THE DANBURY REPORTER.
J&tablishcd 1872. Volume 64.
WILL NORTH CAROLINA UNDOCTOR McDONALD JUNE £ ?
L'k" a funnel-shaped cloud on the fair hori
zon of North Carolina looms the McDonald
Menace.
Can the people of the State afford to face
ttiis sinister wind—are they safe in risking- thir--
dangerous EXPERIMENT whose certain failure
must mean for the farmer, TRAGEDY, for the
schools a serious and irreparable CRIPPLING,
itr industries with their thousands of employed,
paralysis and DESTRUCTION.
What About It, Mr. Farmer?
The Roosevelt administration with its |
• triple A program struck from agriculture the
Shackles of a century of oppression and in
justice. Does agriculture want McDonaldism'
forge its chains ag^ain?
The Democratic government of North Caro- J
Mna that McDonald calls "the machine," did its •
part to restore the farmer to his ancient birth- j
right of freedom and prosperity by removing
forever the 15-cent levy on the farmer's land.'
Will the farmer swap his freedom again forj
fbis McDonald MESS of pottage?
Why? Because all intelligent people know
that if McDonald fails to find his billion dollars
ef untaxed wealth in the State that the only re
course under Heaven will be to fall back on farm \
lands and real estate to fill the McDonald hole.
Only ad valorem can produce 17 millions of taxes
and this "production" will spell RUIN.
The Schools and the Roads— What Will !
Become Of Them?
m
When the greatest depression in history
struck North Carolina, the people had been
crying "take the taxes off land."
Business was largely at a standstill. State's
revenues were at a low ebb. But the schools
' had to run on, and the tax was removed from
• land. How .could it be done?
Only by levying a general sales tax. Now
the roads and the schools of North Carolina, the
finest in America, are maintained without a
cent levied on land. ,
McDonald Says he will REPE/L the sales*
tax. This would mean a loss of „0 millions in
revenue. He says he will do otfo» c great things
to cost 10 million more. If he the loss will
be paid by the farm lands if they can be sold
for the money.
The Industries
The life blood of the State is pumped by the
great industries—you know . that. The great
• tobacco factories, the cotton mills? the lumber
plants, the many vital industries that buy our
raw products and manufacture them, employing -
thousands of men and women. These concerns '
'furnish the payrolls that make the cities and 1
towns prosperous, and supply the fanners cash
to carry on. '
, McDonald's Program aims at our industries.
. Already they are taxed to the constitutional '
limit, but McDonald says "Hell, repeal the con- ■!
stitution. Let me get at them in the higher
brackets."
(Sensible and conservative men in North
Carolina welcome and nourish our great fac
tories and mills, already taxed higher than in l
any other State in the union. How many of \
thlf ?m are ( making a reasonable profit on their •
trjemendoiis investments?
J The pfcfessor from Illinois says "Bleed them,
brad thJn, for the benefit of the poor man." (
legjllative record says he -voted for a sales
tmk on tMe poor man's meals in the cafes and
•staurflts. Is he sincere in his gestures to
■p nooßnan 7
Danbury, N. C., Monday, May 25, 1936
I THINK SO.
What If McDonald Wins?
Let the professor become Governor, and le*
him surround himself with a council of State oi"
: nis same type. Will it be TOO BAD for legit
imate industry which already is bearing its
' taxes to the constitutional limit?
Will other plants invest in North Caro
; lina with a Talmadge or a Townsend in the
capitol? Can our stable industries then resist
the invitation which other States offer them to
come and locate among them?
The Occupational Tax and Again the Farmer
The McDonald Program includes what he
calls the "occupational tax." He proposed it in
the last legislature, but there were sensible
members enough in that body to kill it It
proposes to put a tax of $5 on every SI,OOO pro
ducts sold from the farms, $lO on every $2,000
sold, etc. The "occupational tax" would also
lay a tax on every vocation, man or woman, who
makes as much as $83.33 a month. Do you want
this vicious tax?
What Is McDonald's Record on White
Supremacy?
Some of us wonder if the McDonald Pro
gram will invite the negro back to the ballot ->
What is his record? Election officers of South
Third Ward in Winston-Salem declare that ho
tried to force them to register negroes and was
infuriated at their refusal.
