Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1920-01-27
Nez0 Y0rkW/0rM 5EdIt0rI0E
Supporting Herbert H00Uer
For Nest President ct L. s.

some of their former characteristics
III both parties. The Republicans
boast, and not without reason IF the
record of the SiXty-siXth congress
can be ignored for the time being),
that they represent efficiency in the
administration of government. Mr.
Hoover has proved himself one of
the greatest administrators of all
time. His achievements are among
The miracles of the war, and when
Europe speaks Of efficiency It no
longer speaks Of it in terms OF Ger
many but in terms Of Hoover.
If the democrats cannot success
fully challenge the republican claim
to superior administrative ability.
they can honestly claim that except
for the brief period when the party
organization had become Chattel
of the slaVe-holdmg oligarChy the
Democratic party has been the great
champion of individual rights and OF
the liberties of the people. It is es-
sentially the party of the bill of
rights and of the constitutional
guarantees of freedom, the uncom-
promising assertion of which was
never more needed than it is today.
In spite of the southern prohibit
tlcnists and the reactionary prac-
tees of Attorney General Palmer
and Postmaster General Burleson,
the individual Democrat, who is a
Democrat on principle, has not lost
these characteristics. The instincts
of the great mass of democracy still
tend to keep it party of the COM
mon people, not in the sense of the
demagogue but in the sense of
Thomas Jefferson. They are still
struggling whenever the opportunity
offers and free play of Democratic
sentiment is permitted by party or
ganization, against those centraliz,
ing tendencies that are turning the
government of the United States into
an autocracy of bureaucrats.
If Mr.. Hoover is a Republican in
respect to administrative capacity,
he is a Democrat in respect to de
Capitalization and human rights.
The argument for his nomination
does not stop there. One of the
great organs of British Liberalism.
the London Nation, recently declared
that Mr.. Hoover was the ab1est man.
that the war had produced. Of the
men who were without high repu-
there can be no question that he
is the most commanding figure that
emerged out of this weller of the
nations. Such ability is not to be
held lightly at a time like this. The
American people are going to need
it, and need it badly
Most of the candidates who have
thus far announced themselves.
Democrats and Republicans alike, es-
Unable gentlemen though they may
be. are so inadequate, in view of the
issues that the next president must
meet, that their aspirations are little
short of ridiculous. Men who have
no conception whatever of what is
going on in the world and no under
standing of the problems that must
be met are boldly offering themselves
for an office for which even the best
mind and tae strongest talents are
hardly adequate.
OF all the men whose names have
been mentioned, the World believes
that Mr.. Hoover alone measures UP
to the presidency in the fullest
sense.
1t is not happy state of affairs
in which the American people find
themselves, but it is an inevitable
state of affairs in view of the politi-
cal practices which they have toier.
ated during the lst--20 years. They
allowed Mr.. Bryan to club every
Democrat into submission who was
not at heart a Popu1ist, and they al
lowed Mr.. Roosevelt to put the Wall
street brand on every Republican
who would not meekly indorse my
policies" The result of it is that the
blood of both of the political parties
has been impoverished, and in the
course Of the contests between the
right wings and left wings of both
organizations, men of ability who
might well have aSpired to a politi-
cal career have sought some other
means of service.
Woodrow Wilson, of course was a
political accident. He obtained the
Democratic nomination in conse-
quence of the bitter conflict between
the Bryan Democrats and the Ryan
Democrats, and slipped into the
White House because Theodore
Roosevelt was determined to destroy
William Howard Taft for the Of
tense Of insubordina ton. He has
maintained himself not because of |
the love and affection in which he |
is held by the politicians of the |
Democratic party, but by the sheer |
power of the most penetrating and |
dominant intellect ever known in the |
White House. When a venomous
partisanship that could not deal with |
him on a plane Of mental equality |
succeeded in breaking him down,
nervously and physically, the Amer1- |
can people suddenly discovered that |
l. I L.:
that their government had ceased |
operate.
Unless his successor is equally ca /
pable of achieving the leadership OF |
the country by force of ability, char
acter and conviction there will be
no leadership, and throughout the
period of reconstruction we shat |
have nothing better than an imita- |
ton government manipulated by the |
managing politicians of the party |
that happens to carry the elections. |
lions.
The fundamental rights and liber-
ties of the American people are
menaced today as they have never
been menaced before. On the one
hand radicalism is pushing it's theo-
ries to the very verge of anarchy,
ar on the other hand conservatism
has Joined hands with Bourbonism
to destroy liberty in order to main
tain the extreme individualist1c
theory of property rights. Between
these two greedy groups Of fools and
fanatics, there is great middle
ground which is held by the vast
majority of Americans and which
they will continue to hold under |
competent leadership, but competent
leadership there must be, and no man
better embodies it than Herbert c.
Hoover
He has worked with his hands, and |
he knows from personal experience |
the point of view of the man who |