The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-08-03
PRINCIPLES NEED OF BOTH PARTIES

well under the cireumstances to return to t
 Constitution by merely passing q resolutid requesting the Democratic electors to meI after their election and determine by a mI jority vote for whom they would cast theI ballots for president and vice president the United States was sincere in makiI the suggestion. II had in mind the doubI purpose of solving the seemingly unsolvabI problem of a nomination and of forcing d the voters consideration of principles of goI ernment rather than of the personality candidates. The answer received was whI expected. Itswas to the effect that tI idea was excellent, but that we would hal no Democratic electors to convene. In oth( words. it was an expression of the opinid of great Democrat, himself "a man of ded political convictions, that the public mirl had so changed that failure of the convej tion to nominate would mean the loss of evei state in the Union. The more consider n answer the more | am inclined to believe was entirely right in his conclusion.
 Platforms have changed with the genery change that has come over the face of pol tics. We no longer are content to state few great principles. We now discuss cveI phase of legislative and executive contrd| The platforms are lengthy and dreary. Nal be we understand what they contain nIl maybe we don't. sometimes feel, that tl modern political platform represents def nite idea to be all things to all men. hal read all the platforms adopted this year a,H found one principle underlying eacIi---t
 principle of getting into office or staying Il
 Of course when political parties are stril ing to recruit. to their standards men of d ideas and no ideas, men of all faiths and Il faiths, it naturally is incumbent upon theI to conceal in multitude of words any pri] ciple which they may really hold I reca speech of the late William ]. Stone. veters3 Missouri senator, on prohibition. He col vinced the vets that he was with them arl the drys that he was their strongest advI cate The effort to draw into one camp md who are thinking upon different subjects arH thinking differently upon the same subject has done much to encourage the idea that principle does not go far with the America people Administrations will continue to fs short of perfect efficiency so long as this col dition of affairs exists in American politic
 Personal popularity, may result in the eleI ton of man Ito the presidency, and he md for a time sustain himself by dint of h| popularity, but sooner or later hl popularity is likely to fade, whereupon J will find himself confronted with eontendirI ideas. Principles are far safer to tie to- It an unsafe presumption to elect man on tl theory that he will be your friend in officl A humorist during the New York conventid suggested that a candidate could make tel strike and win the nomination by declarin for enforcement of prohibition in the di states and for non-enforcement in the w{ states Of course. such thing would appel only to q humorist. A candidate might iui as well go to mass in New York and put eS slip in Georgia.
 Thank God, Democracy blunders on aiI on and on and blunders finally into the righI but I really wish we could have a fight onf again over set of principles and not haH our minds distracted by the popularity an personal views of the candidates. 4..