Jasper County Democrat, Volume 23, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 April 1920 — MARSHALL NOT A CANDIDATE [ARTICLE]

MARSHALL NOT A CANDIDATE

Vice-President Scores Appeal of Candidates for Radical Support New York, April 22. —“God pity the man who reaches the conclusion that the fate of America rests on Ms shoulders, and God pity America when it does,” was the way that Vice-President Marshall, in a characteristic interview here, summed up hte atittude toward the presidential nomination. Mention Qf the vice-president’s name as a likely “dark horse” at the San Francisco convention started the talk. “I think they are beginning to believe me,” the vice-president said, “when I repeatedly say that I am not seeking the presidential nomination. I do not mind telling you why I feel this way.” Here the vice-president made th»< remark quoted in the opening paragraph. “It is easy for a man to persuade himself that the people are calling for him, but when he gets to the convention he is apt to find that the delegates haven’t heard the call,” Mr. Marshall continued. “1 do not want to appear consorious of men who are undoubtedly able and patriotic Americans,” he added, “but I honestly can not see why a man should seek the presidency of the United States.

“The strict constitutional responsibilities of the chief executive of the nation are very great. The people themselves have made these responsibilities immeasureably greater. They require that the president be a self-starter. He must put into the job his every waking minute. He is spied upon by secret service men and hounded by self-seekers. A trusty in the Indiana penitentiary has more liberty than he has. He must' give his all to the nation. His reward consists of bouquets and brickbats in about equal proportions. The vice-president said tbfit even though he desired the office he could not conduct an active campaign for it under present conditions. “When I ran for governor of Indiana. I paid an assessment of >l,» 800 to the state committee. I campaigned the state at my own expense. I made the same speech 16» times and walked into the governor’s office on a total expenditure of >3,250. When I came home from my campaigning I found on my desk a bunch of checks. They ranged from >5 to >SOO and totaled >IO,OOO. They had been sent in by personal and political friends who wanted to help my candidacy. I sent every one back”

Mr. Marshall said that it seemed to him that prejudice rather than sober thinking was being more and more reflected in political conditions. “I thought when the war began/’ he said, “that we had seen the last of hyphenated Americans. Now that the war is over I find I was mistaken. There are? more hyphenated Americans now in evidence than ever before in the history of the country. They are maklpg their influence felt more and more and the thought and influence of real Amerleans are being apparently submerged. Class interests and class feelings also seem to predominate. Watching congress at work I sometimes get the notion that we only

legislate for the very rich man, or for the comporatively small group of organized working-men. The real public, the great majority of the people, seemingly have no voice In our legislation. “But this condition will not continue. The public will stand just so much and then It will assert itself. There are more than 60,000,000 of us plain, every-day Americans. We are more than all the hyphenates and all the profiteers and the union labor men combined. We are the majority, and as the majority the day will come when we will assert ourselves. “In 1916 I apologized for having appealed for votes from German-. American and Irteh-Americans and Scandinavian-Americans and promised never to do It again. I am willing to extend that promise. I will never appeal for votes for my party from the New England manufacturer or from the organized laborer or from any other class or creed. The only appeal that I will ever make on behalf of my party in the future will be an appeal to voters who are Americans before they are anything else.”