Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-01-29
SENATOR REED AS AN ARTIST .
IN POLITICAL CURTAlN-FlRE
Merry Times Await Presidential candi.
dates Who Wander in No Mans Land
Without Old Guard Passwords

DROF ESSlONAl politics IS for the
most rart a scrimmage between linn
tied groups of men who use party or
gani2ations to sustain their own cgoism
and their own interests. Crowded at the
top Of every party are the winners, who
gaze downward always with panicky
eyes. They dread any change in the de-
sign of the structure that supports them.
The climb has been hard. They live in
fear of fall. And for any one who sug-
gests a scheme of things more represent
ative of the popular will they have long
range word-guns, mud in plenty and
method of propaganda that is really
deadly.
If the stakes and the issues of the war
were such as to require sacrifice and even
the service of martyrdom among plain
Americans, it is to be supposed that some
flicker of inspiration touched the men
who made the loudest speeches during
the last few years. But the bosses, big
and little, have not changed. If they ever
knew what the war was about they seem
to have forgotten it.
Jim Reed rs an example of the incur
able selhshness of the professional party
man. This Jim knows little of the
thought and need of his day and genera
tion. He is not thinker. He has a
trick that makes thinking unnecessary
| for his purposes. He knows how to reach
! behind the mind of the average man, to
touch dismal prcjudices to new life at
| their emotional source and inspire delu
sions that defy reason.
| Senator Reeds attack on Hoover was a
! deliberate masterstroke of propaganda.
! Hoover has his faults. He is headstrQng.
! He is positive in action, impatient with
| those who do not agree with him, con-
temptuous of details. He might prove to
be even less able than Mr.. Wilson to
| effect the compromises that are part of
the days work at Washington, where OPP
posing forces are inevitable and even de-
sirable in and out of Congress.
But no one in his senses ever believed
that Hoover is pro- British or anything
other than pro-American. Hoover irri
tated the British. He made no secret of
his contempt for many of their aims and
( methods. A few years ago a consider
able element of the English press was
violently calling him pro-German, Mr.
Reed knows all this, or ought to know it
and a great deal more. He and his
/ friends do not expect the country to be-
lieve them in this instance. They wish
| merely to raise doubts, to start heads and
tongues to wagging and minds to wonder
ing.
They have given circulation to what
psychologists call IAN interrupting idea"
They have inspired doubt and that was
all they wished to do
| 1t is not with Mr.. Hoover or his can
/ didacv that we need be concerned in a
study of this method of political annhi-
lation. 1t is the success with which
| prejudice can be substituted for reason in
! American politics and the obstacles flung
! in the way of honest men who wish to
! serve the country independently that in
| vite attention.
Hoover knows all that can be known
about the moral, political and economic
trends in Europe. His honor and integ-
/ rty and patriotism have beer tested and
proved in a thousand ways. He has been
making friends for US in every part Of
the world. 1t is for later events to de-
eide whether his peculiar talents, his
aggressive honesty and his frank con-
tempt for hidden and furtive clements in
! tOllLIcS
/ dcnCy.
The significant thing now is the fact
that, because he aad the audacity to turn
to the people rather than to the party
mandarins for support and sympathy, he
is to be eWarded for four years of match
less service to humanity with viification,
abuse and the insults of men like Senator
Reed.
Here We have in plain operation the
system that has worked TO keep many
men Of great mind and great heart out
Of politics in this country. Some there
arc who are willing to endure the on
sIaughts, the slander and the mud
showers used in the defense of in
trenched political machines. Most men
shrink from that sort of attack. They
prefer to keep out of a struggle that so
often can be made unclean.
The tinhorns who have joined in Scna.
tor Reeds chorus arc of course, not
thinking of the country. They arc not
oven concerned about their political par
tics. They arc thinking Of themselves
They have the vantage ground of Wash.
ington from which to talk. The odds arc
in their favor. And no man, no matter
how great his purposes may be- can es,
cape the rigors of their scandal barrage
Yet the simple fact is that no man car
approach within sight of the White House
or become even potential candidate fol
the presidency unless he is a man of honor
and unusual ability. Nowhere in thr
world is there such an effective metho,
Of political elimination as is to be foun'
in the elective machinery of the states
II is the fashion to talk lightly of th
favorite sons. Ysk they are almoa