The Waterbury Democrat., 1936-07-31

ey. Tne queS- S.W. FltxPatraek tons which the
 American electorate is going to be asked to answer in November are not ConstitutIonalism, Budget Balancing, the Supreme Court, the New Deal, or any of the other matters which most of us fatuous- ly imagined are of dominant im- portance. They are, instead, whether or not the Chief Magis- trate of the United States should be gifted with adenoidS, whether he should talk through his nose, and whether his radio voice should have all the seductive tone allurement of Q handsaw in the throes of being filed. The latest accusation raised against MT. Roosevelt, as Q direct result of Governor Landon's debut as Q spell-binder, Is that the President Is Q "crooner." Now there is noth- ing in the Constitution which for. bids the selection of crooner, . Nanny" gargler, . torch singer, or Q "blues" groaner for the high- est ofIlce within the gift of the people. But by putting Mir. Roosevelt in the first of these categories his critics hope to iden. tify him with the other three and 50 win to Governor Landon's, side every voter who hates the whole kit and caboodle as pestilential lnenaces? The reasoning back of this freshest charge against the President will seem slightly cuckoo to most people but 1t is quite typical of the mental processes of those who lust for his defeat at the polls. It is also in. dicative of their desperation.
 Gifted
 It was painfully apparent to those who listened to Candidate Landon that as . speaker he Is Q complete washout. He has not the slightest gift or grace of pleas- ant (to say nothing of persua- sive), eloquence. His voice has 6 1iat-wheeled Inonotony, his deliv- cry possesses all the panicky amateurishness of an eighth grade valedictorian, and his enun- Ciation displays an indifference to syllable clarity which IS ord- inarily symptomatic of uncons trolled Adams Apple-itis. For ell of these deficiencies he is not to be blamed nor to be held acc countable. There never was Q croaking crow but would be 8 nightingale could he but have ms choice. l, would be tho last per- son to direct attention to Gov. ernor 'Landon's lack of oratorical prowess were 1t not for the fact that MT. Roosevelt Is now being attacked for possessing all the gifts which the Governor has not, as if the possession of them con- stituted Q valid reason to vote against him. The President, as even his bitterest enemies admit, has Q charm of voice, felicity Of expression. and e quality of ap. peal which makes him a great radio personality and . most per- suasivo advocate. Because ne gives proper exercise to his tale ents, because he does not humble his words or strain them through his nasal passages, because he has the cultured speech of an edu- cated man, and most of all be- cause he Is blessed with the genius for convincing his hearers of the truth of what he says, he Is now accused of being kind of presi- dental Bing Crosby and as such unworthy of support.
 Un.American
 There exists in this country Q type of individual who believes that because Q man washes his neck and ears, bathes daily, and changes his shirt more than once Q week he becomes by reason of such reprehensible practices Q bloody aristocrat who has no place in 0 democracy like ours. The only bona-iide patriot is the American who holds his pants up with Q single gallus, who never resorts to the degenerate pastime of using soap, who ornaments his
 fowl with Q cud of tobacco, who outrages the decencies of cleanly living, and who scorns above all things anything savoring of gTace- ful, idiomatic speech. I do not