Evening star., 1928-10-28
BY REX COLLIER.
presidential campaign of 1923
marks the birth of wholly new
species of WhisD~ rer

TINE presidential campaign of 1923
marks the birth of wholly new
species of whispcrer.
Il Time was when this diScred-
tied individual pursued his
nefarious occupation in the seclusion
OF club rooms, on darkened street
corners, along the mahogany bar o.
over the back fence.
Bending his head close to those of
his little circle of cronies and arcning
his eyebrows in an assumption of great
wisdom, he would let flow from the
corner of his mouth his particular con-
tribution to the inevitable underculrent
of slime and slander peculiar to polit-
ical campaigns.
"Sh-h-h-h!" he would begin WITH an
air of mystery Have you heard about
Mr.. Candidates connection with the big
graft scandal?" Or Il just heard hot
one about Nominee So-and-So'S grand
mother" Or did you know that the
head OF the other ticket was arrested
once in Kokomo?"
OF course this Is all news to the gang,
and they lean forward, craving enlioht-
enment.
Always Got at Straight"
well. got this pretty straight from
a man who heard his neighbor telling
woman visitor he overheard a tele-
phone conversation on a party line
between well known politician and the
secretary to former alderman, to the
effect that"-and so forth, and so forth
And the buzz of character-destroyin
libel goes merrily on with malicious
eXultation
The fortunate thing about the old
order OF political slanderers was that
its whispering really was whispering.
whispering, of course, is quite effective,
as far as it goes; but it doesn't go far,
| as rule. The listeners, of course
may be depended upon to start their
own little campaign of whispering
among other friends; so that the seeds
of scandal sowed by the originator of
the libel bear fruit in far-flung places,
at times.
! 1t is happy commentary on the fair
ness OF the American public as a whole
| that whispering campaigns of the past
| have not of themselves swayed an cleo
| ton from the course it was set upon
| prior to the activities of that old busy
| body, Dame Rumor.
The whisperer of old was just an
| amateur.
He didn't have the services of the
radio and the loud speaker to aid and
abet him. He was not addicted to plat
form oratory. He lacked the consum-
mate daring and ingenuity of the 1928
model of sotto voce artist. Compare
him with the glorified, high! !presSure
whisperer of today.
Whisperer Becomes Loud Speaker.
The whisperer of the present cam
paign does not tiptoe up to a clique on
the. corner, attract attention with a
well-guarded "Ps-S-S-t" and humble
! his mouthful of muck. On the contrary,
he shouts 1t from the housetops-
literally, via radio, and figuratively,
from the lecture platform.
His brazenry Is aStounding-So as
founding that even the most malicious
of lies are made to appear in the light
of possible truths So astounding that
, even conservative persons are moved to
ask: Can this be true?" and to rluSe: {:
Surely, If not true, he would not have
the efrontery to broadcast it!"
But he does have the effrontery.
The masculine gender is used merely
In a general sense The ladies, bless
them, are no mean whiSperers. either.
Ask Mr.. Hoover or Gov. Smith; they
know.
The religion of both candidates has
been juicy subject matter for the lusty-
lunged, constituencies "whisperers'' of
the current campaign.
Radio and the press, to say nothing
of the town-hall loud speaker. have
been employed promiscuously to spread
reports that the pope would rule Amer