The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1932-08-19

ton that nominated him. Speaker Garner has been officially ad-
vised of his selection by a letter and will make a reply in like
manner. Vice President Curtis will receive his notification soon
and will deliver an address which will not attract very much
attention. Plans are rapidly maturing in the two national com
mHtees for all of the varied activities relating to the major poit-
ical contest It will be but a short while before the entire
country will be ringing with stump speeches while thousands
of newspapers will be making use of the large stocks OF ammu-
milton which will be supplied by the several headquarters. 1t
is even an interesting spectacle, this of selecting a President
of the greatest republic in the world. It will be particularly in
terestng this year owing to a confusion of issues and perhaps to
an even greater degree, the confusion of a vast majority OF the
voters. Many conditions have arisen to erase party lines. At
this moment, millions of voters who usually support republican
candidates are defiantly antagonistic toward their party and its
standard bearer. The real task of Mr. Hoover and has campaign
managers is to bring back into the fold as many as possible OF
these dissenters. 1t may be taken for granted that some head
way will be made in that direction. The democrats are not
bothered by any very serious defections. In the South some
extreme prohibitionists may find the rather equiyocal attitude
of President Hoover toward that subject preferable to the out
spoken position taken by Governor Roosevelt; but NO one ap-
pears seriously to question the fact that the solid South" will
this year swing back into the democratic column. Just now
the Far West which includes also most of the states in the
Northwest, is held to be favorable to Roosevelt. Some OF the
greatest Middle West states are also held to be likely hunting
ground for the democrats. The big question mark is the prob
able action OF a majority of the voters in the great industrial
states Of New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. Nor
many it is estimated that about As per cent of the voters of the
country support republican tickets and 40 per cent, democratic
candidates The remaining 10 per cent is made up of voters
who never exhibit any fixed party preference. The party which
captures this Independent vote which numbers between three
and four million is likely to win the election Although there
have not been many fireworks up to the present time it is en-
airey conceivable that the campaign may develop more than or
binary intensity before it is finished. The times through which
we are passing make for bitterness which will tend to become
more acute as the day of decision approaches. In the Judgment
of this newspaper, the outcome of the campaign will turn very
much upon the ability of Governor Roosevelt to convince the
country of his sincerely of purpose and ability to grapple sue
cessfully with the great questions now before the American peo-
pie. Hoovers capabilities have been pretty accurately appraised.
The propaganda which, four years ago, gave him the appearance
Of a super-nan will not be so effective this year. He must stand
or fall upon the record of his present administration. Regardless
of how much to blame he has been for the tragedies of these
three last fateful years. he must bear much of the o5ium Of the
cataclysmic misfortunes which his countrymen have suffered
during that time. 1t is idle to hope that the contest may be
fought out on the high plane of deliberate judgment and invar-
iabTa fairnac 1hnro will he h usual do+rootiop
of candidates and unfair Interpretation of words and motives.
Such divergences from clean fighting are inseparable from a
combat in which prejudices often override reason and the
desire for victory submerges the rules of honorable warfare.
The wholesome aspect of the controversy lies in the willingness
of practically our entire population to accept the verdict rend-
cred at the polls without any semblance of violent eruption. In
this respect, the people of this republic exhibit a restraint which
serves to justify our form of government and answers the crit
icBm of those who take occasion to pick flaws in our system.
All who place citizenship above partsanship will hope that the
best man may win and that the victor may be of a quality to
live up to the vast responsibilities of the most important civil
office in the world.