The two races of North Carolina are living
lin peace and harmony. Do we want to rais 2
again the prejudices and the dangers incident
ito colored suffrage in North Carolina? Is the
gentleman professor from Illinois going to
teach us to forget our principles of white sup
lemacy in North Carolina, and bring in Chicago
standards of political philosophy and social
: equality in our eastern counties where the
.white are heavily outnumbered?
McDonald Strategy
The Doctor goes on his unruffled way serene
.as a Pasquotank mosquito. He promises every-'
thing and when caught, denies. His temper is
never disturbed. His strategy is the soft ans
wer that turneth away wrath and swells the
straw vote. Makes no difference what you
orove on him, he trusts to his loyal and unthink
ing friends to give it the dam lie. The Bowman
Gray episode in which his veracity was hanged
rnd quartered only increased his percentages.
His sales tax vote on the poor man's bread and
meat was dismissed with "I never done it,"
jaltho the House Journal says he did. The at
tempted registration of colored voters in South
jThird Ward was passed up as an invention of
rthe foul Democratic machine, notwithstanding
(the registrar and other Winston-Salem election
[officers are standing by their statement.
While there is no record that he ever paid his
cwn taxes or even voted a Democratic ticket
until he wanted to run for Governor, such paltry
incidents should not tarnish the luster of his
shining anti-sales tax armor. .
Who Is For McDonald 7
There are many intelligent and patriotic
people for Dr. McDonald. I honestly believe
these people are mistaken in their judgment,
and captivated in their 1 good hearts by his
promises of Utopia here on earth.
The professor will get scores of votes from
dry goods clerks who whoopee for McDonald
and cuss the sales tax the live-long day. They
are too innoqent to notice that the boss is wink
ing the other eye as he passes the tax on to his
customers and makes a profit
(AN KDITORIAL)
In every county • i- a . loc • ;• ] -ks.
Ihese are fellows v.. • > Law ! ; in
their political ami i; j.s. Invariant. y-'U find
them scrapping t! regular ticket. imanablv
you will find them in the Illinois camp. They
affect "progressive" reasons, but the regular
crowd knows it is revenge. Also you sometimes
find newspapers on the disgruntled side, and
these, while professing neutrality, are helping
the good doctor all they can by boosting his
I Ltraw vote.
But the biggest support for the Illinois
I philosopher will come from the thousands of
shifting, irresponsible citizens who never paid a
cent of tax in their lives until the sales tax came
along and now are compelled to help in the
universal support of government. These are
the guys who are assisting to hold the levy off
land—much against their will. And these are
the guys who so joyously lend a hand to expand
the straw bladder.
Let Him Go By
The farmers of North Carolina, now on the
upgrade from poverty and bankruptcy; the men
and women who hold jobs in the stores, offices,
mills and factories; the home-owner who has
been given a chance to achieve for himself and
family; the steady conservative citizen who does
not want to get into a State-mess like Georgia
and Kentucky and Louisiana are experiencing,
had best let this smooth-tongued stranger go
by and not fall for his wild, impossible PRO
GRAM which means danger to the State.
"Beware of the Greeks who come bearing gifts,"
and beware of an inexperienced, impractical
and visionary youth who promises things which
he cannot do.
Cashing In On the Ether
The most able disinterested fiscal authori
ties say the Dr.'s Program, while costing $20,-
! 000,000, can possibly only produce 000,000,
even allowing him to levy occupational taxes on
farmers and laboring classes and his new privi
lege tax to be laid on the merchants, lluw he
will be able to raise .v 17.00 i,0o) more can
ipossibly be explained at the Mu -ei Shoals
nitrate factory where f ?rtiK:: >r is >a!l to be
: maufaetured from the air.
Can North Carolina Afford To I'k i t Him
Governor?
Ido not think so. The signs indicate al«*
.ready that he is slipping. There is a whole
world of difference in a loose straw vote partic
ipated in by many Republicans, and a sobeit
serious responsibility to be assumed at the
ballot boxes by the Democratic yeomanry of a
great State.
In my humble opinion it would be thci
religious duty of the electorate to catch this
political comet and skyrocket him back to that
opaque obscurity from which he emerged so
luminously when he began paying taxes and v
voting the Democratic ticket in North Carolina
preparatory to his gubernatorial quest.
I do not believe that North Carolina with itfl
splendid past can afford Dr. McDonald. Tha
glory of other days, our immortal traditions,
our safcred ideals, our regard for the safety of
the future citizenship as well as the present,
these I believe will deter us on June ft from Dr
McDonald.
N. E. P. .1
Number .'J,343