Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-05-10
CAMPAIGN ISSUES

DOA ASHA 6OSSAH ~ "oo
ton is that the republican
have changed their views since TIL
Indiana primaries and they no long
er wish to make the Harding ad
ministration the issue in the com
ing congressional elections. Earl,
In the game they realized that thu
congressional record was a pool
thing to 60 before the people on
They thought the White House rec
ord furnished a better issue, ant
the congressman planned to 60 be-
fore the constituents pleading fol
reelection on the ground that they
were needed in Washington to sup
port President Harding's admins
tration. That was the line carried
out in Indiana In the campaign Of
Senator Harry New for renomina.
ton and the disastrous results have
given the republican congressional
candidates pause and serious reflec.
tions. Some of them are now say.
ing that the issue should be "the
League of Nations" The Spring.
field Republican remarks that:
Campaign issues ordinarily are
talking points for party candidates
In a year like this, when no ma
tional conventions will be held to
frame party platforms, each candi-
date will have an exceptional op-
portunity to decide for himself
what his issues shall be. If he is
a good political weather forecaster,
he will commonly direct his course
by local conditions. Thus all issues
this year tend to become local is
Sues.
Senator Mccormick of Illinois,
chairman of the committee to pro-
mote the election of republican can
didates for the senate, is very keen
as an issue-maker. He loses no op-
portunity to invite the democrats
everywhere to make the League of
Nations the paramount issue Of the
fall campaign. On the principle
that in politics as in var the wise
thing to do is the opposite of what
the enemy wants you to do, the
democratic senators in the debate
we're cold to MI. McCormick's
suggestion. Domestic issues prom
Use most for democrats, is their
wary response to Mr.. McCormick's
eager questioning. AS a matter Of
fact, while each democratic candi-
date will shape his own issues, in
the main, the voters will determine
the outcome whatever the talking
points may be. But often a talking
point is the political ignition that
explodes a general state of mind.
"In such a wide field as the
American electorate offers for test
ing public sentiment, there should
be some contests this year fought
~squarely on the broad isolation
question of which the League of
Nations is a specific phase. No
better place for fighting such a bat
tie could be found, perhaps, than
Indiana in the heart of the middle
west. Indiana would be superior
to Massachusetts, as a battle-ground
for several reasons.
"In this state the democratic
party's official leadership is in
agreement with Senator Lodge on
the league question. There is moth
ing to make one prefer Senator
Walsh to Senator Lodge, and it will
be difficult for any democratic can
didate to fight Mr.. Lodge on the
league issue without alternating Mr..
Walsh's support.
"The population of Indiana is
more nearly a section of the
country as a whole than is the
population of Massachusetts,. Mr..
Beveridge's record on the league
issue is that of an isola-
ZIONIST of a rather extreme
type, while Ex-Governor Rails
ton, his democratic opponent.
is fairly in line with the Wilson
ian ideal of world cooperation. An
appeal to the people by the Indiana
candidates would have Illuminating
results. We should then learn
more definitely and conclusively
whether the league idea has a po-
future in America"