The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-08-17
PRESS ON THE DAVIS SPEECH

~tAe first formal utteTance of any nom
 inee for the presidency in the campaign !. now under way. There was a notable
 absence of passion or prejudice in it's
 conception and language. But the ap-
 peal to reason is therefore all the
 stronger. MT. Davis has made a good
 impression. If he has failed to satisfy -sv the enthusiasts, he has at least laid a Foundation broad enough for all the ele- T shnents of the party to stand upon. There
 is already evidence that his position has
 won to his support a wavering margin Fsy10f leaders who might easily have been
 repelled into the camp of some opponent.
 After all, a presidential candidate must
 make wide appeal, must elicit the con-
 fidence and support of the majority, if sz he is expecting to win.
 ssA:-s.sThe unfriendly Washington Post picks ghAthe speech to pieces and finds fault with s F it in detail, but the criticism is not con
 vincing. For example, the Post re- < marks: ''Much of the address is devoted f to- an arraignment of the Republican ! -pArty. This arraignment is not, of Escourse, constructive" It is admittedly not constructive of any sympathy or sup F port for the Republican party, but that ! is hardly to be expected of even the most generous Democratic candidate. And as 40L Cuo hSpuDllCdn TGCOTQ1 II It VIII not
 withstand aTraignment and attack, then eaqit deserves to fall by deserved on-
 staught. The main reason why there z. should be change in party authority is
 because the party in power has failed. How could MT. Davis properly present his own claims if he were to start by tacitly sas admitting that there has been nothing wrong with the record of the Republican
 party? The Post postulates an absurd
 ity. The Republican record must stand ]: the gaff, or the Republican party must ! go down to defeat
 #, With peculiar resentment the Re- .E publican Detroit Free Press complains that Mir. Davis harps on the refrain of Honesty in Government" To be sure,
 that theme is embarrassing to the Re- publican defenders, and MT. Davis no < doubt hurts their feelings when he 2. stresses it. There is no denying that
 honesty in government is the cornerstone
 of good government; therefore, MT. Da-
 wis is doubly embarrassing when he gives such prominence to the quality chiefly is-lsclxing in the Republican official record. CT The peculiar thing about it is that the ' Free Press should admit that the subject is so painful and disconcerting to Re-
 publicans. The Free Press admits, how ever, that "Mr. Davis has made good
 speech"
 t.i The Republican New York Herald
 Tribune, after paying MT. Davis the com pliment of attaching great literary merit ss to his effort, likewise is deeply grieved : sthat he should allude to dishonesty in the < Republican party. The Herald-Tribune
 takes especial exception to the allusion to Newberry, whom it thereupon excuses
 from blame by citing the fact that the
 supreme court denied his guilt on the < technical charge. The guilt of Mr. New x berry may not have been proved tech
 nically, but no informed person has any sl4doubt of it. If any Republican news
 paper intends to pursue the policy of de-
 lending the corrupt record of corrupt -er Republican high. officials, instead of leav- , A ing them to the fate they deserve, they os4haVe taken course they will find it con- { { tfnually harder to justify and defend. @@ r. A different note entirely is struck by
 the independent Washington Star: "The
 speech of John W. Davis, read with knowledge of the man, his character, his q ideals and his actual performances in public and private life, should leave the Y people of the country, outside of the g ranks of definite partisanship, treasured of a sound, safe and honest administra- ... q tion of national affairs if he should be . LnG ClOlc6 OI GHS VOCSIS III 4NONGHLDCIs '. Another independent paper, the Chicago
 News, finds the speech leaving many
 questions unanswered and various formu- las incomplete" The News, however,
 admits that "too much cannot reasonably
 be expected of one address, and MT. 2t Davis promises to consider at length seV-
 eral issues of the campaign and more
 fully and precisely define the position of his party as to each of them." The Kan ,csas City Star finds that "Mr. Davis is wig ! .orous in attack, but his vigor loses effec- tiveness from the too sweeping nature of his charges. He is broad and sympa-
 thetic in his program, but dlsappolnt- .- ingly vague" Perhaps MT. Davis, later, - in coming down to cases, will remove this : cause of the Stars criticism.
 gei} Although disappointed in what it terms
 MT. Davis weakness in proceeding to the - constructive features of his policies, the F neutral Springfield Republican admires r his arraignment of the party in power. The Republican continues: With very
 much that MT. Davis says about the --fscandals of the division in the admlnis- 4 trative forces, about the feebleness of e- the, administrators leadership, about 1 the tariff and the foreign policy, The .g Republican is in sympathy. There can j he no compromise with scoundrelism. A
 party without unity and without leader
 ship has always failed and will always
 deserve to fail" '..-. Southern editors are almost uniformly
 .nleased with the effort. For example, fs inc Atlanta Constitution: Whether .s John W. Davis is the next president of
 these United States or not, this one di-
 rect and forceful pronouncement of views
 and policies fully justifies the Demo
 cratic party in making him its nominee v and standard-bearer." To the Nashville
 Banner the effort is not wholly satisfy
 ing, because in spite of it's ability "it
 may not prove altogether inspiring to a r,art1r which ia 70 set on gatting back con.