The McDowell times. [volume] (Keystone, W. Va.) 1904-1941, 1940-11-08
BY BAUKHAGE

BY BAUKHACE
(RcIeased by Western Newspaper UnionJ
It's sort of quiet along Main street
again.
l mean along the street that runs
from the marble steps of the Capt.
toll, up past the front porch of the
White House and on out by the stores
where you trade and the house
where you live or maybe where your
lane turns off. It's all the same
street with different names in diff
ferent places.
It's quieter because the howdy-do
over election is through with, the
people have cast their votes and
chosen their President and have
taken up their daily tasks again.
Before election day finally ar
rived, cool-headed writer's and pub
lie men were warning that quadren-
NAL campaign animosities should be
forgotten as soon as the vote was
counted. That the lame ducks
should muffle their squawks and
limp of the scene as quickly as
possible, and that sore heads should
be nursed with patience and with
out post mortems.
AS ALI Landon said in October,
whoever is elected will be my
President for the next four years."
and I believe what he said ought to
60 for all of us.
Federal Employee
Resents 'Loafer' Charge
The other day l was sitting in the
office Of a man who has served the
government for 80 years. He has had
at least three offers from private
business with lot more salary than
he's getting But he wouldn't take
any Of them. He has an important
| job and he likes it.
He has no politics. He, was APP
pointed in Woodrow Wilson'S day.
He has never voted because he's a
citizen of the District of Columbia
and like the rest Of us residents here
is classed with idiots and children,
and has no vote. He heard a lot
about the New Freedom before we
got into the war in 1917; he watched
with slight smile as the country
went back to normalcy"; he trav-
eled peacefully, if little skeptical-
ly, along Calvin Coolidge's "perma-
nent plateau of prosperity; saw one
or both chickens escape their pots
In 30, and lived through the New
Deal without being plowed under or
made over. And after election day,
1910, he went back to his office ex-
actly as he had done every other
time, to do the work for which he
gets his wage.
He is as trustworthy a hired man
as ever wore a pair of Uncle Sans
overalls. Every President is his
President, too. But he put it little
differently to me:
"The only kind of political argu-
ment that makes me sore Is one
where some partisan gets up and
hollers about those loafers' (Repub-
licans or Democrats, according TO
kicker's politics) down in Washing
ton They forget that the vast ma
jority of us carry on through one
administration after another, doing
the work we have to do. The loaf
ers come and 60, it's true. / don't
mind kicking about them myself.
What / object to Is this loose idea
that the government Is just one po-
litical party or the other. Most of
us here belong to no party. For
the rest OF the people, one day in
four years is enough to give vent to
their partisan passions. The rest of
the time, we ought to be just plain
Americans and nothing else"
Future F0TnleTS Are
BulUdrk of Democracy
While Uncle Sam is preparing to
welcome the first draft of the citi-
zen army which Is to bulwark our
democracy, another gathering of
youngsters who are fighting every
day for the democratic idea with
out perhaps realizing how important
their work is, are having a big cele-
bration.
mean the Future Farmers of
America who are holding their an
nual convention in st. Louis. / have
known about these boys for a long
time. / have been on radio pro-
| grams with them and have met
/ lot Of them who come down here to
Washington to talk with their execu-
tive secretary, w. A. Ross. But
never realized until this week what
a powerful influence for the preser-
walton of the American system these
| fellows are.
have two reasons for saying they
are a bulwark Of democracy.
First, their ideal is just the oppo-
/ site of let George do it," the way
of people in a dictatorship. The Flu
ture Farmers learn do it yourself"
That's one reason. The other is
that they all seem to be imbued