Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-09-25
Letters to the Editor
of No Consesuencc

o.. a.. r,d;tor Of the Ercninp public hedoer!
sir--A couple Of weeks ago good
.anr ncoplc and som" newspapers
hany h,y..ol excitement over nn alleged in
,.u,,iow s""i with Rudyard Kipling. and cs-
a,iolIv ono remark in it. But what s
T.s ~ m.c ot getting stirred up over It,.
,nso,hcr Kiplings denial is valid or not
MI ,,orII moves on aud the public
u,ind moves with it. after Il fashion.
"t Tho mower Of II phrase nr 81 logan was
.unn compclling thing. \ hnsty ut
tarancc. often ill-advised and thought :
,.ss vas once enough TO blast II great
sanitation. destroy political party. or
irrolyc great nations III serious dirh'
nuty, The power OF such ul'crhhr's
,is largely lost because III tnc%c DAYS II"
,;ndiyidual has either the ability or thc
authority fifty to express me pho,ic
mind or the attitud" OF wn"'" I,""rIr.
AZ man may speak for himself. but
not for his fellow mcn.
= In other days grCnt issues were often
,.ontrollel by slogan or phrase. how
i.rnr foolish rr i'll advised. I'm the
n,esdcntial campaign of 1910 General
W;llinm Henry Harrison defeated Con
.rai Winfield Scott and Henry Clay for
,bo nomination chiefly bccnuS" b" hal
hscn in retirement for many years and
hoJ mndc no political enemies. lie de-
fa.trI Martin Van Rurcn at th" cleo
lion in consequence of Il foolish remark
- /, Democratic politician: 'Give liar-
r;son n barrel Of hard cider and settle
a ncnsion of $4,000 year on him, and.
nv word for it. hc will sit the r"-
mainder of his days IN his 10. cabin
by tho side OF sea coal fire and study
moral philosophy
This was interpreted throughout the
country as bitter snccr at the people
OF the pioneer class. many OF whom still
lived IN their log cabins. Th" pioneer
element and people Of modest means nc-
c.ptcd this utterancC as chnlI"ng".
They made the log cabin. the cider bar
rel and coon skin their symbols of Lead
crship. and the campaign which fol-
lowed was the most notable manifcsta-
this country. The country. which ut
,ha, time had a normal Democratic ma :
forIty. gave to Harrison ~ electoral
votes and TO Van Buren, only sixty.
The enthusiasm for the campaign of
1874 was provided by n foolish war
slogan - 40 or fight This was yer!
tcrsr and dangerously significant. for
It meant that the party stood for an
cs ablishcd northern boundary mt ~
degrees and IN minutes north latitude.
or war with Great britain. That
slogan elected james X. Polk, but the
war with Great Britain vas si1ctrackcd
md war was made upon Mexico rs II
safer substitute.
Tho latest successful capitalization
Of n foolish uttCranrc was in the cam
paicn "f 1854. when the presidential
ambitions of James G.. Hain" were
dashed to earth by n misguided dcrlarn- =
ton of one Of his own supporters. The
Rev. Samuel y. Hur"hard. on the eve
# election. went with 600 other min
isters to call upon Blaine at the Fifth
Avenue Hotel. Burchard made Il short
speech in which he declared that the
antcccdcnts OF the Democratic Party
were "Rum. Ronanism and Rebel
lion" That simple utteranc" Of an in
diridual was for the moment regarded
~ il it had been uttered by Blaine him.
self. It was currently believed that
Il alicnated thousands of votes and LED
to tho election of Grover Cleveland.
It is very doubtful If the uttcrance
cf any man Of today could have such
powerful intiucncr y" matter how ca
gerly any political party or faction
might try to capitalize it. Frobnbiy the
day has passed when this Nation will
consent to lot any man or little group
cf men do its thinking or express its
social political or religious opinion or
accept the uttcranccs ot any man any
where as expressive nf the attitude of
this whole Nation. Anyhow. ii would
not BE- 50 easy now.
Therefore. I repeat. what's the use
81 getting excited over that Kipling
remark. whether ho really made it or
not? y Mr.. Tuots would say. it's of
no consequence. W. l.. -.
Philadelphia. September II. 1901.