Evening star., 1923-01-21
"AS | SEE IT,
By William Allen White.

American quenches the fire in his eye,
weakens the snap in his jaw, rusts
the iron in his blood and dampens the
gimp in his backbone-on the theory
that he must please the people or
lose his job.
And when the blow comes-behold
the lame duck.
Look at him-dazed, hurt, disillu-
stoned, impotent: a middle-aged ma n
or old, out OF touch with life; useless
in the struggle for existence, a bust
ed community crossed with a motion
to quash!
And we have made him He Is our
handiwork. fellow citizens. We have
taken what once was a mana free
visioned, high-purposed man wearing
two-piece underwear. possibly red :;
adorned with suspenders in the fear
of the Lord which Is the beginning of
wisdom; and from that proud crea-
ture a little lower than the angels
we have made this poor. lame duck.
We have shriveled his soul. We have
made him squat and ugly with a
cautious waddle where once was an
honest manly stride. We nave created
this futile dub In our own image and
have sot him up against tho wall OF
oblivion to dry. We. who have con-
Jured tho lame duck out OF the soul
Of q man, should take care Of our
child.
Tho lame duck should be cherished.
l. 1A@ co. t,n
man we ruined. He cannot function
in life outside Of politics. He should
be supported in the style to which he
is accustomed. The cruelest rule Of
American politics is that which seems
to make it hard to give the lame duck
an appointive job. But he has learned
the trade of public service. He knows
something of public affairs. He is
more or less sensitive to popular
opinion-even If he does call it
"clamor." He, realizes rather acutely
that public administration cannot be
jammed through"to success by cross
cuts as private administration is
jammed. The public servant who has
devoted a lifetime to constituency
may have just the degree of scorn
tempered with fearful. respect for vox
populi that we. need for statesman
ship. The lame duck is an asset, not
liability, in politics, and our rejec-
tion of him. is more than cruel. 1t is
wasteful. We have trained him. Why
not use him?
~ *A*s
In the meantime We must not for
get that IL the men in power are
afraid OF the lame duck and treat him
like a pest the people ultimately may
regain faith in him. We have made
Presidents out of our lame ducks time
and time again. We took Lincoln
after he had dropped out Of Congress
and had failed to defeat Douglas. We
chose Grover Cleveland in 's2 after
his defeat In 'ss. We took Mckinley
in 's6 after his defeat in go. The su-
preme Court has been Q regular duck
pen, and the cabinet for a hundred
years has furnished a roost for lame
ducks innumerable. Moreover, they
have made good; as good, at least, as
their associates in court or cabinet
who have come fresh from the haunts
of men.
| A society for the prevention Of
cruelty to lame ducks would do more
good in America today than most of
the defense societies that go cunning
for subnormal patriots. Uncle Sam
should really cultivate taste for
lame duck. 1t is cheaper than turkey,
and. next year the sky will be black
with lame ducks along about the mid
die Of November. This years flock is
big enough, heaven knows-but next
year we can feed the world with 'em.
4 4 =
If anything Is axtomatic in politics