Text of Knox Acceptance Speech (Evening Star, July 31, 1936, p. 8)

Text of Knox Acceptance Speech *7 the Associated Press. CHICAGO, July 31.--The text of the address of Col. Frank Knox, Chicago publisher, accepting last night the Republican nomination for Vice President of the United States, follows: Senator Stelwer, fellow citizens: You have heard the eloquent Words of that stalwart statesman 1 from our sister State of Oregon, Senator Steiwer. You have heard him convey to me the official noti fication of my nomination by the Republican party for the high office of Vice President of the United States. You have heard his clear call to all citizens to Join in a crusade for sound government In America. You have heard his friendly and flattering references to me. It becomes my privilege and my duty to accept this call to service. I am deeply conscious of the per sonal honor that has been con ferred on me by the Republican party. I am deeply conscious also of the responsibility that rests on me to bear this honor worthily. But I am, above all, conscious of the opportunity for service. Even above and beyond my profound ap preciation of the honor and the responsibility that have been given me is my appreciation of the opportunity to serve not only my party but my country. It Is customary In acknowledg ments of this kind to avoid per sonal reference. Tonight, I am going to depart briefly from that custom. I am a working man. I have always worked. I began to work as a small boy In a small town In Michigan. Throughout my life I have followed one guid ing principle. That principle was to do as best I could the Job that lay before me. That principle carried me into life and work In a fine New England town. It took me into difficult and respon sible work In the great city of New York. It carried me into the serv ice of my country in two wars. It brought me to my work and my home in the great city of Chicago, the metropolis of a great State In a great Middle West empire. And I am moved tonight by a realization that in this crusade for the' restoration of sound gov ernment in our land there is be fore me the greatest opportunity for service that has ever come to me. Long years ago I learned as a buck private the lessons of duty and of loyalty. In the years that have passed I have learned the equally important lesson that the greatest achievement of any man is service to his fellow citizens. In this spirit of service I accept the call of my party. I pledge my loyalty to the principles of the Re publican party. I pledge my loy alty to the policies laid down at the Cleveland convention. I pledge myself to the principles of sound and honest government. I pledge my personal loyalty to that great Governor of a prairie State, the next President of the United States, the honorable Alf Landon. No Ordinary Political Choice in November. It is no ordinary campaign that confronts us. It is no ordinary political choice that the country must make next November. In this presidential campaign, as in every other, it is for the Nation to decide whether the administration in office has performed its duty. There is always the question whether the administration in of fice has met its responsibilities honestly and fairly and wisely. There is always the question whether it has fulfilled the stew ardship entrusted to it and earned thereby a renewal of its direction of government for four more years. In every election the people must decide whether they shall say: "Well done, thou good and faith ful servant." In this first and ordinary issue the present administration is found wanting. It has failed to meet its responsibility for the orderly, eco nomical and impartial administra tion of the affairs of the Nation. More than three years ago the present administration took com mand of the American Govern ment. No administration in the history of the Nation has had so glorious an opportunity. The country had already begun to emerge from the bottom pit of a grievous world depression, caused by a calamitous World War. A won and wounded Nation needed pathetically a wise and far-seeing government. The millions of stag nant enterprises needed only the encouragement of sensible govern ment policies to take on renewed life. A stricken agriculture needed only the encouragement of sound agricultural policies and wise leg islative assistance. The timid be ginnings of rehewed Investment needed only the encouragement of sound laws of banking and credit. The spirit of American enterprise, discouraged by vanished markets and reduced consumption, needed only the encouragement of econ omy and moderation and helpful ness In government. No adminis tration in our history since Lin coln's time has had so grand an opportunity to lend aid to a dis tressed people The present administration in the Winter of 1933 had Just one Im mediate responsibility to meet. That responsibility was to promote the little flame of recovery that had begun to burn In the Summer of 1932. before the blessings of a New Deal were even Imagined. The present administration had just one Job to perform. That Job was to carry out a program that would enable American enterprise to put 13,000,000 unemployed back at work, 12,000,000 men and women workers who were the unhappy and helpless victims of a world depres sion for which this Nation was not responsible. The present adminis tration had Just one more obliga tion to keep. That obligation was to fulfill the solemn promises of economy and moderation with which it lured the people In the campaign of 1933. Embarked upon Hysterical Experiments. How did It meet that responsibil ity? How did it do that Job? How did It keep that moral obligation? From the day that it took office it embarked on a series of hysterical experiments on the economic life of a burdened people. At a time when universal co-operation was a necessity it initiated a campaign of