Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-04-01
FOOLlNG ALL THE PEOPLE
FOR ALlTTLE WHILE
An April Forecast Of the Course
Of the Approaching Presidential
Campaign

ham Lincoln.
That distinguished commentator on
human foibles and virtues once said
You can fool all of the people some of
the time and some of the people all Of
the time, but you cant fool all of the
people all Of the time.
Tho discourse naturally divides itself
into three parts. as did that of the
flesh and the devil" He explained that
owing to the lack of time he would speak
briefly on the first point, touch lightly
on the second and hasten on to the last
We shall reverse his method and ignore
the second and third points and confine
ourselves to a discussion of the theory
and practice Of fooing all Of the people
some of the time.
We are treated every four years to
the antics of men who think that they
can fool all of the people for the few
months intervening between the presi-
dental nominating conventions and the
election day in November.
Many of them really believe the thing
can be done. They begin by fooling
themselves. Statements which at an
other time they would reject as prepos-
ferrous ar. accepted as the inspired gos-
pei of party truth. With all the elo-
quence at their command they proclaim
preposterous platitudes as If they were
recent discoveries in social philosophy or
they claim for their party a monopoly
of all political wisdom and virtue and
denounce the opposition as made up OF
men seeking to undermine the founda-
tions of free and democratic institutions
in the interests of some hated oligarchy
of abhorrent forces.
And they take themselves as seriously
as a young girl going to her first party.
This state of mind lasts until the votes
are counted. and on the morning after
election day they awake from their
trance and become normal again.
One has only to look back over the
issues that have been discussed in re-
cent months to be able TO forecast the
course which the fooling process will
take.
There is the peace treaty. for ex-
ample. Some worthy citizens have con-
vinced themselves that its ratification
would draw the United States into the
entanglements of European politics and
compel is to send our boys across the
ocean to fight the battles of nations un-
able or unwilling to defend themselves.
The horrors of Balkan wars will be de-
scribed and the mothers will be asked
whether they want the United States to
commit itself to any program which
would take their sons into such con-
flicts. They will tell us that Washing
ton foresaw such possibilities when he
argued against entangling alliances with
Europe, and they will ignore the fact
that the purpose of the treaty with its
League Of Nations is 10 make it unnec-
essary TO send any more armies abroad,
and they will forget that we had to raise
an army Of 1000, 900 men and send
. 900 900 TO Europe at a time when
there was no League Of Nations.
They will not see for many months
that the logic of their arguments leads
to the perpetuation Of the conditions
which forced us TO participate in Eu-
ropean conflict and to pile up a war
deb Of, S25 .OOO. 100000. They are
fooled and they think they can fool the
rest of us.
Another group of men will denounce
the use of money in elections, as though
an election could be conducted without
spending money. The very reformers
who urged the primary system upon us
the most expensive system of selecting
delegates or nominating candidates for
Office ever devised-are especially OUT
ragged because candidates seeking the
presidential nomination are supported
bv men willing TO spend the money neces =
sary to carry primaries. But it should
be noted that il is the expenditure OF
money by the candidate they do not sup
port which is especially Objectionable to
them, 4 reasonable amount of money
used 10 secure the nomination Of my
candidate" is legitimate, but any sum of
money spent 10 secure the nomination
Of your candidate" threatfps the sta =
biIitv of the republic and means that the
presidency can be bought by the highest
bidder And this year they believe this
sort of thing,
The orators of both parties and the
campaign textbooks issued b. both ma
tional committees will insist that their
marty is the only party Of retrenchment
and reform. They will arraign the op-
positiou for extravaganza and corrup-
ton. as though they could convince any
one that all the crooks were in one party
and all the virtuous men III the other.
Whereas. the Republican citizen who
reads this in the quiet of his home thin
evening il aware that his Democratic
peighbor is just as honest and as pa
triotic as he, and the Democratic citizen
hos the same confidence in the patriotism
and virtue OF his Republican neighbor-
that il. except once every four years,
when We are all fooled for little while.
Unless all signs fail, the modern Jack
Cadrs in both parties will attack the
high cost Of living and promise, if their
candidates are elected, there shall bt
/ in England seven half penny loaves sold
for a uenny. the three hooped pots shall
have ten hoops and | will make il d
felony to drink small beer.
! They have already made it a felony
| not only to drink small beer, but to have
i il in ones possession. The price ot
shoes is TO come down by law and cloth
ing is 10 be made cheaper by statute
and meat and eggs and vegetables. il
spite of the high wages paid to labor
are to be sold at prices which prevailed
before the war if the consumers will gC
to the polls and put the right piece o.
paper into box arranged to receive it
Such confidence in the potency of thu
sovereign will was never displayed since
ancient kings issued decrees against th'
/ storms and the tides.