New Britain herald., 1928-10-19

plays in 1t. h he one whe leads or is led. and if . leader. how does he lead? Smiths Tammauy record has been an open boek for thirty years and for the last fifteen years especially thousands of his political enemies have turned their micro scopes on that record to find some flaw. some bit of evidence or cor ruption. or some sign of silent ac- Quiescence in corrupt use of poll tical place or power: and always Smith has come clean. Tammany Hall no more dominates him than do. If there is any dominant z. Smith dominates Tammany. He and his colleagues have made Tammany an agency for good government in New York city and he has right to be proud of that. The Smith anti to him as is the anti-Catholic bunk. Smith is his own master.
 Politicians aud Statesmen
 
 There is rather widespread confusion of ideas about practical politics and party organizations. Hosts of good people actually think that practical politics must be cor rupt because 1t is practical. and that a practical politician is of necessity the very antithesis of a statesman. I dare say there are many practical politicians who are anything but statesmen, but in any political sys- tenn there are few statesmen who can do effective and constructive work if they are not also practical politicians. They must have a party behind them, and no party can exist without organization. There was never more accomplished practical politician or practical party organizer than Washington or Ham, ilton or Jefferson or Jackson or Lin- coin, or most of our other great leaders. Yet all of them were bit- terly assailed by the superficial critics of their day as being politi- clans and subservient to some Tam many Hall somewhere.
 We are never fair to our po- litical leaders. We admit. for ex- ample, that Smith has made a great record. but criticize him for using the only party instrumentalities by which he could make that record. It is always a condition rather than . theory that confronts your political leader. No leader in action can always be governed by counsela of perfection or convert all his aspirations into 100 per cent accom- plishments. If he is practical man in politics he knows this. He knows that for party exigencies, or the at- tainment of larger ends, he must often yield to party royalties. or to compromises and expediencies. The real test of the political leader aside from his ability and his political experience. is his intrinsic honesty of heart and sincerity of purpose. If in action he must often com promise, he can still keep his in- tegrity of heart and purpose pure and undefiled. To damn a man be- cause he Is identified with any po- litical organization. or to condemn any political leader because all of his following are not saints, is simply to condemn popular govern ment. .. Politics Needs Honesty and Vitality
 That political organizations the world over are held together by all sorts of cohesive forces. both good and bad. goes without saying. Ii will be so as long as popular gov- ernment lasts. The great thing is to hnd and to follow the man who can make such organizations work beneficiently and for the public good. Smith has demonstrated he can do this in New York: and he can do it in Washington. He can make party government work. He can put honesty and courage and vitality into politics,-and heaven knows we need it.
 ''If you believe that Smith is personally honest: that he has cour- age: that he has the God-81Ven cd- pacity for statesmanship and leader ship-if you know his record you cannot believe otherwise-then 1t Ia his training in Tammany. in party organization. that should give you hope and faith in his ability to ac- complish great things as president. A man might have all the wisdom of all the schools and be the smart est engineer that ever exported . mine. and yet, in this turbulent world of political whirlpools and cross-currents, fail dismally If he did not know how to lead politi- cally: for president has to deal not only with figures and facts. but with men and movements in all their welter of human conflict and