Evening star., 1943-09-03

to run.
Here is. his letter in part:
'Tt si1o' would seem that / am
mighty crazy If don't run for an
office with mighty nice salary at
tached to it. I believe I got every
thing the voting public wants.
was born in log cabin and learned
how to read pretty good by fire.
light. I amt had much real school,
ing. but I'm honest as the day is
long and don't owe no man nothing.
My folks were born in log cabin,
too. and didn't have any schooling.
could stand up before the voters
and tell them came from nowhere
and am still there"
My cousin has point. He prob
ably could get elected to some Office,
because this country still goes for
the politician who can point with
pride to beginning as humble as
that of Abraham Lincoln. This
country seems to feel that just be-
cause man has beginnings as sim
pie as Lincoln's he is automatically
endowed with the greatness of Lin
coin.
High Political Values.
Nothing is SO valuable to a presi-
dental candidate as birthplace
that looks like rundown dog
kennel. And, to be able to say that
he was thrown out on the world at
the age of 6, with nothing on his
back but flour sack shirt, is good
for thousands of votes. And, let him
be able to hammer home the fact
that he was the sole support Of a.
semiworthless family from the time
ne was 3, and he has something
more valuable than a silver voice or
sound knowledge of world affairs.
just why this is true puzzles me
no end. Why. because a man is
born in such circumstances that he
has to spend a third or more of his
life in hard, menial labor, should
ne be considered more capable of
grasping national and international
affairs than a man who through
fortune has been able to spend all
OF his early years reading and learn
ing9 Why should it be political
| harldicap to have been born in a
/ house that doesn't look as If it were
4 gonag to fall down the next minute !?
What is wrong with having, fine
scholastic record under fine teachers
at a great university2 Why should
young man who is able to spend
MS vacations visiting European
countries be considered less know
ing OF those countries than that
young man who is gathering CAL
louses behind a plow?
/ No Phi Beta Kappa PIowhands.
| Let's turn the thing around. A
farmer doesn't go out and seek Phi
Beta Kappas to help him with the
harvest. He would much rather
nave an experienced farmland. So
why is it that as rule we insist
on having our politicians drawn
from the class of people who work
with their hands more than they
do their heads?
Mind you, I am not Knocking
those who come right UP from the
sod. don't happen to be a Groton
man myself. could plow a pretty
decent furrow when I was 8, and the
money I brought in as kid by SELL
Ing coon pelts, which I treed by my
self every night, helped keep the
wolf in the background.
You wait and see, during the
political campaigns in your section.
how much the lowly start of the
candidates is stressed. Bless them.
am one with them in spirit, but 1
still can't figure out why low start
necessarily means high finish.
1 hope my cousin runs for some
ONCE. We can use the money in
the family, but I'll be darned If I
could stand up and run for Office on
the platform that I knew so little
for SO long.
Distributed by Mcknight Syndicate, Incl