Evening star., 1924-10-15
A Sweeping Gesture.

Mr.. Davis speech at Springfield
ILL.,, in which he hinted at a purpose
to ask for reputation by the people
II he has failed to make good on his
promises of reform in Government in
two years of service as President is
not to be taken too literally or seri.
ously as a pledge of actual submission
TO recall vote. Indeed. examination
or the text of his remarks does not
warrant the deduction that it is in
eny sense a pledge of resubmssion
to the popular will. According to the
dispatches, the candidate said:
II when four years have elapsed, ave,
II when two years have gone and we
nave been as false to our promises as
other men have been If corruption again
has raised it's ugly head and thrown it.
self into the conduct of your Govern
ment, If privilege has not been wiped off
the statute books and from the laws
that control you, shall not only not In
. woke your further suffrage, but l shall
commend it to you as American citizens
to repeat your vote Of protest and con-
demnation.
Precisely what that means is not al.
IL
practice. There are three Ifs" One
relates the false promises, one to cor
ruption in Government and the third
to the elimination of privilege" On
two OF these counts Congress must be
taken into the reckoning. On the point
OF corruption a prospective executive
can speak with some degree Of final
1ty. Taken altogether, this passage of
the speech means that Mr.. Davis
pledges both himself and Congress to
keep all promises, to prevent corrup-
ton or all kinds and to eliminate
privilege" from the statute books.
Two years hence a general election
for Congress will be held. From the
beginning Of American politics the
people have acted and voted in judg.
ment In midterm of the presidency,
and 1t has often happened that they
have, in effect, repudiated the execu-
tive by casting out his supporting
legislative majority and replacing it
with an opposition in at least the
House. No pledge on the part Of a
candidate for the presidency is need
ed to assure such vote two years
later If his party should fail in its per.
formances.
But a recall election is quite an
other thing. 1t is entirely new in Fed
eral affairs. There is no provision of
law for it, and it is not to be con-
ceived that recall law could possibly
be enacted at the first session of the
new Congress about to be elected,
which would be necessary to permit a
Nationwide vote in 1926. Therefore
the hint of a presidential recall is to
be accepted as merely gesture of the
campaigner, and not in the least as a
practical pledge of submission in two
years to possible repudiation.
Furthermore, there stand the ifs -
The conditions precedent to recall and
reputation remain indefinite. 1t is
not within the bounds of imagination
that any party in official control would
50 far confess failure as to invite a
test Of public will in an extraordinary
submission to the voters. Two years
hence the Democratic party, IL sue.
cessful now in both presidential and
congressional races, will be pointing
with pride to its achievements and
with scorn to the failures Of the op-
position, whatever has happened. And
equally SO will the Republican party,
If similarly successful this year, be
pointing with pride and scoring with
scorn and denunciation, respectively.
Confession of failure is not of the
essence Of politics, in any country.
The candidate who even hints at the
possibility Of failure weakens his case.
To pledge submission to the voters in
case of failure Is merely to recite the
requirements Of the calendar Of terms
Of Office. Mr.. Davis has simply in
dulged in a figure Of speech which,
like all such rhetorical devices in gen.
eral, is likely to be misunderstood and
which may prove bothersome here
after.