Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 31 October 1936 — Page 10

e Indianapolis Times

(A SCRIPPS- HOWARD NEWSPAPER) o LUDWELL DENNY ‘EARL D. BAKER Business

ROY W. HOWARD President / Member of United Press, Scripps-Howard News-

dress 214-220 W. Mary-

land-st.

Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1036

THE TRAGEDY OF LANDON THIS has to do with opportunity and what a man does about it when it knocks.

Alfred M. Landon did not lack in opportunity. Being nominated for the presidency of the greatest nation in the world is surely that. The chance was there—and what a chance! To rejuvenate his party, to bring back to power and public service the institution which Lincoln had founded and which in the latter years had been so rapidly going moribund.

Landon somehow seemed to fit the assignment. He was of the soil, as Lincoln was. In that respect he symbolized - something reclaimed for the rank and file of the people from the Millses and the Grundys, from the effete East, from the gilded environment that had been absorbing and suffocating a Republicanism which a man from another typical prairie state had fathered.

: What was wrong was pretty obvious. The Republican Party, born of an ideal and baptized in blood, had gradually gone Bourbon in the years which followed a civil war that had been fought to put human rights above property rights. All that was needed was to substitute the glint of human kindness for the glass eye.

The start was good. The first word from the nominee dealt with human rights, defied the utter materialism that had taken over: ‘the party, and went clearly on record in face of cautious platform language for such action as might be " necessary, ‘including constitutional amendment to protect . ‘women and children in the matter of minimum wages, maximum hours, and working conditions.

There was a thrill in that, as the message was read on the hot night in the Cleveland hall; a thrill and a hope that here was one who would lead Republicanism. out of the

wilderness of greed and special privilege in which: it had lost itself.

= » » UT it proved a flash. As the campaign proceeded, with a few exceptions wherein Mr. Landon followed the liberalism of Mr. Roosevelt, the Kansas nomineg “went native,” took on the color of the surroundings which- had been set for him, Instead of leading, he began to. follow. Soon his addresses started to reflect all that was being handed to him by those:.who so desperately desired to return to the days that had been, before the game played out in late October, 1929. One by one he adopted the tricks of the trade of anything to win. Back to Hawley-Smoot stuff about the depression being nothing more than an excuse for a dictator-

ship; complete evasion of such public items as TVA; muddy }

mumbling about foreign affairs; under-the-bed alarms about alienism invading the American way; ‘eleventh-hour bear stories regarding a pay roll “tax” in a social security measure for which his own party affiliates had voted overwhelmingly; promises in the West to spend and in the East to save—seizure here and there and yonder of whatever might help to allure or to deceive. That has been the wind-up of this tale of opportunity. We were reading in a book by H. G. Wells last night and Ye ran into this that dealt with Napoleon and how, great though he was as a military figure, he missed in terms of

here was opportunity such as never came to man before. Here was a position in which a man might well bow himself in fear of himself, and search his heart and serve God and man to the utmost. The old order of things was dead or dying; strange new forces drove through the world seeking form and direction. Had this man any profundity of vision, any power of creative imagination, had he been accessible to any disinterested ambition, he might have done work which would have made him the very sun of history. All Europe and America, stirred by the first promise of a new age, was waiting for him. There lacked nothing in this great occasion but a noble ambition, and, failing that, he could do no more than strut upon this great mountain of opportunity like a cockerel on a dunghill . . . until as Victor Hugo said in his tremendous way, ‘God was bored by Bi "

HERE’S ONE ANSWER HY didn’t the boss put any political propaganda in your pay envelopes four years ago? Because there weren't any pay envelopes.”—The Dayton News.

4

FOUL FIGHTING 3 : OF all places, Gov. Landon picked Madison Square Garden, Thursday night, to hit below the: belt. In a speech broadcast to the whole country, he ‘said ; “Beginning next Jan. 1, workers, no matter how small their wages, will have their pay docked—they will have their pay docked for the purpose of building up a phantom reserve fund—a fund that any future Congress can spend any time it sees fit and for any purpose it sees fit. “I can not understand how any Administration would dare to perpetrate such a fraud upon our workers.” The only basis for this unfair assertion is a technicality in constitutional law which requires that all tax receipts go into the general Treasury. Since the old-age insurance premiums assessed are in the nature of taxes, it was necessary for Congress, when it passed the Social Security Law, to provide that eollections be cleared through the Treasury. To have done otherwise would have been to flout the Constitution, which Landon professes to hold so dear.

