The Washington herald., 1920-10-21
The Value of the Commonplace.

w Coolidge's insistence that when the voters
turn their attention again to the COM
monplace then shall know that American nstitu-
tions are secure" a ~ .s~r
9 True the phrase offers opportunity for the
ready gbe at the customary cosnmonplaceness of
the speeches OF his chief Senator Harding. The
opportunity, has been generally seized BY the
Democratic press and the Washington Herald is
little inclined to defend either of the Presidential
candidates from the charge.
Bat however little the tone Of political oratory
in this campaign may be lifted above the dead level
OF the commonplace there is no doubt that the ef-
fort is being made by both sides to divert the
attention and thought OF voters from affairs of
common everyday importance to them and
ter it upon matters only dstany, and infrequently
OF concern
There is nothing quite commonplace to the
average citizen his daily bread Yet from morn
to night it is with its acquisition that he chiefly
concerns himself, and if he be OF religious habit
his last act before sleeping is ask Divine aid in
securing it,
But commonplace need has had scarcely
any attention from the politicians in the present
campaign, although every man knows that the task
OF meeting it is getting harder and harder. We
are asked to contemplate the woes Of Europe to
FIX attention upon controversies between Poles
and LthuanaAS, to consider whether our moral
obligations under Article X can be lodged by
action OF Congress whether they are legal obli-
cations performance OF which might be enforced
upon us by the action of fellow members of the
league 1t is all lvery engrossing to persons of
international minds, but to the average American,
just preyed upon BY, the landlord, the butcher
the baker and the tax-gatherer, all very far re-
moved from the problems that at the moment
engaging his prayerful attention.
In the language pf modern mclodrama this sit
ha hNr ind lad
the. leader OF the Democratic party been content
to accept the treaty the Republican Senate was
willing to pass it with reservations, that might
later have been changed should conditions war
rant this clash OF tongues distinctly foreign
issues would not today confuse, even obliteratc,
what should be the issues of the campaign. The
United States, like the victorious allied peoples OF
Europe, would then be able to set aside war dis
cussons and take up the work OF reconstruction.
VIC lag eighteen months behind our associates
abroad because the President, who was almost the
hrst to be willing to come to an agreement with
the Germans has been the last to be willing to
compromise with Americans who differ with him
on features OF the treaty.
The question is however, whether the people
in casting their votes going to be Influenced
more by those commonplace considerations than by
the eagerly fOmented political clamor about the
league and its responsibilities 1t is the general
opinion OF political observers who have had the
opportunity to observe public sentiment in all sec
rons OF the country that, despite Democratic eff
forts, the election is not going to turn upon the
league issue. The solemn referendum, which by
the way is not very solemn just now, is not en-
gagng the attention OF the people. Rather they
are taking counsel with themselves as to which
party is most likely to reduce taxation, which the
more certain to hold American markets against the
threatened dumping of European goods, which
more probably will devote its chief attention to
distinctly home issues and mingc in the least pos
sible degree with European complications These
are distinctly commonplace considerations, yet in
the opinion OF competent observers they are the
ones which this election will depend
We think that Gov. Coolidge was keen enough
to discern this fact which gives point and emphasis
to his cpigram on the value of the commonplace