Fletcher's State Rights Farming. (Hondo, Tex.), Vol. 13, No. 8, Ed. 1 Friday, March 1, 1935 Page: 1 of 16
sixteen pages : ill. ; page 24 x 17 in. Digitized from 35 mm. microfilm.View a full description of this newspaper.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
A. U. Jackson
COLLEGE STATION, tl'j
(Jit
FAPMING MUST PAY OP THE NATION WILL PEPISU - D.Terre//.
FLETCHER DAVIS,
Editor and Publisher
Entered as second class matter June 24, 1922, at the Postottice at Hondo.
Texas, under the Act of March 3, 18 7!>
One Year, UOc; Three Years, $1.00
Single copies, 5c.
VOL. XIII.
HONDO, TEXAS, MARCH 1, 1935.
No. 8.
Is a People’s Government a Failure?
BY FRED W. DAVIS,
Contributing Editor.
Our government under the consti-
tution was the greatest example of a
people’s government ever established
Yet if we take the present political
status both as to the assumption of
centralized authority and the appar-
ent attitude of a majority of our peo
pie the answer to the question that
heads this discussion would be yes
The plenary powers which the presi-
dent has demanded and the congresr
lias granted have certainly shelved
the principles enunciated by the Pec-
ulation of Independence which is the
clearest definition ever given for th(
democracy which the constitutional
fathers established. Our present gov-
ernment is a slightly modified dicta-
torship. It is not a first cousin to a
government deriving its powers from
the consent of the governed. We still
have a congress and the president
still sends his messages (which are
demands) to the congress. But all
gesture at being a government of, by
and for the people ends here. We
have bureaus so numerous it is
doubtful if half the members of con-
gress could even name them. These
bureaus make, interpret and execute
the rules under which the citizens
live. Like kings they are permitted to
stand in the light of doing no wrong.
They can do with impunity things
which they can punish the citizens
for doing. They can and do, in some
instances, make solemn agreements
without notice and punish any of the
contracting parties for violating the
arbitrarily changed agreement. But
strange as this fjtate of affairs may
seem it is not so strange as the fact
that our people seem to like it. They
seem to be tired of the effort of self
government.
There are many excuses for our
present set-up—as there aways is—
but fundamentally it is based upon
the assertion that our form of gov-
ernment, as it was established, is not
adapted to modern life. It is claim-
ed that our constitution is archaic.
This is, however, a deceptive assump-
tion. What has been taken awaj
from the citizen is liberty—the con-
stitution still stands. Freedom of
the lawful use of property, freedom
of contract and freedom to plan your
action and lawfully pursue a chosen
course are some of the liberties which
the people have surrendered to a cen-
tralized authority. Our rulers do not
object to the constitution—they ob-
ject to the liberties the people have
heretofore enjoyed under its provis-
ions. If this were not true our na-
tional government would have pro-
ceeded seriously to have had the con-
stitution amended and in so doing,
would have jealously guarded every
liberty possible under our complex
mode of living. Eut they didn’t even
offer to do this. They let the consti-
tution stand, while they nullify ever\
fundamental liberty it guaranteed.
Fearing that to simply say our gov-
ernment, as established, is proven tc
be wrong, that liberty is not to be
cherished, would be repudiated our
rulers still give lip service to the gov-
ernment they have destroyed. They
say it is all very fine but out of date,
merely because the founders could
not forsee present conditions and of
course are not to be blamed because
of the lack of such knowledge. This
is, however, another deceptive as-
sumption. The (wise men of the con
slitutional convention and others like
Jefferson, not members, saw clearly
the dangers which are now destroy-
ing our liberties. They not only fore
saw the probable political troubles
we now have but gave repeated warn-
ings and advice as how to prevent
them. Volumes could be written
about the almost uncanny foresight
shown by such men as Washington,
Jefferson, Franklin, et al, and lat-
er Jackson and Lincoln. But boiled
down, iwe were warned to attend to
our own affairs and let other nation;
alone; prepare against the dangers of
concentrated wealth, (with emphasis
upon the power to control our medi-
um of exchange), and to keep our po-
litical authority decentralized so it
cculd be visualized and abuses cor-
rected and grant equal rights to all
Recently one of these articles
quoted Cong. McFadden of Pa. and
proved that neither National nor Fed-
eral Banks are Government banks,
and to prove also that the gold in the
I . S. was not in the F’ederal Treasury
and did nat belong to the U. S.
Government, but did belong wholly
lo these private bank?. It will per-
haps be a long time before many
people understand these facts.
As an example, I received a letter
a few days ago from a correspondent
in Kansas in which he said his daugh-
ter was attending high school, and
her teacher, “a fine scholar”, re-
marked in his class that if Uncle
Sam were to cause the gold all to be
dumped into the ocean, he would
lefuse to take his next pay check on
his salary.
