The Weston leader. [volume] (Weston, Umatilla County, Or.) 189?-1946, 1920-08-06
POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY.

Every now and then the cstccmc,
Saturday Evening Post permit itself
an expression Of annoyance, not I,
say pcevishncsS, because the great
American people wcr mislcd and
thwarted and hamhoo1lcd and be-,
trayed at both Chicago and San
Francisco,
pechancc II is even SO, but moth
ing can bc done about il and nothing
could have been done about it--for
the reason that the people never
know what they want, while the poll
ticians almost invariably do,
You and Ito mention the more
important hrst-and Toni. Dick and
Harry constitute the American pco'
pie. We have conflicting interests
and conflicting desires and conflicting
political views, We are always hope
lcSsly divided as 10 men and issues.
The most Of us are grouped IN two
great opposing political camps, al
ways suspicious Of each other and
always determined to defeat each
other, and these camps have num-
Der Of factional sub divisions. We
can never get together rs an entirc
people. and cur supposed political
wishes are crystallizcd in party ac-
tion. To act at all we must BE- led,
and it therefore follows that We are
never wiser than our political lead-
ers. Sometimes they are wise, but
never are they disiuterested.
Herbert Hoover, who perhaps more
nearly than any other man In the
public eye typifed peoples candi-
date, might conceivably have had the
democratic nomination--not because
the democratic leaders wanted Hoov.
er, but because they would have been
forced to regard him ms the most
available man with whom to over
come the omnipresent republican ma
jority. But Hoover did not want the
democratic nomination and he could
not get the republican nomination.
The republican leaders did not have
to deal with democratic majority,
and felt themselves independent Of
Hoover. who had never worn their
party collar nor taken part in their
party councils.
And so we are left with Cox, who
is tagged as n Tammany candidate.
and Harding, who is tagged as an
Old Guard candidate, But while the
Old Guard was active and successful
at Chicago, and Tammany was active
and successful mt San Francisco. Il
comprehensive reading of convention
reports would seem to indicate that
their success was the result OF acci-
dent rather than design. Space does
not permit us to enter into this phase
of the question, but it is quite APP
parent that had the political cards
fallen. just a little differently Wood
or Lowden would have been the
at Chicago and Davis--af-
ter the collapse Of the McAdoo boom
the nominee at San Francisco.
Wood was not an Old Guard darling,
nor was Davis a pet of Tammany.
And so, as we have said, II is Cox
or Harding. One or the other will
have to be president unless we want
Debs OF Christensen or the prohib-
tion nominee. They are good Ameri
cans with good public and private
records, Practical politicians they
may percliance be. but perchance it
may also be that the American peo-
pie want a practical politician in the
White House. Roosevelt had TO die
before he was accorded the full laur-
els of public approval for record Of
lncompromisingly progressive states
And not until after Wood
row Wilson's death will his worth be
by his countrymcn.
AS for us, with either Cox or
Harding in the White House we viii
rot feel alarmed over the country's
uture. We prefer Cox for the reas-
IN that his election would be equiva-
ent to endorsement by the United
States Of the League Of Naitons--the
most altruistic and promising world
movement Of all time.