Actually, the social security payments collected from

HA RA LR pr “c

on INTEND TO APPROACH THE ISSUES FAIRLY, AS | SEE THEM, WITHOUT RANCOR OR | PASSION, IF WE ARE.TO GO FORWARD PERMANENTLY,

ar MUST BE WITH A UNITED NATION=NOT WITH A DEOPLE. TORN BY APPEALS TO PREJUDICE

AND DIVIDED BY CLASS FEELING.”

"ALFRED M. LANDON ° JULY 23,1936

Fair Enough By Westbrook Pegler -

Idéa That English Law Forbids Mention of Simpson Divorce in British Papers Old Superstition.

NEW YORK, Oct. 31.—We are told that ‘the law of the land rather than a selfimposed bashfulness prevents mention of the ‘Simpson divorce case in the English papers

and to envy their respect for the privacy of

‘the individual. That is a handsome old super:stition, about. life.in the mother country which does |

not stand close inspection, They do have their laws in England and, generally

speaking; they obey ‘them. better than we observe ours; but if a story is big enough, an English paper can go ahead and print it and get away with it, as the late Lord Northcliffe proved in his historic expose of the shell shortage in the early days of the war. Un= der the: Defense of the Realm Act, Northcliffe could have been locked up in the Tower and hanged with a rope of theoretical silk for revealing the desperate plight of the B. E. F. in France. . In that case, however, violation of law. was deemed to be in the public interest and there is no record of Northcliffe’s ever being had up, as they s say, although the law was éxplicit and so was he,

Mr. Pegler

In view of the information which Americans have | °

received about the Simpson case, it might be argued that here again the welfare of the empire is involved through a situation affecting the dignity of the crown. But Northcliffe didn’t criticise or defy the King, he merely exposed the blundering complacency of the politicians in the government.

® = = = present case is the greatest divorce story ‘in <4 the history of journalism and the history books will be telling it a hundred years from now, and actors will portray it on the stage though the English papers ignore it while it is news. It contains romantic elements which reduce to tawdry counterfeit the noisy

Hollywood and Reno actions which” constantly: excite the English press. Moreover, the English are thorough masters if not the inventors of the “I hear” and “they. say” school

of journalism, the questioning innuendo and the sly’

hint which get the story across without laying it on'the line, and they could handle this one in that familiar technique if they were not restrained by a special consideration for royalty."

5 » »

UT the tradition that the English press is uncommonly sensitive about the privacy of the individual dies harder than the equally stubborn legend about the Englishman's bath. The Englishman got his reputation as a bather by sloshing himself with a bucket in the far countries where the natives. got wet only if caught in the rain. When modern plumbing was invented, the Americans became the bathing-

est race of all and those who went to England were’

unable to reconcile the old joke-book tradition with

the lead-and-tin tub and the penny geyser concealed:

in a converted broom-closet somewhere under the

stairs. The tradition about individual privacy comes"

from such stodgy institutions as the London Times and Manchester Guardian in complete disregard of the popular . English press, which outsells the venerable blankets 50 to 1 and revels in the private affairs of Individuals, especially Americans. But knowing their avi ty for ot stuff, as ‘they call it, under American da scandals occurring over here, oné can only decide that in the present case the press of England has lifted is cap to a fas grounder: and Jet 1 roll.

to the outfield to cool off.

lines, - their: Petite for

5

The Hoosier F orum

I wholly disagree with what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it—Voltaire.

