Jasper County Democrat, Volume 23, Number 61, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 October 1920 — VASSAR COLLEGE HEAD OUT FOR GOVERNOR COX [ARTICLE]

VASSAR COLLEGE HEAD OUT FOR GOVERNOR COX

Former Republican Wishes to Be “On Side of National Honor.” Poughkeepsie, N. Y., Oct. 22. —Dr. Henry Noble MacCracken, president of Vassar college, has announced that he will vote a “straight Democratic ticket,” including Cox, Roosevelt and Governor Smith. Dr. MacCracken was one of the outstanding pro-league Republicans invited to sign the document pledging support to Harding, which ultimately was signed by 31 others. He refused, saying that nothing in the “way of international co-operation” could be expected from the senators In control of the Republican party. Dr. MacCracken, in a statement explaining the reasons for his decision, said: “As one who has voted the Republican ticket In years past, I should like to be jible to vote for the Republicans this year. There is a limit, however, to party allegiance, and the actions of the Republican party, both as to nominees and platform, have stretched my loyalty to the breaking point. Will Vote Straight Ticket “I shall therefore vote the Democratic ticket straight. I shall do

so, however, not only because I can not vote the Republican ticket, but because careful inquiry convinces me that the Democratic candidates are sincere and capable men. “No New Yorker need have any doubt as to Governor Smith. My Republican friends in the highest office of education and public health, the two fields with which I am most familiar, do not hesitate to call him the best governor they have ever known. In these dayb of dangerous bills I like to think that New York will have a governor Wjio will know what to sign and what to veto and who is afraid of nobody. Inquiry About Cox “My inquiry about Governor Cox from friends in Ohio have satisfied me that he is the same kind of friend as A 1 Smith. I have been urged to throw my vote away as a protest upon a third party candidate; a protest vote, however, is Just what the Republicans want. “Why should I make ipy vote count one by merely subtracting it from the Republicans when by cast-

ing It to the Democratic candidates I can make a difference of two. “Under ordinary circumstances I should think It unwise for the president -of a college to make a statement of this sort. The issues both of state and nation this year are really non-partisan, however, and most of my colleagues have felt it necessary to declare themselves on one side or the other. “I feel Justified, therefore, in ask ing to be counted on the side of state welfare and national honor."