The Blackfoot optimist., 1916-07-13

WHY NOT ELECT A.
BUSINESS MAN; !;
Candidate For President Should
Have Commercial Training &,
GOVERNMENT IS A BUSINESS
Set Back Professional Politicians, Horn
Blowing Orators and Briefless Law.
yers and Place at the Head of the
Biggest Corporation In the World an
Experienced Man.
TATHY can't we have business
" man in the Presidential
" chair next time, is the que
ry Of u prominent New
York newspaper
Government is BUSINESS. and a
BIG BUSINESS.
Seagoing and overland commerce,
taxation, tariffs, rate regulation, mo-
nOpOly regulation, the mails and par
GELS posts, conservation Of resources,
development and maintenance OF wa
terways, the huge payrolls of Govern
ment employees, the courts of justice,
the national revenue collectors and po-
lice, the army and navy-what are all
these but pure business problems, de-
manding the same trained and capable
business executive direction that any
great business concern demands?
What board of directors would think
Of hiring professor Of Sanskrit to be
president Of great railroad?
What huge shipbuilding or engineer
ing concern would select a peripatetic
stump orator or lyceum lecturer to
direct its activities?
Big Business Mon Needed.
Big business concerns seek big busi-
ness men with big business brains to
be executive chiefs.
Now, here is this big business cor
poration in which every one of us, big
and little, IS a stockholder-the United
States Of America.
1t is the BIGGEST BUSINESS CON-
Germ the world ever saw.
And what do we do every four years
by way of selecting head for this
wonderful, gigantic business concern?
Why, we always select man who
has never shown enough business abiI-
ity to run One-horse draying concern
In the fifty years that have elapsed
since Abraham Lincoln died not one
of the eleven Chief Executives Of this
colossal business corporation called the
United States has had the SLIGHT
EST BUSINESS TRAINING or any
acquaintance with the complex, varied
ramifying and interrelated problems of
finance, production. transportation and
world exchange upon which depend the
welfare and prosperity of the whole
people and Of each individual citizen.
Hindrancs Of Prosperity.
Is 1t any wonder that our national
business Is one long serial story Of
stupid HINDRANCE OF PROSPER
ITY, stupid depression Of commerce
and trade. stupid opposition to the for
ward impulses of business cooperation
and consolidation and Of wasteful and
criminally extravsgant expenditure Of
the peoples money to the tune Of thou
ands OF millions?
Is 1t any wonder that we WASTE
each year an amount OF money that
would fortify our coasts, stock our
magazines with ammunition. equip our
navy properly and SECURE BEYOND
ANY POSSIBLE DANGER the safety
of our country?
Suppose that just once. by way OF
experiment. we gently. but firmly and
positively, set the whole lot Of rrOfes-
s!onal politicians. horn blowing ora
tors, briefess lawyers, pretty phrase
makers, theoretical schoolmasters and
all that sort on shelf in the back
woodshed and put BIG. BRAINY.
CAPABLE. EXPERIENCED BUSI-
NESS MAN. who has done big things
well all his life, in the chair Of the
President of the United States?
What do you think about this, citi-
xens?
For an idea, Not an Individual.
The views expressed In the above
editorial are exactly the views held by
THOUSANDS OF INFLUENTIAL
BUSINESS MEN throughout the coun-
try. AS an outgrOwth OF this sentiment
there has bee. formed an organization
called the Business Mems Presidential
League. which has for its object the
exploitation Of an idea instead Of an