Evening star., 1939-01-08
"A. P. Photos.

White House he vetoed a bill
supported by many of his own
party-a bill which surrendered
to the States and to a Thousand
warning, petty local interests, the
Federal Governments RESPONSE
bility for outstanding the surplus
funds in the Federal Treasury
for the benefit OF the whole Ma
ton.
Alongside this statement in my
manuscript note the letters N.
B.-which in dead Latin stand
for "nota bene," or in live Eng
lish, take good notice"
Jackson's successor, reputedly
q smart politician. could not
keep the Democratic party in
power because he and they drift
ed from principles to politics.
He and they were turned out at
the next national election in
1910, because they failed to keep
the pork barrel locked up in the
cellar and because they failed
to deliver what they had prom.
ised to any one except them
selves.
And again my manuscript bids
me say IN. B.-take good notice"
Let this be another thought
for 1910. In 1840 the new Wing
President, William Henry Harri-
son, elected on a red fire, hard
cider, sky-is-the-limit campaign,
backed by the descendants of
Hamiltonian aristocrats and by
disgruntled Democrats, made his
first tender of the Secretaryship
OF the Treasury in his cabinet
to'Whom do you suppose? To old
Nicholas Biddle himself, the
money changer whom Andrew
Jackson had so soundly trounced
and driven from the temple.
From Andrew Jackson to Mich
olas Biddle-four short years.
And again I say, IN. B.-Take
good notice"
Back to Life With Lincoln,
A full generation-20 years
passed by before the principle of
Andrew Jackson's true democ-
racy came back to life with the
next real Democrat, Abraham
Lincoln. He, incidentally, was
chosen President only by the
founding Of new party.
Let me ask two obvious ques-
tions. Does any one maintain
that the Democratic party from
1840 to 1876 was by any wild
stretch of the Imagination the
party Of Jefferson or jackson?
To claim that is absurd.
Does any one maintain that
the Republican Party from 1868
to 1888 with the possible excep-
ton of few years under Theo-
dore RooSevelt) was the party of
Abraham Lincoln? To claim that
Is equally absurd.
My casual acquaintance with
political life for Is years, and a
more serious reading of prior
history, leads me to observe that
the American people have greatly
changed in their attitude toward
government in this-our-gener-
alton.
We take our politics less seri-
ously. We take our government
more seriously.
In the old days the ideal candi-
date, whom smart managers al
ways looked for, was, as some
one has described, a former Pres
ident, a man with "a protective
reputation, an obvious but un-
alert integrity - complete
absence of plan or even of
thought" 1t might be we'll for
both parties in considering their
candidates for President and
Vice President to apply that
formula to the dozens who, like
Barkis, seem, even at this mo-
ment, to be very, very willing.
Old-Day Elections Were
Seasonal Diversion.
In the old days, for the bulk
OF the population, the elections
were only a seasonal diversion
a circus with an oratorical side
shoW-with the real job done by
quiet economic and social-per-
haps I should say back room
pressures behind the scenes.
Today there is emerging real
and forceful belief on the part of
the great mass Of the people that
honest, intelligent and courage
Gus government can solve many
problems which the average in
dividual cannot face alone in q
world where there are no longer
l20 acres of good land free for
everybody.
Today the voting public
watches and analyzes every move
made by those who govern them
whether In the executive or the
legislative or the judicial branches
OF the Government-with clearer
perception and greater insistence
on efficiency and honesty.
Today in that analyzing they
are less and less Influenced by
the red IRE and the hard cider
bal1yhoo Of newpaper owners Of