abuse and vilification on business men At a time when the credit of the country should have been strengthened it inaugurated a pol icy of credit adulteration and cur rency experiment that demoralised foreign trade and frighten do mestic finance. It set up a sys tem of regimentation of industry that reduced production and pre vented re-employment By coer cion of Congress it forced the pas sage of reform measures so reck lessly drawn that they hamstrung the revival of enterprise and para lyzed the renewal of Investment. It installed a regimentation of ag riculture that destroyed food and reduced foreign markets and in creased the cost of living and mul tiplied the expense of relief. At a time wnen private indus try was struggling desperately for a new start It set up governmental enterprises to compete with private business. At a time when the bur den of taxation was already hard to bear It embarked on a policy of squandering public funds and in creasing the weight of taxes. At a time when united effort and mu tual good-will would have com pleted recovery it promoted sec tional hatred and class strife. At a time when returning business confidence was ending depression it oegan a campaign to terrorize business and subjugate the banks. At a time when confidence In the character of government was vital, it established a spoils system. At a time when the economic system was worn an emaciated it per formed major surgical operations upon the industrial body to see what was inside. It adopted an economy philosophy of scarcity and forced it upon a hungry and dis tressed people. The present administration ig nored its responsibility, failed in its job, defaulted in its obligation. I do not need to tell you the re sults. The inevitable recovery could not be permanently blocked by governmental error. It is still on its way. But it was retarded and discouraged. And we slowly emerge from its thralls with the menaces of governmental insol vency and nondescript currency and business disturbance shadow ing the future. You aee the results in the fourth year of mounting deficits, in the chaotic condition of our currency, in the bloated reaervea of our banka, In the swollen expenditures for relief. Above all, you see the results In the millions still unemployed. I charge the present administration with delaying recovery In the United States and in the world. 1 charge the present administra tion with responsibility for the 10,000,000 still unemployed. It would not be truthful to say that all the measures of the present administration have been failures. In the mad whirl of economic ex periments there have been a few sound and desirable measure* of regulation. That must be freely conceded. But In the major measures of recovery and in the task of administration It has fa Led completely. It has not kept faith with the Nation. It has not ful filled the duties of Its stewardship. On thia one Issue--that It haa not conducted the affairs of govern ment efficiently and economically-- it should be condemned and re jected by the people. New Deal Never Defined by Proponents. This endless succession Of Inter ferences and experiments was In augurated under the deceptive slogan of a New Deal. This policy of government by guess, officially unexplained by President Roose velt as founded on a philosophy of try-anythlng-once, was initiated under the title of economic plan ning. No one of its proponents has been able to define the New Deal or to explain what it is aimed at or where it is going. No one of them has been able to make clear what the economic plan is. It began with a proposal for a belt of trees In a territory that Nature had decided should not have trees. It is ending with the use of public funds to conduct classes In tapdancing. No o«e can explain the New Deal, or economic plan ning, but every one knows what came from It. The major meas ures were the N. R. A., the A. A. A., the P. W. A., the C. W. A., the W. P. A. and devaluation of the dollar. Such measures are not new. They were old in history before America was discovered. They failed in Babylon and Rome and England centuries ago. Not one of these New Deal measures is mentioned in the 1936 platform of the Democratic party. Thtre is no reference to the fate of these strange experiments. There is no reference In all that platform to the New Deal or to economic plan ning But in this omission tney are entirely consistent. There was no mention of them in the 1932 platform either They are a strange interlude between the sol emn promises of the 1932 platform and the vague generalizations of the 1936 platform. It is constantly asserted that the Republican party has always stood for a strong Federal Government. The assertion is correct. It still stands for a vigorous Federal au thority. But it advocates this au thority within the limits set by the Constitution. It has always exer cised that authority by legislation constitutionally passed and con stitutionally executed. It always will. It has always exerted that authority without passing the boundaries of States rights and local self-government. me nepuuncan party recognizes that changing social and economic conditions call lor increased Fed eral activities. But It always in sists that such new activities shall be legalized by proper constitutional amendment. It always will. It approves the horse and buggy method of changing the Constitu tion, and it disapproves a phil osophy that laughs at the horse and-buggy method and wants to use only the buggy whip. It con demns the abuse of Federal power to Invade local rights. It does not believe in putting a New Jersey panta-presser In jail for charging less than the amount dictated by a board in Washington. It disap proved a government of men In stead of a government of law. It prefers a government guided by constitutions to a government guided only by caprice. The Republican platform of 