Evening star., 1936-08-25
TEACHERS OATH
F HIT BY LANDON
G. o. P. Nominee Steps Bold
ly Into "Hornets' Nest" in
Plea for Freedom.
BY JAY G. HAYDEN.


CHAUTAUQUA, N. Y, August "a
(N.AN.A).-Gov. ALI M. Landon
stepped boldly into what may prove
10 be a political hornets nest when.
speaking last night in the same hall
and to very much the same audience
that President Roosevelt addressed
here two weeks ago, he declared fatty
against any oath for school teachers
not required of all other citizens.
This has been the pet project Of
William Randolph Hearst, one of Mr..
Landon's most conspicuous supporters,
and Of large element of the Ameri-
can Legion, of which he himself Is a
member. His utterance was an un-
disguised swat at both OF these.
Whether or not the speech was de-
liberately SO intended, its effect was
to serve notice on Mr.. Hearst that Mr..
Landon is not under his thumb" and
that he intended to oppose him when
ever the two disagree respecting pub
lie questions.
The sudden arrival of q leading
Hearst executive aboard the Landon
train Monday morning, shortly after
the advance copies of the Chautauqua
address had been given out, caused
rumors that an effort was being made
to have the speech modified.
Speech Not Softened.
Whether or not such representa-
tions were made to Gov. Landon
could not be learned, but it is certain
that the speech was in nowise soft
ened To the contrary, Gov. Landon
added the line, In Kansas we believe
in academic freedom and we practice
it,"
Mr.. Hearst is in Europe and there
Is much speculation as to what his
attitude will be when he learns of the
seemingly studied break with him by
Gov. Landon on an important issue.
A number of the Governors close
advisers, including William Allen
White. are known to have been urging
him to seize the first available oppor-
tunity to differentiate his ideas from
those of Mr.. Hearst.
More than that, the teachers
oath" and related questions Of gov
ernmental interference with educa-
tional institutions is a hot political
issue in a score of States. 1t was
significant, for example, that Gov.
Landon's pronouncement on the sub
ject came almost coincidentally with
the news that Representative Thomas
L. Blanton, Texas Democrat, had
been Overwhelmingly beaten for re-
nomination.
Author of Red Rider"
Blanton was the author of the So
called red rider" passed by Con-
gress and approved by President
Roosevelt as a seemingly innocuous
part Of the District appropriation
act for 1896. which requires all
teachers in the District of Colum-
bia to certify in writing on every
monthly pay day that they have not
been guilty during the month OF
teaching communism or other Sub
versive doctrines"
The red rider" figured prominently
in the fight against Blanton and in the
same way 1t has placed on the de-
fensive a large number of other Rep
resentatives and Senators who voted
for it. Quite few of these are mem
bers Of Mr.. Landon's own party.
In Massachusetts, Gov. James M.
Curley forced through a similar
teachers oath" requirement in the
face of bitter opposition from the fac
ulties of all of the universities and col
leges in the State and this has become
q leading issue in the fight between
Curley and Henry Cabot Lodge, jr.,
for the United States Senate.
In Minnesota action of the Farmer
Laborite State administration taking
over publication of school books and
revising them to include Farmer-Labor
propaganda was one Of the main bases
OF attack upon the late Gov. Floyd B.
Olson in the 1884 campaign. The
Lutheran church particularly staged a
hot fight against Olson on this &C
count, and it was credited with cutting
his majority by about 100000 votes.
In virtually every State red riders"