The globe-independent. (Hagerstown, Md.) 1943-19??, 1946-07-18

Sdlu several HULL ~
dreds of thou
sands of times during the Roosevelt
and Truman administrations.
Not only have | been a lifelong
Republican, but my entire family,
on both sides, have been party
members and workers as long as
there has been a Republican Party.
Therefore when l feel a real con-
Germ for the future of my party l
also feel that l have every right to
speak out on the subject.
From where I'm sitting it seems
to me that the Republican Party
has the chance of a lifetime-but
I'm beginning to wonder if we know
what to do with it. And I'm firmly
convinced that unless we find out,
and quickly, the party is doomed.
l believe so firmly in the two
party system that it would be inn
possible for me to register as an in
dependent voter, for any reason
whatever. l do not believe in the
common practices of voting for
the man." because the man without
the party in back of him is in an I'M
happy position-remember Mr.. Hoo
yer with a Democratic Congress, or
the unfortunate Governor Schricker
of Indiana with Democratic Legis-
lature? 1t doesn't work.
However I'm undergoing a slight
sea change at this time. If Repub-
lican candidates can do nothing more
than tear the New Deal to ribbons
when they get up to speak, they're
going to lose my vote in the general
elections.
want to hear from men who have
platform-and a forward-lool1ing
platform, l want to hear from men
whose thinking has undergone a few
revisions during the terrible events
of the last few years. Men, in short
who are in tune with the times.
Republicans who are sitting around
wrapped in the old typical compla-
cency, Cheerfully clinging to the
theory that since its Republican
weather" nothing more is necessary,
are due for a rude awakening. They
are forgetting that the outmoded
thinking of the party oldsters does
MT mean much to the huge veteran
vote, for one thing. The veterans
are, for the most part, decidedly lib
eral in their thinking. And when I
say liberal I don't mean left wing.
It's entirely possible to have social
consciousness and sense of world
responsibility without veering to the
left.
AS a case in point, take Senator
Arthur Vandenburg. AS long as he
chung to that noneXistent something
known as Isolationism, he was no
more than a steady and uninspired
party wheel-horse When the theory
of Zone World finally penetrated
his consciousness, he emerged as a
person of real stature, and someone
to be reckoned with.
Because a few key men were in
telligent enough to see that certain
New Deal innovations were neither
leftist, nor particularly original, but
a part of normal social progress, the
Party crucified them. The arch
conservatives of the party couldn't
bear Wendell Wilkie, who lowered
above the majority of men in public
life like a beacon light Republicans
defeated Wilkie just as they de-
feated Tom Dewey-they had to be
responsible for those defeats because
there never were that many Demo-
Gratis.
I'm only one voter but I know
what want from every man in pub
lie office, whether he's running for
the Board of County Commissioners
or the United States Congress. If I
don't think he has what it takes to
deliver what / believe to be the
things of greatest good to county,
state and nation, he doesn't get my
vote-or the vote of anyone that I
have chance of influencing, so help
me!
What I, as a voter and a party
member. want to know is this:
How does the candidate stand on
world affairs? Can he be counted
upon to put the best interests of the
country before his own--in short
does he have enough moral stamina
to buck opposition from the voters
of his constituency in matters of
public welfare?
How does he stand on the British
Loan? If he's playing ball with the
Isolationist Republican bloc in the
Congress want no part of him. De-
signed to stimulate greater world
4,,o- i T.. L.