Evening star., 1940-10-26

WlLh hES-BAhhE, Fd., OCI.
26.-Follo,Oing is the prepared
tert OF radio talk by Wendell
L. Wulkie, Republican preSi-
Dental candidate, broadcast
last night:
People of America:
want to talk to you quietly
tonight about this political cam
paign. AS I have said almost
every day in recent months, !
look upon the campaign that we
are waging as crusade-a cru
SADIE for our democracy, to make
1t strong and to preserve it for
ourselves and our children.
One hundred and three years
ago, in 1887. a young man made
q speech about the political in
stitutions of America. This is
what he said:
If destruction is to be our
lot, we must ourselves be its
author and finisher AS a Ma
ton of free men we must live
through all time, or die by suicide.
1T is unreasonable - to
expect that some man possessed
of the loftiest genius. coupled
with ambition sufficient to push
1t to the utmost stretch. will at
some time spring up against us?
And when such one does
spring up it will require the peo-
pie to be united with each other,
attached to a government OF laws,
and generally intelligent, to
frustrate his designs
Those words were spoken by
Abraham Lincoln when he was
only %.
Situation That Lincoln
Feared Has Arisen.
Today. 103 years later. we are
faced with the very situation that
Lincoln predicted. A man OF
great political ability, who has
had two terms in office, now pre-
sents himself to the people OF
America for reelection for a
third term.
This man. as you know. has
accumulated in the course of the
last eight years more peacetlme
powers than any President of the
United States has ever had. He
still holds those powers. And in
stead of relinquishing them at
the end of eight years, as every
President in our history has done,
he now asks us to keep him in
office. for how many years more
We do not know. He insists not
alone upon great power; he in
sists upon retaining great power.
We do not know how long he in
tends to keep it. nor do we know
what he intends to do with it.
This was the very situation
that Lincoln feared. In that
same speech he said:
Towering genius disdains the
beaten path. 1t seeks regions
hitherto unexplored. 1t
scorns to tread in the footsteps
of any predecessor, however il
distinction; and, if possible, it
will have it, whether at the eX-
pense of emancipating slaves or
enslavlng free men"
Two nights ago the third team
candidate of the New Deal party
made a political speech in which
he attempted to defend this ex-
traordinary position that he has
taken-the position that Lincoln
feared so much.
His defense was eagerly awaited
by the American people. Clearly,
an American President asking the
people for a perpetuation of his
power ought to have some over
whelming reasons to justify his
position. A man who asks the
people to endanger their form
Of Government by granting
powers which have never existed
before, might indeed be expected
to present irresistible arguments
that would leave no doubt in our
minds concerning the necessity
for such a step.
Defense Was Either
Obsolete Or On Order.
But in attempting to justify
his position, the third term candi-
date did nothing of the sort. His
defense of that position was. as
I said the other day, either
obsolete or on order. 1t was
obsolete because it confded itself
In large part to discussion of
the issues of the 1882 campaign
Issues which were long ago de-
cided by the American people.
And it was on order because it
renewed the same promise that
the third term candidate has
been making for eight years, the
same promise that he has always
failed to fulfill. He promised
again, as he has promised so
many times, that he would make
jobs.
There is no issue between the
third term candidate and myself
about 1882. I voted for and sup
ported him in 1882. 1 believed in
the Democratic platform of 1882.
There is no issue between the
third term candidate and myself
on the questions of old-age pen
sions, unemployment insurance,
collective bargaining laws which
guarantee minimum wages and
prohibit men working more than
so many hours per week, or the
elimination of child labor, or the
retention of the Federal relief.
am not only for those laws,
but l advocate their improve
ment and their reinforcement.
With regard to them the only
issue between the third-term can
didate and myself is in the mat
ter of their preservation. I say
there is only one way to preserve
them and to keep them, and that
is by keeping this country
financially solvent.
If we continue along the road
of deficit financing, sending
more than we take in, the end
will be financial chaos, bank
r,,ntcy epd imitation which will