
warns his party and the country that
if collapse is to be averted the time
has come to stop. And his words have
been commended in every section
Unquestionably they will stimulate
the resistance to the Administration
program in the next session.
But will that be enough to reverse
the trend? Few really think so.
Perilously unsound as these vote
buying policies arc and little as some
Of their conspicuous advocates be
lievc in them, their political success
has been so great that only few
men in public life have had the cour-
age to raise up and say so. Most are
pusillanimously content to coast
along, chccrcd by the notion that the
collapse will not come in their time.
It is the cowardly course, but it is the
one to which they are committed and
they can't stop--or think they can't.
OF course, they can't stand still,
either. If they don't turn around they
have to 60 on.
A notable example Of this is in the