The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-09-19
Mencken and Smith GrOvel Before
the Same God

The newest adherents of Wall Streets
democratic party circus are those super
sophisticates of the American Mercury, H. l..
Mencken and George Jean Nathan. The
Mercury editors have achieved emlnence and
affluence as satirists of the American bab-
bitry. Their chief customers, however, are
the smart-alecky sons and daughters of
those whom they hold up to scorn. Pro-
claiming themselves relentless enemies OF
mediocrities who strut upon the political
stage, they have come forth as supporters OF
the man in the brown derby, the most pal
pable fraud in political life, the very per-
sonification of all the gutter-snipe, ward
heelers of the lumpen proletariat. The choice
of the Menckens, the Nathans, as we'll as the
Heywood Brouns and all the other limpid lib
erals is the big chief of the sewer grafters,
the building inspection shake-down artists,
the license swindlers, the corrupt police, the
denizens of the roaring forties," the contl-
dence men, the professional ball players, the
race track touts, proprietors Of gambling
Joints, the pickpockets, the second-story men,
the comedians the bootleggers, the gang
sters. the soft-shoe and buck-and-wing dane
ers. the leaders of jazz bands, the ladies OF
the evening and their business agents.
AS the candidate of the democratic party
controlled by the House of Morgan,
All Smith, is the connecting link be-
tween the parasitic lowest strata and the
parasitic upper strata of American society
the figure-head of combination that is the
class enemy of the useful members of So
ciety, the workers and farmers.
This man Smith, with his brown derby in
one hand a cane in the other and an elon-
gated cigar tilted at an angle OF thirty de-
grees. presents picture that ought to fur
nish lively topic for the satirists. But what
do the editors of the Mercury say about this
low buffoon, this court jester of Wall Street?
Mr.. Nathan states briefly: my choice is
Smith. At least he is no shuffler and no
hypocrite."
Let us examine the fate of the main Smith
plank of last year. 1t was the question OF
prohibition. Smith was the most audible wet
in the whole country. Yet, in his campaign,
he is careful to avoid anything that might
be interpreted as unwillingness on his part
to enforce the Vostead Act. In fact as far
as the main plank of his REORGANIZATION plat
form is concerned, his campaign has COM
pletely collapsed. Perhaps Mr. Nathan may
be able to find another name for this sort of
evasiveness, but to us it appears as shuffling
and hypocrisy of the most transparent type.
servations are as banal as those of any of
the rabbits, the dolts and yokels he scores
in the Americana" column of his Mercury.
SAYS Mencken of Al Smith:
HE is an able man and a very good public
official He has the sort of experience that
the presidency needs, and he has the sort of
courage and frankness that it needs even
more"
After this euogum, Mencken qualities his
support Of the disciple of religious supersti-
ton:
"The objection to Al on account of his faith
seems to me to be sound. In every religious
man there is screw loose; he is not to be
trusted completely. But we must take what
we can get Al as a catholic is plainly
perior to the methodists and baptists who now
run the country The superstitOns he cher
ishes at least have dignity; they are not
merely low-down. If we must choose between
being governed by the pope who is scholar
and gentleman, and the methodist bishops,
who are Founders and gnoramuses, | choose
the pope"
A more trivial inept attempt at political
observation would be hard to find 1t is
identical with the political analysis of the
ku klux khan, which claims that the election
of Smith means the domination of the ma
ton by the pope of Rome. The differ
cree between the ku kluXers and Memo
ken is that the kluXers annihilate the straw
man they erect, while Mencken embraces it
as the best that can be had out of a bad sit
uation. one that forces the avowedly highly
cultured. civilized and scholarly Mencken and
his crowd to choose between catholic and
protestant administrations.
IF Mr. Mencken and his followers and adj
mirers would devote even small portion of
their time to investigating politics they
would discover that the real power that gov