Milford chronicle., 1952-08-08
THE VOTE THAT COUNTs

THE VOTE THAT COUNTS
When a man buys home or bit of
property, he is casting vote which is back
ed by his honor and fortune. He elects to
become a stOckhOlder in his community. He
is expressing his faith in the future. He
believes that our Constitution will validate
his decision and secure him in the possession
of what he labors and saves to acquire. His
choice is made possible by the free market.
1t can all be cancelled out, however, If his
political vote is not strong enough to main
tain the free market without which personal
choice is impossible.
In nations where government owns
homes and the land, the citizen must ask
his government for the right to exist, be-
cause he must have some place to stand,
as well as shelter. These are slave states,
worse than any of those that knew serfdOm.
The serfs had traditional rights in the land
which had to be respected.
By a strange paradox, backward-lOOk-
ing thinkers who call themselves liberals,
now advocate that government shall control
farms and shall own the homes of the people
as a means of controlling the citizen. Thus
they move toward the slave state.
In the political conventions last month
there were OminOus undertOnes. There was
much talk about how to control the economy,
including homes and farms. Political lead
ers9 reviewed plans for taking wealth. from
some people and giving 1t to others as
means of building centralized power. All
such proposals were made in the name of
freedom. Forgotten was the fact that big
government makes little people without lib
erty.
There is Ominous lightning on the politi-
cal horizon. Those who have invested their
savings in homes, farms, and other property,
will be subject to ceaseless attacks. Free
dom will more and more be defined as the
equal sharing of all wealth.
The millions of small people, whose homes
and property are their Self-established social
security, must learn the bitter lesson of self
reliance. They must organize to maintain
their rights. They must be effective in their
political defense as are the mighty groups
that seek to despOil them. If they leave the
field uncOnteSted to those who believe that
government is a consumers union for the
redistribution of wealth, the economy will
fall into the decay which is destroying other
nations before our very eyes.
Sooner or later the millions of owners
of property, reluctant though they may be,
must organize themselves effectively, locally
and nationally, if they are to survive The
organized political vote is the one that counts.
HS&0N~G
WHAT ABOUT THE SOUTH?
An Associated Press survey has listed
ffty-fOur newspapers in the Solid South
which have either endorsed the candidacy of
General Eisenhower or have announced their
intention of doing so. This is a far larger
number of southern newspapers than have
ever spoken up for Republican candidate
This week we are reprinting an editorial
from "The Richmond Times Dispatch
which not only adds another to the list of
Southern journals supporting Eisenhower
N1V0n detailed To iOV
of the swing to the Republican side below
the Mason and Dixon Line.
That movement did not begin with the
Chicago convention and it's strength cannot
be ascribed to the fight over the "lOyalty
pledge" or the civil rights plank. The reas
Ons for "The Times DiSpatch's" unreserveC
endorsement of General Eisenhower anC
Nixon are enlightening. In General Eisen
hover the nation has a man whom it car
trust in "checkmating Soviet Russia anC
building a peaceful world" On the Demo
cratic ticket are the representatives
ever worthy in themselves-of a party tOt
long in power, party little concerned will
the dangers of Capitalization, spending anC
imitation, marked by a record of corruption
in Office, sustaining itself by appeals to spe
cial interests. These arguments lie at tn
core Of the Times Dispatch stand they ar
applicable to the North as well as to TIN
South, and demonstrate that the southern
revolt is not one of party organization o.
purely sectional concern but is fundamental
Of particular interest to the South i
''The Times Dispatch's" contention that witt
the Eisenhower ticket the nation should elec
Republican Congress, and that there shoul,
be "a functioning tWO-party system" in tn
Southern states. This is no Dixiecrat up
rising 1t seems to be a genuine breal
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