That seems to represent most
teachers in the U. S. They are mis-
informed, they do not understand.
Is it any wonder that legislators and
the people are ignorant of the money
system over us? They are made to
worship gold, and gold owners. Their
teachers are giving them false in-
structions.
Occasionally you come upon
and special privileges to none. We
have heeded none of these warnings.
Our concentrated wealth is a men-
ace to our whole social order and it
was builded primarily upon granted
special privileges. We are into
world politics up to our eyes, and
have scrapped the constitution and
concentrated authority into the hands
of one man. For a congressman to
take an oath to support the constitu-
tion is a hypocritical formality. To
an average congressman liberty is
but an abstraction and belongs to the
age of myths.
Yes, our people’s government is a
failure in that it has been scrapped.
Yet it need not have failed. The
principles upon which it (was founded
never change. The only change is the
necessity to apply the old principles
to evci arising new conditions. Jef
ferson and others knew the social or-
der would be more difficult as life
grew more complex. And he and
his compatriots offered a sure rem
edy in the principle of decentraliza-
tion. As life grows more complex
the units of authority should grow in
importance. We have adopted the
very opposite course. Why should
cur federal government be cluttered
up, befuddled and over-run with the
complex problems of individuals,
some one who really knows the situ-
ation, because he has not permitted
himself to be misled by the false
propaganda of banks and their
agents.
Last week I received a letter from
an old farmer down in Montgomery
County, Texas, who knows more
auout the money question than the
average legislator, State or National.
He is not a native Texan, however,
having imigrated here Horn Minne-
sota yeais ago. Minnesota, you re-
member, was the home o Edward
Bellamy and Senator Lindberg, two
o’ the first great writeis on money
refoim in the U. S. Sena e. Lirnl-
berg wax one of the only three men
who voted against the original Fed-
eral Re erve j ill.
This old farmer just referred to,
was evidently a student of these two
great writers. Listen to him. “My
idea is that paper currency that is
not bascid on goid, silver, or other
metal, but is receivable at its face
value by the Federal, State and Local
Governments for al! dues of all
kinds, and als-o is paid out by all de-
partments of government for salaries
Continued on last page
counties, or states? It should touch
such problems in the most fundamen-
tal sense only. We prove this prin-
cipal by our federal bureaus them
selves. They are of necessity giver
almost absolute power over their re-
spective fields of operation. This is
absolutely necessary because no cen-
tral man can tell those on the ground
what to do. Then why not cut out
the bureaus and leave such manage-
ment with the various subdivisions of
our government as they have been es
tablished? As it is, we keep the sub-
division s and create the bureaus
which are additional expense and
confusion. Yot we offer economy
and efficiency as excuses for a cen-
tralized government. A peoples' gov-
ernment properly decentralized can
be destroyed only by a negligent and
corrupt electorate.
The centralization idea has swept
the nation like a pestilence. No move
ment, except to get federal monej
from every conceivable source, har
been so popular. No legislative meas-
ure is ever offered, now, without cre-
ating some new board or commission
or greatly extending the powers of
existing ones. I recently read a bill
which is being sponsored in the Texas
legislature for the purpose of soil
conservation. The central idea is to
provide the use of idle county road
machinery in terracing land. The
bill begins by setting up a state bu-
reau and comes on down to the Com-
missioners’ Courts and county
agents. Why not begin with the
Commissioners’ Courts and the coun-
ty agents? Aren’t they responsible
officials, supposed to be both honest
and capable? Besides doesn’t any-
one know they know more about
the farms and farmers of the variour
counties than any bureau can possi-
bly know?
The principles of our democracy as
established will meet any political
lest in any age, but we cannot have
a democracy and a bureaucracy at
one and the sume time. And when
we set up a dictator we have turned
democracy aside for they are not
compatible. We can have liberties
now if we want them, but apparently
we do not want them. But sure as
v’- e surrender to the full establish-
ment of a new order we will not be
abie Lo get back our liberties inert-
ly for the asking because they were
taken away either because rulers
wanted more power or they honestly
believed the people should not retain
them. In either event a well estab-
lished new order is not going to wil-
lingly go back to the old. If the peo-
ple don’t wake up they can kiss their
freedom goodbye until it is agair
purchased with the blood of patriots
tc again be enjoyed until an un-
worthy generation again gives them
away.
Ignorance, Misunderstanding or Meanness
By Dr. P. A. Spain.
Staff Contributor.
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Davis, Fletcher. Fletcher's State Rights Farming. (Hondo, Tex.), Vol. 13, No. 8, Ed. 1 Friday, March 1, 1935, newspaper, March 1, 1935; Hondo, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth555407/m1/1/: accessed June 13, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Hondo Public Library.