Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-08-05
What M;ssou; Shows Us By
Her Senatorial Primaries
;" HE results of the Senatorial primaries
II in Missouri appear to have turned

Il
in Missouri appear to have turned
upon local prejudices rather than
u-on national principles. In the Dem
ocratic contest Senator James A. Reed,
despite record that runs counter to the
deep, forward currents of American thought,
seems to have been renominated. Some
may contend that he Won because he
opposed a league Of nations; others be-
cause of his hostility to President Will
son, and few because of his attitude during
the war. But it might as vel. be argued
that 1t was his stand against woman suffrage,
against the federal maternity bills, and
against progressive and humanitarian meas
ures in general that brought him victory at
the polls. Surely it was not the intense OPP
position of liberal Democrats and of believers
in enlightened national policies that gave
him the partys nomination. Other factors
there must have been, or the battle hardly
would have fallen out so ANONYMOUSLY.
Perhaps the Senator's opponents, while
strong in principle, were weak in strategy.
Thrice is he armed who hath his quarrel
just" does not always hold in politics, par
ticularly when the just happen to be as in
nocent as doves, and the enemy as wise as
seasoned serpents. Mr.. Reed is a veteran
of divers campaigns, and veterans of t.
grizzled guard were with him. The attacks
launched against him by Mr.. Wilson were
not in the former Presidents happiest and
astutest vein, well warranted though they
may have BEEN nothing is of more ad-
vantage to hard-pressed politician than to
be placed in the light of prosecuted by
his foes. Moreover, James A. Reed, what
ever may be said of him a Senator and
a Democrat, is undeniaby a good fighter
daring, resourceful, tenacious; and the hui
man in us all responds to those traits. Add
that he held the fort of patronage; that he
knew from old all the by-paths and short cuts
of politics in his Commonwealth, and that in
Missouri and Kansas City, where prohibition
is peculiarly unpopular, lay his decisive
strength-and it is easy to explain his sue
cess on other grounds than national issues
and Wilson policies.
The Republican Senatorial contest in Mis-
souri, appears, as this is written, in doubt.
It Is significant, however, that William
Sacks, an oil magnate, whose thoughts on
craftsmanship found their main utterance in
advocacy of light wines and beer, ran a
strong if not a winning race against his
party's organization candidate; and Mr..
Sacks, like Mr.. Reed. was mightiest in st.
Louis and Kansas City. Sir John Falstaff,
if we may believe Shakespeare. remarked
upon memorable occasion: eff I had
thousand sons the first principle 1 would
teach them should be to forswear thin pota-
tions and to addict themselves to sack"
Evidently, not few Missouri Republicans
were minded to addict themselves to the mag
nate who does not believe in mixing oil and
water. But would it not be somewhat haz-
ardous to predict the whole future of Amerl-
canism from this upshot of single m1dsum-
mer's political tug of war? Neither Mr..
Sacks nor Mr.. Reed bears very striking re-
semblance to the Fates; not are the Missouri
primaries, turning as they did upon matters
more parochial than national, likely to alter
the tides of American history.