Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1919-1980, 1920-02-04
Ir,ieIdng Champion Of Human Rights And Responsible
Government And An Administrator And Executive OF High
est Order Combines Loftiest Principles Of Both Repub-
Ecan And Democratic Parties And Opposed Only By
Greedy Politicians Of Both Parties For Selfish Purposes.

guarantees of freedom, the uncom
promising assertion of which wa
never more needed than it is TODAY
In spite of the Southern Prohibi
tionists and the reactionary practice
OF Attorney General Palmer and Post
master General Burleso.. the ind,,fd
ual Democrat, who is a Democrat o,
principle, has not lost their character
istics. The instincts of the great mas
of Democracy still tend to keep II ,
party of the common people. not 1,
the sense of the demagogue but in tn,
sense of Thomas jefferson. They ar,
still struggling whenever the oppor
tunity offers and free play of Demo
cratic sentiment is permitted by part,
organization, against those centraliz
ing tendencies that are turning tn,
Government of the United States int
an autocracy of bureaucrats.
If Mr.. Hoover is Republican il
respect to administrative capacity, h,
is a Democrat in respect to decen
tralization and human rights.
The argument for his nomination
does not stop there. one of the greai
organs of British Liberalism, the Lon.
don Nation, recently declared thai
Mr.. Hoover was the ablest man thai
, the war had produced. OF the mer
who were without high reputation
when the conflict began, there can be
no question that he is the most com.
manding figure that emerged out OF
this welter of the nations. Such
ability is not to be held lightly as O
time like this. The American people
are gong to need it, and need it badly
Candidates inadequate
Most of the candidates who have
thus far announced themselves, DEM
ocrats and Republicans alike, estim-
able gentlemen though they may be.
are so inadequate, in view of the is
sues 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 understanding
of the problems that must be met are
boldly offering themselves for an Of
flee for which even the best mind and
the strongest talents are hardly ade-
quate.
or 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 political
practices which they have tolerated
during the last twenty years. They
allowed Mr.. Bryan to club every Dem
ocrat into submission who was not
at heart Populist, and they allowed
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 kas seen
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 political career have
sought some other means of service.
Wilson An Accident
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
Taft for the offense of in
subordination. He has maintained
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
and dominant intellect
ever known in the White House
When venomous partisanship that
could not deal with him on place of
mental equality succeeded in break
ing him down, nervously and physic-
ally, the American people suddenly
discovered that they were without
leadership and that their Government
had ceased to operate.
Unless his successor is equally cap
able 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 shall have moth
ing better than an imitation Govern
ment manipulated by the managing
politicians of the party that happens
to carry the elections.
Rights In Jeopardy
The fundamental rights and liber-
ties of the American people are mem
aced today as they have never been
menaced before. On the one hand
is pushing its theories to