The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1920-01-02
TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS FOR
PLATFORM SUGGESTIONS BY
YOUNG REPUBLICANS.

through Une hepuDliCdh Nasoii"'
Committee, Mr.. Truxtun Beale, for
mer United States Minister to Persia
and an ardent Republican who has
the best interests Of his party at heart
offers cash prizes aggregating $4,000
for the best platform suggestions by
young Republicans in tile country.
His offer has been formally accept
ed by Chairman Will II. Hays, of the
National Committee, and the contest
will open at once n close March 81.
1920.
A first prize Of $4,000 will be given
for the best manuscript received; 49,
900 for the second best and $1,000 for
the third.
Manuscripts are limited to 5000
words and must be addressed to Wal
ker Blaine Beale, Contest Division Of
Young Voters, Republican National
Committee, 923 Woodward Building,
Washington, ID. G. Fourtypewritten
copies must be submitted, II only Of
the number being signed.
Under date of November 20, 1919,
Mr.. Beale, i'm a letter TO Chairman
Hays, quoted William Roscoe Thay-
er's description Of a National Conven-
ton, with its scenes of turmoil and
strife, as given in his life of Roose-
Welt. In this chapter Mr.. Thayer
said:
IA spectator from Mars might have
remarked, but for so importanta bust
ness as the choice of a candidate who
may become President of the United
States you ought TO have quiet, delib
Grafton, f~ree-play, not for those who
can shout the loudest but for those
who can speak the wisest.'
"And to this remark the bowling,
whirling dervishes who attend the
Convention might have responded, if
they waited long enough to hear it
through, by yelling, Hail, Hail, the
gangs all here and would have dart
ed off to catch VI with their fellow
bacchanals." etc.
Commenting upon this depletion of
a National Convention, Mr.. Beale, in
his letter, said:
''If these conditions were strange
for the nomination Of a President
they were still more strange for work
ing out and formulating the princi-
plies and planks of a political platform
"A political platform would surely
have more clearness If thought out in
the libraries and studies Of the schol,
ars Of the country than in the turmoil
and noise of a political convention; it
would have o consistency if made
away from its Earring elements; it
would have fewer eyasions and am
biguties If not made under the pres
sure OF its clashing interests, and the
great organic truths of sociology and
economics for the guidance Of a party
could be more profoundly considered
and more effectively expressed.
There never has been a time when
the two great parties have differed SO
fundamentally in principal as now,
differences that 60 to the very foun-
dation Of society; never a time when
so many brands of quack medicine
have been so energetically hawked "a
bout as cures for the distempers of
the state, and therefore never a time
when an honest platform and straight
thinking, holding out no false hopes
and promising no short cuts to the
millennium, is more important than
now"
For these reasons Mr.. Beale sub
scribed $4,000 to the Republican Ma.
tional COMMITTEE to be offered in priz-
es as here outlined. The only stipu-
lation that he made was that the Com
mittee assume the responsibility OF
furnishing the machinery and expen.
serequired for reading the manu-.
scripts submitted. "Of course" he
added, 'it Is not my idea that such a
platform would necessarily be adopt.
ed by the National Convention, but
the educative effect on the people at
large might have a beneficial indirect
result; and may aid you in your well
directed efforts to interest young peo-
pie in politics."
Mr.. Beale's original proposal con
templated opening the competition tt
graduates of Harvard, Yale, Prince
ton, Columbia, John Hopkins, Michi
gan, Wisconsin, California, University
Of Virginia, University Of Kansas
University of Pennsylvania and Uni
versity Of Texas. but he waived this
limitation upon the suggestion Of
Chairman Hays thai more good would
result by opening the competition tc