The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-10-27
SATURDAY. OCT II. 1895
GEORGE CREEL SPEAKS OUT

NEOROE CKEEL SPEAkS OUI
GEORGE CREEL'S letter repudiating Up
- ton Sinclair and his program cuts the
last lrayod tic between Mr.. Sinclair and the
New Deal and shows up his EPIC plan for
what it is. an unsound. unavoidable and IN
American concoction designed to appeal TO
the credulues Of ignorance and despair. and
immeasuraby hurtfu in its effect on true
progrcssiylsm'
Coming from a man known all his life as
bold and fearless champion Of economic re-
form. and from Democratic leader who had
gone more than half way in an attempt to
purge the Similar program Of its absurdites
Mr.. CreeIs letter viii appeal powerfully to
those followers Of Mr.. Sinclair whose minds
sim are open to reason.
No other man in California is so well quail
flied TO Judge Sinclair and his program as this
generous and patriotic New Deal leader who
Couragcously went to Mr. SIncaIr.s aid after
his own defeat IN the August primary and
labored with him in what he thought was
successful effort to bring the Sinclair pro-
gram into line with common sense and eco
nomic reality.
II just could not be done, as Mr.. Creel shows
in letter that should be read by every
thoughtful Sinclair follower in the state
A DMTTTING to Mr. Creel that the most
= glowing and spectacular of those promises
on which he had won the primary election
were utterly impossible of fulfillment, and
subscribing to Democratic program from
which they were omitted carefully, Mr.. Sin
clair no sooner had left his conference with
Mr.. Creel than he proceeded to reaffirm every
one Of them. As Mr. Creel puts it:
In immediate EPIC what do I find on the
back page but your original plan set forth
eXatly it was in the first edition of I
Governor of California The fact that the
contents admit various changes and acknowl-
edge necessity for certain postponements only
sggravates the offense"
If this is not downright political dshon-
esty, it comes dangerously close to it, al
though Mr.. CreeI is too charitable to say as
much. Instead he sums Mr.. Sinclair up in
a few words when he writes
Let me say again that I do not question
your honesty, but you have a most amazing
faculty of making yourself believe the things
you want to believe. AS an example take your
repeated statement that you can end poverty
in California, and that you won't take more
than one of two Of your four years to do it.
This is optimism carried to the point of de-
lirium. Your dream of an economic island
alien and antagonistic to its immediate en-
vronment and to the rest of the country as
well, is damned by every economist. yet you
persist in it."
MIR. CREEL'S reputation finally destroys,
AVA of course, the pretense that the Sinclair
candidacy is Democratic or anything but
menacing to the success of the Roosevelt ad-
ministration and to the cause of economic re-
form in state and nation. 1t will be hailed by
those few remaining partisan Democrats who
still are hesitaung on the score of party loyalty
as a release from the slightest obligation to
give even lip-service to the Sinclair ticket.
The plain fact emerges more clearly than
ever that Mr.. Sinclair tried to kidnap the
Democratic party name in California and to
exploit it for a Socialistic program that is
not even Socialism He has not succeeded,
thanks to a reputation by Mr.. CreeI that Will
be interpreted rightfully as clarifying the posi-
ton Of the administration beyond all doubt.
But the significance and effect OF Mr..
Creers reputation are far greater than its
bearing on party politics. For Mr.. CreeI speaks
not only as a Democrat and as the foremost
spokesman in California for the administra-
ton, but as courageous and disinterested
progressive who repeatedly has placed his de-
votion to humane and liberal measures above
party loyalty His voice is the voice of reason,
raised in the same cause and for the same
ends as those 10 which the followers of Mr..
Sinclair are devoted. No thoughtful man
among them can read his letter without being
moved by its sincerity, it logic and its truth.