BELIEVES LANDON MERITS VOTE IN ELECTION By Keith Weber, Bloomington After seeing the Landon demonstration in Indianapolis Oct. 24, I have decided not to throw my vote away to the New Deal party. Landon is a clean campaigner, above all

réproach, including that of his

backing by Hearst, Smith, Davis, the du Ponts and all others who in 1932 supported Roosevelt. The real question before America now 1s “statesman or showman?” . ~Landon is an honest and progressive candidate, whom another great

American, Will Rogers, recommend-

ed as a presidential possibility in

- | June, 1935. Landon merits the vote.

of every Republican and Democrat in the United States. He does not need the votes of the New Dealers. pou = ROOSEVELT PRAISED FOR RETURNING PROSPERITY By Cleon Leonard : « « « President. Roosevelt gave us back our homes. We can afford new

rugs, new blankets, etc. We must stand by Franklin Roosevelt and

‘| vote for a man with judgment for

the POE: people. . .. : : #8 = CLAIMS NEW. DEAL i VIOLATED CONSTITUTION

‘By Mrs. M. R. ia fr

Under the New ‘Deal, the vale of a. dollar can be changed overnight by presidential edict. Under the Constitution, however, Congress was given the: exclusive power of fixing the value of our currency. ‘We wonder for this constitytional amendment. # » » SUGGESTS PRIVATE POLL OF CAMPAIGN PICTURES By C.O., Union City, Ind. Since the Literary Digest has ube lcly admitted that it is sending its |

straw ' vote poll to. Hoover . Repub--

licans principally, may we humbly suggest that the name of the poll should ‘be changed to “Hoover Poll.” Also we should like to ask some one: who knows, why such a ‘poll is ‘being en. silliest t we. have ever experienced. That is, unless the that the ‘Democrats rly about the date of

‘Last: Saturday ‘we drove from. | Richmond, Ind. over Road 40 to Indianapolis. We took a ‘poll of the pictures of presidential candidates on ‘car windows and in houses along

ue af

|

General Hugh Johnson Says—

Landon's Concessions to Labor Add Up to Zero; Labor Keaws } I Is a No Importance Whether a M Man Once Worked With His Hands or Not, CHITA, Kas., Oct. 31. RE labor |

how many. of our readers voted.

It «is about the

| By Frank McCarty 7 |. i . . Roosevelt is for the welfare uded.

‘(Times readers are invited do express their views in these columns, religious controversies ex- ' cluded. -. Make your. letter short, so all can have a chance. Letters must be signed, but names will be withheld on Fequest,)

LAUDS ROOSEVELT AS: LIBERAL By L. L. Patton, Crawfordsville

Those of us who were doubtful at the beginning of the campaign as te the status of Mr. Roosevelt as a

liberal, now, thanks to the Republic’

an National Committee, need no longer be in doubt. The “knockknock” campaign of the Republicans has demonstrated better than Mr. Roosevelt could ‘possibly have demonstrated himself that our. President has been present at the door uf every economic issue to protect his people from the inroads of Wall

Streeters: ~~ Moreover, it has made’

clear that the subversive influences most feared today are those of the Republican Party and the American Liberty League. - The .chief issue of the present political campaign could not be ‘sized up better than by the words of William Jennings Bryan, uttered 40 years ago: “There. are two ideas of government. There are those who believe that if you will legislate to make the well-to-do more prosperous, their prosperity will leak through to “those below. The Democratic jdea, however, has been that if you legislate to make the masses prosperous, their prosperity will find its way up through every class that rests upon them. . . .” Now that the Wall Street branch of the Democratic Party has been kicked out and. over to’the Republican Party, the Democratic Party is able, once again, to make the general welfare of the masses the first

-| plank of the Democratic platform.

2» =» FORMER ADMIRER NOW SORRY FOR AL By Joseph D. Connor

As one of the original Al Smith Democrats, I regard the passing of

| the once Happy Warrior with sorrow

and sympathy, rather than with anger. In 1928, when Smith was defeated, 1 wept. In the 1932 convention, when the Democrats refused to renominate him, I was sick. To. Mme he was the greatest statesman of the age and I could not

understand why the Democratic’

Party would nominate another man.

In the light of present events, 1;

‘was wrong. Al could dish it out, but he couldn’t take it. I will rémember Smith as the Happy Warrior of 1928, the fearless, naga tireless friend of democ- , rather than the Al of today, en, bitter, stupid, seeking only to settle a personal grudge, at the ex- ‘| pense of Human Misery. “es

ROOSEVELT Is For WELFARE OF ALL

of all. solored inch

{

PRAISES NEW DEAL TAX LEGISLATION By F. M. ‘Blann, Morocce I am a farmer and a Democrat—

because Roosevelt has done more for |

the common . people, the farmer, laborer, and the near-well-to-do than any other president we ever had.

