The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1944-06-29
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WORDS
barrage


plate the barrage of high-sounding
but meaningless words which will
soon jam the anyways and crowd
the daily newspapers as the pres
idential election of 1914 gets I'm.
derway.
IN connection with the prinnars
les there was plenty of oratorical
warming up, but that was moth
ing compared with the deluge
which is to come and which will
push everything but the most mo-
mentous war events into the back
ground.
In wartime it seems almost sac
religious, that the men who run
or hope to run our country should
spend months of their valuable
time preparing and delivering
campaign speeches-but it is ex-
tremely doubtful, unless the peo-
pie show genuine resentment, that
the candidates, whoever they are,
will let mere war interfere with
the fanfare which has accompan-
led every election since the be-
ginning of our democracy.
1t is vitality important to all of
us that we become thoroughly
familiar with the aims, the abili-
ties, and the PHILOSOPHERS of the
various candidates-and to that
extent certain amount of speech
making is essential-but if the
ballyhoo could somehow be
squeezed out of the coming cam
paign it would be a blessing to
our nation and a decided contribu-
ton to the war program.
REASON plan
In a recent talk before a thou
sand publishers of daily newspa-
pers, Eric Johnston, president of
the United States Chamber of
Commerce, offered blueprints for
the kind of an election which, it
seems to me, we should aim to
have this year. He said:
1--WE should make this a cam
paign of calm reason rather than
blind prejudice, a campaign OF
high principles, rather than hol-
low slogans. The stakes are too
high, the decisions are too vital,
to be endangered by smear-words
and bitterness and INSCRIPTIONS
vote-grabbing.
mind you, am not asking for
the surface unanimity all too IA
miliar under the totalitarian dis
pensation. The last thing I would
recommend is a namby-p PANTY
punch-pulling campaign that re-
veals nothing and decides nothing
Honest men must be fortnight
and unafraid in defending their
convictions and principled opin-
ions. But we can live up to the
best tradition of American sports
the code of the baseball dia-
mond-the football field. There
must be no wounds or sores OF
class struggle left to tester after
the election"
MIR. Johnston, who has himself
been mentioned as a candidate for
the presidency, may be over-opti-
mistic in imagining that such an
election as he outlines could be
carried on in this country. Ger
tainly the only way it is possible
is if the people raise their voices
now to make it clear to all po1iti-
clans that this is the only kind of
election they will tolerate in 1914
EVASION = politicians
The preliminaries to the 1914
campaign are not too promising Of
its being a clean-cut, above-the.
board contest. For it is obvious
that practically all leading candi
dates are jockeying for position
closely following the advice o:
their political henchmen, saying
only those things which it is safe
to say and refusing to reveal theil
stand on vital subjects until they
consider it the appropriate time
from the political viewpoint.
Thomas Dewey, the leading Re
publican candidate, has never re
pudiated his original Statement
that he would not run, although
Republican leaders all over the
country seem to take it for grant
ed that he will; President Roose
welt has so far been unwilling tt
let the people know whether he
will run for a fourth term; Wen.
dell Willkie has apparently drop.
ped out of the race but is rumored
to have something "up his sleeve;
Eric Johnston has said he is not
interested in being presidential
candidate, although many people
close to him feel that he would be
very much interested if he thought
he had fair chance.
So, as matters stand now, when