The Wilmington morning star., 1940-01-09

and the democratic COMMITTEES uo,,,a
nave mad to borrow mone to pro.
Vide ~bicarbonate Of soda for all.
1 had hoped our invited guests
would come because I had intended
TO tel them not only about Andrew
jackson, but about Abraham Lin.
oin as well; to tell them how much
ailke all u great leaders have
peen even to give them free -
though Observation-Disclosures on how
to reconstitute the republican party
successfully along the lines on
winch Abraham Lincoln created it
AS the leader of the democratic
party I felt no reluctance to give
them good advice for I was sure
That they would not use it-they Of
little faith.
seriously, the more I have studied
American history, and the more
clearly l have seen what the prob
lens are, I do believe that the com
mon denominator Of our great meu
IN public life has not been mer
allegiance to one political party, but
the disinterested devotion wit h
winch they have tried to serve the
whole country, and the relative I'm.
Importance they have ascribed te
politics., compared with the para
mount Importance of government.
BY their motives may We know
them!
The relative Importance Of poll
tics and government is something
not always easy to see when YOU
are in the frontline trenches OF
political organization.
In a. period of thirty years. dur.
ing which I have beer more or less
IN public life-in my home county,
In Albany, in Washington, in Eu-
rope during the World war, in New
York city, in national conventions,
back in Albany and finally again in
washington - I hive come to the
conclusion that the closer people
are to what may be called the Fl ont-
lines of government, of all kinds
local and state and federal - the
easier it is to see the immediate
underbrush, the individual tree
trunks Of the moment and to forget
the nobility, the usefulness and the
wide extent of the forest itself.
Because party people in county
courthouses, city halls or state CAPT.
tails, or the District of Columbia,
are. most of them, so close to the
picture of party or factional war,
fare, that they are apt to acquire a
false perspective of what the mo
tives" and purposes of both parties
and their leaders should be for the
common good today.
Forget
They forget that politics is only
an instrument through which tt
achieve government. They forget
that back of the jockeying for party
posltlon-back of the party gen
erals - hundreds Of thousands OF
men and women-officers and pri-
Yates, foremen and workmen-have
to get a job done, have to put in q
day after day Of honesty, sincere
work in carrying out the multitude
nous functions that the policy max.
ers in modern democracy assign to
administrators in modern democ.
racy.
People tell me that I hold to party
ties less tenaciously than most Of
my predecessors in the presidency
that I have too many people in my
administration who are not active
party democrats. I admit the soft
impeachment. My answer is that ]
do believe in party organization, but
only in proportion to its proper place
in government. I believe party
: organization - the existence of al
least two effectively opposing
parties-is a sound and necessary
part of u American system; and
that, effectively organized national
ly and by states and by localities
parties good instruments for the
purpose of presenting and explain
ing issues, Of drumming up inter.
est in elections, and of improving
the breed of candidates for public
office.
But the future lies with those wise
political leaders who realize that the
great public is interested more in
government than in politics; that
the Independent vote in this coun-
try has been steadily on the increase
at least for the past generation ;
that vast numbers Of people con
slider themselves normally adher.
ents of one party and still feel per-
fectly free to vote for one or more
candidates of another party, come
election day, and IN the other hand,
sometimes uphold party principles
even when precinct captains decide
ito take a walk"
Tendency Increasing
The growing independence of
voters, after all, has been proved by
the votes in every presidential cleo
ton since my childhood - and the