than 50 years to get laws passed that would let everybody pay their just share of taxes, according to their ability to pay. We are living in the modern age and everybody should help to bear the expense. Now that we have such a law, let's hold on to it. ? 2 8 =» WEALTHY EXPONENTS OF G. O. P. DOCTRINES DECRIED By William Lemon ¥ - The" ‘best advertisement ' the Democratic Party ever had was having Al Smith, the du Ponts, the Morgans, Hearst and Wall Street as opponents. This group. of bread- line pro-

moters always has represented the |"

starvation-wage level they would like to pay. -Roosevélt always has advocated a living wage for the producers of wealth, upon whom the parasite capitalistic class has existed in the past. He follows in the footsteps of Jefferson, who urged, “equal rights to all, special privilege to none.” - If we should be so unfortunate as to send the “Gentleman from Kansas” tor Washington it would mean the return of the breadline days of ‘Herbert Hoover. Since Mr. Average Citizen represents 85 per cent of our national population, that looks impossible. Should the governmental methods established by Roosevelt be eliminated, it would mean another winter

-} in the inferno.

‘This is what Landon proposes to > it is the age-old Republican ea. The only way to keep what we have won’ is to re-elect Roosevelt!

QUESTIONS “LITERARY : DIGEST. POLL By Warren A. Benedict Jr. The Literary Digest Poll may be interesting reading; so will its explanation of why its figures did not jibe with: election, results. ‘Meanwhile, many are interested in some sidelights on this poll on which the Digest is so. strangely silent. For instance: Why have so few Democrats around here been polled, and why have those who received ballots in former years been overlooked this time? Just what is the method of conducting this poll, anyway? And why is the poll so at variance with other polls, including the Gallup? Betting -odds, with the ‘single exception of 1916, have since 1888

| forecast the next President. Why

have the odds risen in the last few weeks in favor of Roossvelt?. .

the

It Seems to A

By Hoyland Broun.

Gov. Landon and fr aes

NEW YORK, Oct. 31—T owe an “apology, |

to the undergraduates of Harvard and of Yale. Ibooed Landon. Thathad A my intention. I set my back again

We _liave been irving for: more of the Murray Hill Hotel intent

serving the properties as a neu paper man. But just in front of me of approximately my own age. Before the'cavs from Kansas arrived one said to the other.’

certainly all patriotic will vote for Landon. I let it go. “Only. America is for friend, grammatically otherwise erroneously, that pass. ‘Two. bands playing anna” went by with ference on my part. came he banners | parencies. . An ardent I almost took my nose off ‘sign which said’ SATE

” Mi. Broun ~ . 2nother Lincoln.

too much. I said quietly but close to of the Landon ladies, “Boo!” 5 w¥ She turned upon me flerceiy and. screamed, “You ought to be ashamed of yourself.” \ Now, that is a ‘nighly debatable {uastion in any

and economic opinions, which, on the excellent. “Why should I. be ashamed of myse the Landon lady. She changed the & me no direct answer but a query. Russia do you come from?” she asked in { 2 = = OUTH BROOKLYNOVITCH,” I altering an old gag. At that moment the argument ¢ Franklin D. Roosevelt swept by the Hotel headed north. He got a good all fairness to the Landon ladies I must neither of them made offensive noises as ti swept .by. ; ~~ And then along came Alf. The e ponents turned upon me and remar he is the guest of New York City.” I was quite willing to play ball: and right, one-half a hurrah and two boos f

to suggest of so ‘lively a resort as the that it is a horse and surrey hotel. - I ‘understand that it was chosen by: because his father took-him there when to New York as a lad. 2» »

RESENTLY Landon came out upon I must confess that for no good rem

re Governor was on the third t distance I should attempt no , I will," Alf M. Landon seems man. "He could carry the message course, somebody eise would have to

sage. It seemed to me that Alfred M. sort of man to whom one could . assurance, “Alf go down to the opera me two tickets.for the show tonight You could feel tickets and the would be in the x back i the 2

at,

The ‘Washington Merry-Go- Fa

Deep Cleavage i in G. O. P. Ranks Over Basic Policies Is Roosevelt Being Luckiest Presidential Candidate Old Ti

Drew Pearson and Robert S. Allen E | WEE Oct, 31.1! hefe ever jas been a viewpoint which guided