The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1932-08-22
Member Of Audit Bureau Of
Circulation
(Official City, State and County
Newspaper
Foreign Representatives
SMALL, SPENCER, BREWER
UncorporateO
CHICAGO NEW YORK BOSTON
X Marks The Spot

X Marks The Spot
x will mark the spot where the
political hopes of either President
Hoover or Franklin D. Roosevelt will
lie buried shortly after the first Tues
day after the first Monday Of next
November. 1t will be an epitaph
written by the hand of the great
American voter who, supposedly, is
about to engage in the process Of
making up his mind.
1t is apparent that most citizens are
pretty certain right now how they
will vote next November. Some are
loudly asserting the fact. But be-
cause the majority are reticent 1t is
necessary for the nation to go through
with another one OF those shows which
we have with us every quadrennium
This years spectacle will not be so
elaborate, from many standpoints, as
those of the recent past. but it is 60
ing to be fought with more energy
and enthusiasm than has been appar-
ent for many years. AS their eco
uonic outlook grew darker, people
chung to the ballot as the most stable
means of helping them out Of the
morass. The pressure of the times
has forced them to do some thinking
about the fundamental groundwork
upon which our national structure
has been built. They know now what
they want in the way of political ac-
ton at Washington. in the state and
in the minor subdivisions of govern
ment.
But before 1t sets its hand to writ
ing the fateful decision in November,
the voting public will be interested in
the prospectuses held out to them by
the rival candidates for the presi-
dency and for other offices. 1t was
for that reason that Governor Roose-
velt's speech at Columbus was read
with more care than the average
political statement is accorded.
Obviously, coming close on the heels
of President Hoover's acceptance
speech, 1t offers an opportunity to
contrast the attitudes of the two
claimants for popular favor. 1t was
to Roosevelt's advantage to make the
contrast sharp and clear. In some
respects he did so but in others he
laid himself open to counter-attack,
just as President Hoover did in his
acceptance.
Both men, curiously enough, took
an attitude which smacked strongly
of defeatism.
President Hoover pictured himself
as the sane and sturdy captain, peer
ing from the bridge Of the ship of
state into the murky darkness ahead
and hoping for the best but admit
ting that the steam was running low
and that nothing much could be done
about it. His very failure to advance
anything new limited strongly that
he had exhausted his fertility of mind
and his spiritual resources in battling
an enormous problem. The president,
of course, phrased it that he was pin
ming his hopes to the devices already
initiated, but the reverse application
of the idea Is unacceptable.
Roosevelt, on the other hand,
strongly castigated the president for
not recognizing that the system, as 1t
had prevailed up to october, 1929,
could not continue and blamed the
president for trying to bolster it. De-
featism. in his case, seems to be the
thought that the American standard
of living. which President Hoover has
Enthusiastically tried to maintain, was
a little too rich for the popular di-
gestion. Yet the one thing which we
have not forgotten during the more
than two years of storm and strife
since then, Is the halcyon days which
1929 brought us. The headache which
followed we cannot forget. It still is
with us.
In outlining what he proposes to
right the financial wrongs which we
have suffered, Roosevelt probably
struck . responsive chord. There Is
no question that we were high-fi-
nanced into the orgy Of speculation.
which eventually caused our down.
fall and that there was no adequate
over the activities Of the
boys who cut the melons. His pro-
posal to separate commercial and In
vestment banking may cause him to
81 branded q . radical BY the money
powers, but that win not prove IN
lu6upsrahls obstacle TO his success.
xhe followers Of the money gods are