The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1940-10-24
(By Staff Writer)


Dental campaign entering upoi
its last week, there was increas
ing uncertainty among Washing
ton observers as to the outcome
A month ago the preponderan
belief was that the Willkie cam
paign was a FLOP" and that Mr.
Roosevelt had nothing to worry
about. But as is nearly Away!
the case, the last three weeks o.
October have turned out to be
the crucial period.
There is no question what.
ever that the Republican candi'
date has gained greatly in popu'
lar estimation and voting sup
port since he got into his stride
in his whirlwind speaking cam
paign. If he has demonstrated
nothing else, he has proved that
he has tremendous physical en-
durance. In the memories of the
oldest political observers here,
no Presidential candidate since
William Jennings Bryan has COW
cred so much ground, or spoken
so often to such crowds as Mr..
Willkie in the six weeks since he
really got under way.
Democratic Policy Changed
That his speeches and his per-
sonality have had an effect upon
voters is indicated not only by
reports received in Washington
from political leaders wherever
Mr.. Willkie has spoken, but by
the actions of the Democratic
High Command itself. The policy
originally decided upon was for
the President to take the high
ground that he was not an active
candidate for reelection but had
put himself at the disposal of the
people of the nation, who had
drafted" him. He was not going
to make any political speeches.
That position had to be aban-
doned after reports came trick
ling in that the Republican can
didate was really making head
way in regions where votes coun-
ted.
, An even more significant indi-
cation that the Democrats are
taking the Republican attack
more seriously than they did in
the early days of the campaign,
is the open efforts to smear" Mr..
Willkie, by public accusations re-
miniscent of the "smearing" cam
paign against Mr.. Hoover in
1882.
Reference has been made in
these dispatches to the "whis-
pering" campaign against the Re-
publican candidate, based upon
the fact that his four grandpa
rents were born in Germany.
That was brought out into the
open by the Negro division OF
the Democratic National Commit
tee, which issued pamphlet de-
nouncing Mr.. Willkie as Ger
man sympathizer because OF his
ancestry, and also attacking Mrs.
Willkie because of an alleged
German strain in her pedigree.
At the same time, the Negro
Democratic group undertook IN
print to denounce Mr.. Willkie as
a Negro-hater because, it was al
legged, he lived as a young man
in Elwood, Indiana, where his IA
Their was one of the influential
citizens and so partly responsible
for the exclusion of Negroes
from residence in the city.
Likely To Be Boomerang
The judgment of most Of the
experienced political observers in
Washington is that this sort OF
personal attack upon a candidate
for the presidency is much more
likely to prove a boomerang than
to have the effect intended. Moth
ing of the kind done so openly
and with such apparent authorl-
ty from a responsible party OF
organization is recalled here. The
record is full of Whispering
campaigns intended to discredi1
candidates of all parties, over
half century and more of poll,
teal history. But in cases where
there really was any ground fol
reflections upon the persona
character or background of any
Presidential candidate, the prac'
tice has been for his opponents tt
agree to say nothing in public
about it.
In this instance, the nationa
chairman of the Democratic Ma
tiona1 Committee has said that i
had nothing to do with this state
ment and regrets it was released
Nobody will be counted hov
much effect these last few weeks
of the campaign have had on the
masses of the voters. But there