Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1924-11-07
A laugh 10 worth . Hundred groans
in any markst-frankiin.
A FEW SUGGESTIONS

What ENCOURAGEMENT from reading
the returns will those find. who set
out to corral the votes into groups:
labor. capital, Ku KIux. Knights of
the Flaming Circle. dirt" farmers
and all that?
Small. very smaH az compared to
the whole and even smaller was the
effect upon the general result. The
motive behind this was advantage to
the particular group and little II any
thought of the effect on the country.
Those voting in groups and be-
cause Of class distinction have too
narrow views for "A country so broad
that when Cape Cod polls open late
campaign workers are going home
from their Sprc- election days per-
Torrance i'm San Francisco. But
when II came to the fundamentals.
when II comes to RELOCATING the SUI
preme court to a board OF Congress
sionai chore-boys, for instance. one Is
struck by the similarity OF impulse
in the minds Of the New EnglandeI
and the Californian.
A political party Is wonderful
medium. properly conducted, for CIV
Ing expression to the fundamentals.
for the things which matter alike to
the easterncr and the westerner. to
the farmer, to the banker, to the day
laborer. II II may do this IT Will in
duce cooperation between groups.
which under the bloc system are nj
each others throats. The party Is so
kept from being hide bound. from be-
ing too renctionaryi on the one hand
or revolutionary on the other, and
the country IL kept from being split
into warning sections.
A man like Coolidge appeals to CO.
ordination. People voted for him as
n representative OF the American
citizen In general, not merely OF some
bloc. That's the way Coolidge is
elected. but the voters may not have
finished the Job. They should have
seem to Il that no he given facilities
for putting into effect that for which
he stands.
The leader OF n mob knows he Is In
imminent peril of the mob turning
on him. Such leadership cannot at
tain worth while victories. The lead
er's time and energy are too much
taken up in watching the changing
shades OF fancy. President Coolidge
cannot do the work which he has
been elected to do IL he he compelled
to work with n Congress with no
abiding principle. but only an abiding
hope OF n reelection. beside which,
to them--all else Is vain and not to
he bothered about.
Party discipline once eprcised
some restraint over group seltishness.
but where Is party disciplineP 1t has
been given a bad name. labelled
menace. While the President looks
to the country the member OF the
legislative branch looks solely to his
district or state. He recognizes no
power to regulate other than the vote
Of his constituents: caters to their
whims rather than appeals to their
reason. the party whip" is collect
Ing dust In the museum of antiqui-
ties.
But it's use was abused they say.
or course II was but human instru-
ment. Not all the fioggings of small
boys were good for them. but we are
having plenty of evidence that
sparing the rod Is spelling a good
many children. or leaving Them to be
saved by harsher methods.
Before the people OF this country
entirely let go OF party discipline and
cohesion. before they leave TO mass
movements the management OF or
DERBY government they better search
their understanding for ways to i'm
prove rather than for ways TO de-
strcy. And while about this they will
be we'll advised to consider whether
the system Of the direct primary Is
all that Il should he. Meanwhile
little attention to the next Congress
might probably be given. People
might take steps 70 impress upon 1t
theira conviction that bloc manipula-
ton leads nowhere to the advantage
Of the country.