Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-05-01
PASSING THE BUNK
IN 1920 POLITICS
Better Manners and Better Thinking
Rule In the Race for the
White House


White House
Tn NATIONAL politics and In the
l. newspapers that aim to shine as in d.
tcrprcters of party motives there are
numerous signs Of increasing wisdom
and better manners. The country is
full of people who are happiest when
they are hating Senator Iii johnson.
But no ono calls Senator Johnson n
iackal or n bandit
The Cartoonists Of tho opposition
press haven't drawn Senator Iii creep
lug murderously upon his Uncle Samuel
with bomb and bowie knife. Nor
have they shown General Wood with
bloody hands and German helmet.
Mr.. Wilson must hc struck by the cvi
dences of similar restraint among
Republican editors.
And the national conventions arc
only few weeks of
generation ago under similar cir
cumstanccs partisan editors pruptod
terribly in their columns. Dollar marks
and black masks. villainous innuendo
rumors of jobs and robberies were the
.
as it proves, was not criticism at all.
/ Every once in while some one rises
to bemoan the passing of the old school
of editors. But it is n question whether
| there would be room in the political
journalism Of today for the old fash
idned writer whose chief equipment was
talent for hatred linked with the will
TO destroy. Unless these old journal
lists were wrong. scoundrcls and liars
only ran Tor the presidency. They were
elected now and then.
That sort Of thing Is going out. Liars
and scoundrcls and demons do not run
for the presidency and they are not even
conspicuous in national politics. It is
largely the fault of cffervcscrnt old
school journalists if the dollar mark
and the dinner pail and the banner of
ono party or another were held so close
to the eyes Of the people that it was
impossible to see even little way into
the future.
/ For years affairs all over Europe
worc plainly drifting toward the com
! pication that led to the most furious
and destructive war Of history. For
( wears the seas have been narrowing and
the European fcuds have been project
| ing themselves into American life. and
| for a generation mankind has been aC-
Quirirg new social consciousness
which has finally challenged governing
minds everywhere.
To prove that a Republican could
never get to heaven or that Gehenna
was made for Democrats, the political
critics OF a vanishing era polished their
rhetoric and wrote with n good deal of
superficial briliancy. Some couldn't
see beyond the Mason and Dixon line
and some couldn' SEQ beyond the tariff
and some insisted that the possession of
money was proof of vllainy and some
held that full dinner pail was all that
any wage Garner should desire or re-
/ eive in this life.
II is refreshing to perceive the new
spirit in American journalism and the
( new desire for rational criticism that
shall reach beyond men and parties to
! illuminate the issues they represent.
( II was the ablest journalistic organ
NJ the Democratic party that first pro
posed Hoover for the presidency, and
later offered to support him as the can
didate of the Republicans. Mr.. Will
sons administration and Mr. Wilson
himself have received the consistent sup
port Of leading Republican newspapers
and leading Republicans for policies
that seemed to be constructive and en-.
| lightened.
| Hoover. Wood, johnson and Harding
! have active antagonists in every part Of
! the country, but thus far at least mud
/ has not been thrown at any Of them.
( The tendency TO libel man because he
/ happens to be candidate for a great
office is disappearing in politics as it is
disappearing in American newspapers.
II was an ugly habit. Washington
Jefferson and Jackson and all the Pres
idonts we have had suffered somew hat
through IT, Lincoln suffered most Of
all. No man in American public life
was ever so cruelty misrcproscntcd and
SO tragically misunderstood as ho.
! General scrutiny nowadays Is fixed
| upon the issues for which presidential
candidates are snokCsmen Easy rhet-
/ oric and hippant cpigrama that once
passed for political discussion in news
! papers and on the stump are giving way
10 frank, fearless and relentless study
Of every candidates mind and every
candidates purpose. We have lived
through the days Of bunk and bombast
Here and there. as the election ap-
Droachcs, some Of tho old stage business
will be revived But n hDgher and more
III