1936 lays down in simple language the program of Federal regulation and legislation to which it commits itself on many issues. Where the specific program Is not definitely outlined the details will be pre sented In the coming campaign. On certain matters Gov. Landon made the issues clear In his tele gram to the Cleveland convention. In his acceptance speech one week ago he presented specific policies In reference to other important Issues. Whatever concrete meas ures the Republican party hae in mind will be presented to the voters before election, not after. And whatever measures the Republican administration may urge upon Con gress, not one will flout the Con stitution of the United States. Not one will violate the obligation of contracts. Not one will break a promise. Government Stands Convicted of Failure. I have already said that this is no ordinary campaign. On the mere issue of efficiency in adminis tration the present Government stands convicted of failure. But there is a larger issue, an issue that goes to the heart of American life. It is the issue of the kind of economic system the American people will live by. For more than three years the economic life of the country has been at the mercy of a crew of amateur experimenters, hacking at the vitals of American industry, agriculture, commerce and finance. Driven by a fanatic Impulse to shape our economic structure to their fantastic designs, they have usurped the powers of Congress, Insulted the authority of the courts, Invaded the powers of Congress, and undermined the In stitutions of local self-government. as one experiment after another has ended in ignominious failure or repudiation by the courts, new experiments have been attempted, from laws to put producers of po tatoes in Jail, to proposals to cut Florida in two. Driven to despera tion by failure, the present admin istration undertook to gamble with fate. Realising that recovery was Inevitable, in time, it undertook to overcome the depressing efTects or its experiments by an artificial prosperity to be created by the squandering of public funds. It is now a race between exhaustion of Federal credit and the coming of natural recovery. It is a race be tween inflation and the revival of normal business activity. The race is not yet decided. The fundamental issue is now clear. No one can define the New Deal or even describe it. But we know what it means. It means Federal control over local business, over' local bank credit, over local wages, over local conditions of work. It leads to Federal regi mentation of the labor, the busi ness, and the home of every Amer ican citizen. It leads to price fixing and production control by Federal authority. It leads inevi tably to the extinction of the small business man, to the end of free enterprise In America. There is no half-way house in which American enterprise can take shelter. The coercive con trol of bank credit leads unavoid ably to control of investment and that leads to the end of competi tive industry and free enterprise. The country must choose between the regimentation of the economic life of 130,000,000 people by politi cally appointed Federal bureaucrats and the continuance of the Amer lean system of free enterprise un der a government of constitutional powers. It Is not a question whether Fed eral regimentation of the economic life of a great nation can be suc cessful or not. It Is the verdict of history, from Diocletian in Rome to Mr. Roosevelt In Washington, that no one man can successfully guide the course of industry for a great nation. All the major Hew Deal experiments have ended in failure and economic loss. There are known and true principles of eco nomic life. There are. for that matter, competent economists, if you will look for them outside of Wash ington. There are limits to the ability of government to regiment the economic life of a people. When it blindly passes these limits, it does not encourage industrial pro duction; it destroys it Such in terference always encounters a drought or some other force beyond the control even of a New Dealer. There are limits beyond which Federal regimentation should not go, even if it could be efficient. When it passes these limits it de stroys personal initiative and in dividual liberty. The American people do not want Federal regi mentation of their economic activi ties even if it could be efficient and fair. As A1 Smith has expressed it, the American people do not want a dictator, not even If they could get a good one. Economical Government Issue for November. Uokb wra ka.M 1U. 1._ At- A must be decided next November. It is whether the American people shall have an orderly and eco nomical government recognising the limitations of Federal power or a government determined to reorganise the American economic system by experiment. We know what the decision will be. The people want recovery, not rhetoric. They want economy, not wast^e. They want work, not relief. They want co-operation among the partner* In production, not indus trial strife. They want order in economic life, not an occasional breathing spell. They want dig nity in government, not a merry go-round. They do not believe that all bankers are scoundrels, that all employers are exploiters, that all business men are moti vated by greed, that all working people are victims of oppression. They do not believe that the American system was a failure un til the New Deal came along to save It from its sins. They do not believe that American industry is a Jungle of cut-throat competition dominated by Intrenched greed. The people know that with the election of a new administration next November the damned-up forces of recovery will burst forth in a magnificent prosperity. The American people know that In man's long and troubled jour ney through the ages he has faced flood and famine, pestilence and drouth, conquest and slavery, tyranny