The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1936-05-20
BY GEORGE H. MOSES
Copyright. 1885,

What's wrong with the Re-
publican Party is that it has
no more leadership than a
newly Matched sparrow has
tail feathers.
By leadership, l do not
mean men qualified to carry
its banner in the 1886 cam
paign. Now, as always since
the day Lincoln came out of
the West to take his place
among the. greatest national
leaders of all time, the Re-
publican woods abound with
Presidential timber.
What I do mean is practical po-
litical leadership. At the risk of
offending the finer senSibilities of
incurable idealists, to whom the
term is nasty word like spit, what
the party needs is a boss, an intel4
ligent, hard-headed political boss.
The Republican leader need not
be as canny and cynical a fellow as
the Democratic boss, Jim Farley.
He need not be the sort of genius
capable of perSuading Congress to
write a blank check for $4,000, 000,-
600 and then paying it out to $780,
600 unfortunate people to tie them,
their families, friends and sympa-
thizerS, to the tail of his party's kite.
mo Need for Such Cunning"
The Republican Party has no
need for such cunning because a
majority of American voters are
Republicans, actively or passively.
A majority party does not have to
use the methods of a minority party
to achieve and retain power.
But neither can it. dispense with
political method of proven effective
ness and resourceful leadership.
That, during these last four years,
and for some years prior to the
Roosevelt incumbency, is what the
Republican Party has done.
A successful political party under
the American system, regardless of
what the grade school text books
may say on the subject, must do
more thas eSpouSe sound principles
of government, which, when given
effectiveness, bring the greatest
good to the greatest number of the
nations citizens. 1t must perform
the additional function of per3uad-
ing these citizens that its policies
will benefit them individually and
collectively.
Complex as Government"
The business man would call this
selling job. But it is not as sim
pie as selling the public superior
mouse trap. The relative merits Of
political wares are not readily dis
tinguiShable by all the potential
customers.
An unfortunate slip in one sales
argument, used to good advantage
by the opposition, may ALLEVIATE
thousands of voters. A leader must
be blessed with foresight enough to
know how voters will react to any
given argument before it is made.
He also must know how to or
ganiZe his sales force and how to
use it to best advantages. Key
positions must be put in the right
keyholes When party is in power,
this is problem of patronage dis
tribution. When it is out of power,
it is matter of promising, not di-
rectly of course, prospective posi-
tons of power to the right people.
Politicians don't admit this pub
Lefty but it is as elementary as one,
two, three. All this is not simple.
The business of political selling is
as complex as modern government
itself.
Not Job for Amateurs
Consequently, it is no job for
amateurs Occasionally, genius
is born to the craft but not often.
The great ones have been men Of
natural talent developed by long
experience. Quay, Hanna and the
rest Of the king makers were of this
ilk. Lincoln was a phenomenon
both a great politician and a great
goyernmentalist.
Most presidents have needed
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tara @na-- 1919 -..-- 49,