Evening star., 1922-03-12

" with the varied picturesque
campaigns Of an elder day,
platform oratory. torchlight parades.
songs and cartoons in vogue for more
than ninety years. one might suppose
that the entire gamut had been run
and all the possible changes rung.
But. bark We! brand-new and SO
thoroughly modern as to be decidedly
futuresque era in campaigning is just
opening up. And it promises to do
automatically what the fathers had
foremost in their minds when franz
ing the Constitution. bring the people
and hold the people in close touch
with the government.
\ mere STRIPPING. a first-termer, a
very tyro in Congress, Representative
Vincent NJ. Brennan of Detroit. Mich..
but with prophetic vision of the pos
'sibilities of developments within the
last few weeks in the most modern
art of communication-by radio-tcle-
phone-introduced in the House the
other day a bill calling for the in
stallation of broadcasting apparatus
in Congress. When he said "a perma-
nent and beneficial result of this ap-
plcation of the radio will be the re-
awakening of public interest in the
doings of Congress" he was looking
not so very far into the future, but
echoing the thought of the fathers
when they designed that the members
of the House should be elected by
popular vote every two years in or
der to keep the larger branch of
Congress-the revenue-raising branch
more closely under. the control Of the
sovereign voters.
CEATED in his study at the White
House-not in his public office.
but in his own unintruded study in
the home part of the executive man
sion-President Harding. with slip
pered feet and probably with collar
and tie off, resting comfortably after
a hard day and a good dinner. ponders
over advices given him by his cabinet.
He draws his telephone toward him,
saying to himself, II will talk direct
ly to the people about this soldier
bonus" or perhaps it will be about
the tariff. foreign treaties or the
transportation problem. He calls the
Navy wireless towers at Arlington, is
tuned in on long wave-length. and. as
his thoughts fow from his lips into
the telephone transmitter they are
received by captains of industry and
finance in the great metropolises. by
chn
and factory workers. by farmers and
miners, by organizations in cities and
by individuals in the most remote
places throughout the entire United
States. Every one of them can get
the message as though spoken direct
" to himself, and, whole hallsful of peo-
pie can get it through use of an ampli-
fier. just as though the President in per
son stood on the platform and addressed
them. ''Gosh. Maggie makes me feel as
if our opinion really counts in making
these laws, when the President talks to
me like that says honest old John
Farmer, on a small farm outside Red
wood Falls, MINI. He goes to bed a
better citizen just for that thought.
The scene shifts. Gathered on vii
large green at Palatka. Fla. are the
populace They are listening to the
Marine Band, and waiting until 3
O'Clock, when they know the Presi-
dent will be addressing a joint ses-
sion of Congress on the necessity for
repeating the overhanging war taxes.
They hear his admonition to Congress
and applaud vigorously his declara-
ton that "the people are overtired of
be lifted. now that the way has been
found for otherwise meeting the OBJ
legations resulting from the war"
NeNt we look into crossroads
school in Preble county, Ohio. On the
platform by the teachers desk Is a
box with an old-fashioned talking
machine horn attached. Out of this
comes the voice of Representative
Roy Fitzgerald, representing that
district in Congress, telling why the
soldier bonus bill Should be passed,
and, making the affair more realistic,
there is motion picture accompany
ment showing Representative Fitz-
gerald as he stands in the pit in front
of the Speakers desk in the House
chamber, challenging his republican
colleagues that they owe it as a sa-
cred obligation to the boys who
fought for human liberty to give
them adjusted compensation.
x < ::
WE sit in the gallery of the House
of Representatives and we hear
Uncle Joe" Cannon, the only man
alive who ran on the same ticket
with Lincoln: Representative Richard
Yates of Illinois, who knew and
talked with Lincoln as boy. and
Representative Loren Wheeler. VINO
now represents the same district that
sent Lincoln to Congress. delivering
eulogies of the life and character OF
Lincoln. just as in thousands of
schoolhouses throughout the country
boys and girls are listening with US.
In the West Springfield, Mass, high
school a graduating class Is leaving
the sheltering walls to go out and
make the world better. and instead of
words of advice on this momentous
occasion from the chairman Of the
school board they are thrilled with
Il message from the capital. Speaker
tiillett or Vice President Coolidge en-
phasizing the unprecedented opportu-
mites in a world made new that lies
before them. And just so. message
Of exhortation to make the influence
Of education felt il. the right conduct
Of public affairs is waited through