and Injustice, poverty and depression. They know that he has overcome these savage enemies through his unrelenting determi nation to work out his own eco nomic salvation. Poverty and in security are not yet exterminated In our land. Economic hardship and economic injustice are not yet eliminated. But in the United State*, In the last hundred yean, the American people have come nearer to these goals than any other people anywhere In history. Brave pioneering and hard work and patient saving have made this the richest and fairest civilisation In history. It has not been made by sleight-of-hand tricks. With the American system preserved, we shall in due time have a free peo pie, living in plenty and eecurlty, without exploitation of destitution, rhe American people are not going to surrender this prospect to the regimentation of visionaries and amateur economic planners. They are not going to exchange our eco nomic system for the rainbow mil lenlum of political magicians. The President has recently told the American people that they have a rendezvous with destiny. As I understand the term, a ren dezvous is a date. What is this rendezvous? Under present condi tions, the most likely rendezvous la with a receiver for the Treas ury. After the acceptance by the people of the promises of the 1932 platform, what unexpected ren dezvous did the people have? They had a rendezvous with the N. R. A. They had a rendezvous with rarleyism. They had a rendezvous with the tax collectors. The American people want no ren dezvous with a destiny plotted on blue prints In a Washington office. When they have a date with des tiny they want to know what the lady looks like. They want to have a word to say about it. AUC iSflUC UC1UIC LUC LUUUWJ io the preservation of free enterprise. On this Issue the Republican party appeals to the whole people. It appeals to the millions of sincere Democrats who have been out raged by the appearance of un American practices in the garb of ancient Democratic principles. It appeals to the millions of thrifty and hard-working people whose patiently accumulated savings in life Insurance and savings accounts are jeopardized by the reckless spending of the present adminis tration. It appeals to the millions of business men who have for years faced the adversities of de pression and are now facing the regimenter and the tax gatherer. It appeals to the real forgotten men and women of the Nation, the millions of workers In agrlcul ture and personal service and ■nail enterprise who have been Ignored In all the pretense of social legislation of the New Deal. It appeals to the women of America who have borne the harden blowa of depression and unemployment and now face the problems of household management under a rlelng con of living in an economy of scarcity. Republican Party Has No Patent Nntrami. The Republican party does not promise to solve all those prob lems that you faoe. It has no patent nostrums to cure every eco nomic 111. There Is no royal rood to the solution of all our economic problems. But the Republican party does make certain promises. It does promise a fair and honest government. It does promise that this government will be as eco nomical and efficient as it can be made. It does promise to make every effort to Install sensible end practical measures to help in the solution of the problems of trade and agriculture, the problems of poverty and insecurity. Above all, It promises you that In its efforts to aid In these problems it will not prevent you from trying to work out your Individual and personal problems for yourselves, witb your own ambitions, your own enter prises and your own energies. Through the 2,000 years of Christian civilization the price of progress has been sacrifice. Three hundred years ago our forefathers could have purchased safety, but at the price of liberty. They could have remained safe in England and left the new world to be con quered by others. The men who signed the Declaration of Inde pendence could have lived safely as colonists In the British Em pire, but not as free men. Sev enty years ago our fathers could have avoided civil war the price of a disrupted Nation. They all preferred sacrifice to safety. Again we reach a point where the blazes along the trail run out. Two ways lie ahead. One lies along the apparently easy valleys of a regimented society, main tained by a paternalistic Govern ment which falsely promises to provide its subjects with a security that men were wont to purchase in the past by their own efforts. The other lies along the rugged heights of self-rapport, self-government and self-respect. Which will we chooser We know the path our fathers chose. More often than not the right way of life 1« not the easy way. Because we have always taken the self reliant way, the self-respecting way, American character has emerged as our greatest national asset. Take from us every vestige of 300 years 3f progress, leave only the raw materials that God placed here, give us the American char acter, and we would swiftly re construct here a civilization as great as that we have today. Amer ica Is too young, too vigorous, to be deceived by false promises of an easy way. And so I preach to you the doc trine, not of the soft and spineless kept citizen of a regimented state, but of the self-respecting and self reliant men who made America. Which way shall we go? The an swer Is In your hands. I know what It will be. Next November, you will choose the American way. The me At that we Provider* eat Is here your Appetites to greet Now, I'm handlnr yea this talk rirht from the lhonldor like ene family man to another.^Ve knew that KIDWELL'B MARKETS are the ylaeei te deal and we want other! te knew It. Find eat for yourself and yoa'lt rladty tell otheri. same as I'm delnr. PAY-DAY SPECIALS ON KIDWELL'S QUALITY FOODS! 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