Evening star., 1922-11-04
Urges That Business Men Take
An Active Interest in Politics

I 70 dtleTO tnS primaries OF thelr par
| ties. In most of our states we have
primaries for city. state and national
| affairs. for the selection OF delegates
TO conventions or caucuses, or con.
ferences where the candidates for 10.
| cal. state and federal Offices are nomi.
mated and platforms OF principles
| framed. But nearly all that the busi-
ness men of our country co is to ster
up 10 the polls on election day and
vote for the candidates selected for
them by the politicians at these pri.
! maries.
| AT dinner party a short time age
eleven business men who were pres
| leader whom they believed to be un-
| fair to them. His representatives
theE said. had advanced in confer
ences. caucuses and conventions al
iesed sociaEstic. anarchistic doctrines
with no other thought than to gain
popular support by appealing to prei. ~
udices against the financial and busi-
ness men and institutions Of our conn
try: Finally. when they had become
sufhcientiy excited in their comments
over this political leader. they asked
their comments.
There are eleven gentlemen here
an a. OF you business men" / replied
Let me start at the beginning OF
your criticism by asking how many
Your yo you pariiesan Ie.emded the primaries Of
Not one of them had attended their
party primaries
! then told them that there was
NOT primary in the United States
tended by the business men Wouid not
iead to the correction of MANY alleged
Inequalities: that the criticisms fhev
nau N mind were not based on sub
Si.antlai itsra,ad per personal action; and I re-
ness men would attend their party
primaries. they could exert a potent
influence on public affairs.
Too Much Trouble.
Some demurred. saying that they
could not find time to attend the
primaries Of their parties. 1 replied
that 1t would take only fifteen or
thirty minutes Of their time, once or
perhaps twice year. They answered
that, even II they did attend the
primaries, they found the tickets for
delegates made up for them, already
printed. and that all they could do
was either to vote for the delegates
on the printed tickets or not to vote
I at all.
Not at ALL" replied: "in your
business organizations, chambers of
commerce and boards Of trade. you
could stimulate your members to at
TEND the primaries. and before GO
printed tickets naming ehe busine IS
men you desired to vote for as dele
gates to the various caucuSes or con-
ventions which adopt platforms and
nom'nase Thna ,oanad eandidatsS d,s,, for ONCE"
they said. take too much time and
I replied that they could do this In
single evening. two weeks before
the primaries were called; that IL they
such a purpose they could help to Sc
lect delegates to the city. state and
national conventions who. in narine Q
the candidates for office and in adopt
ing platforms. would have in mind the
business interests of the country.
several IN the group replied that
! business men did not desire to enter
the lists for public Office. Admittins
that, I rejoined that 1t would NOT be
necessary for the business mems dele
gates to the various conventions or
caucuses to become candidates for
ofiice. but that it was their duty to
attend these primaries and to select
business men as delegates to the yari.
Gus conventions and caucuses, 80 that
the political leaders would be com.
PEELED to nominate men for Office with
some idea of the business REQUIRE
ments of the country.
Professional Men, Too.
Our professional men-lawyers ply.
sicians, journalists. architects, pro.
fessors, college presidents, civil en-
gineers-must be charged with simi-
lar disregard Of their political duties
as business men. What a power these
professional men could WELD for the
benefit of all classes were they to act
through their societies and associa-
tions, accepting their full duties as
citizens Of the republic.
The business men Of few countries
IN the world are SO neglectful or sc
Indifferent to their political duties as
the American business man.
Our business men seem to forge,
ness, a trade, that the politicians are
constantly on the job, day in and day
out. studying and perfecting their
trade, just as our business men are
studying and perfecting their own
particular vocations. BY a mingline
of the two interests, legitimate bust
ness and legitimate politics. there
would be perhaps fewer opportunities es
for politicians to sneer at business
politicians, and more equable under
standing as to economic policies and
problems could be brought about-and
I have not read Rousseau's "Perpet-
ual Peace" in twenty-five years.
EDWARD q. RIGGS,
Editorial writer on Now York Sun
under Charles A. DeeA