Evening star., 1948-10-28
Changes Held Needed
In Method Of Pickina
Presidential Nominee
Intelligence Of People
Seen as Underestimoted
By Truman Campaign
By David Laurence

=. been counted and the American
people settle down to contemplate
the future, there is one thing that
ought to be indelibly impressed on
them-and that's the outworn and
obsolete method of choosing presi-
Dental candidates and Presidents
that America still uses in this age
of supposedly streamlined democ-
racy.
It was mere chance that gave
Harry Truman the vice presiden-
tial nomination in 1914. 1t was an
inner clique of politicians which
took him because they didn't like
Henry Wallace.
Today Mr.. Truman is making the
campaign for q Democratic Party
which nominated him only because
: he could use his presidential power
In politics to achieve that result.
His campaign fully confirms the
fears of the Democrats last sum-
mer when they urged that Gen.
Eisenhower be drafted.
Poorest Kind of Campaign.
For Mr.. Truman has made just
about the poorest kind Of campaign
as a Democratic nominee that could
be made. BY comparison with
Grover Cleveland, William Jennings
Bryan, Alton B. Parker, Woodrow
Wilson, James M. Cox, John w.
Davis, Alfred E. Smith and Frank
lin D. Roosevelt, the campaign
speeches of Harry S. Truman do not
rate being mentioned in the same
category.
Mr.. Truman has waged type of
campaign which apparently pre-
supposes an ignorant and unin-
formed electorate. The idea of
President of the United States
standing up before huge audience
and implying that his opponent,
Gov. Dewey, is like Hitler is so
preposterous that the wonder is
any one in Mr.. Truman's encourage
ever passed that paragraph to the
mimeograph machines in advance
of the meeting.
Mud Singing Of this sort is fairly
frequent at the lower levels-and
by lower levels is meant the sub
ordinate nominees-but it is a sur
prise indeed to hear 1t from any
one who has enjoyed the privilege
of sitting in the White House. The
public likes to think of its Presi-
dents as dignified combatants even
in a political campaign.
Maybe Mr.. Truman really thinks
that his way is the way to influence
elections and that the voters listen
ing to the radio or reading the
newspapers swallow the prejudices
that he has been spreading and be-
lieve them. 1t would be an unfor-
tunate day for the American system
of representative government if the
electorate could be swayed by such
absurd accusations.
The Hitlerites could be called
"reactionary," but it is rather far
fetched to mention even the most
extreme conservative in America by
any such term in the same breath
with the Nazis of Germany or the
Fascists of Mussolinis Italy.
Presumably, when it's all over,
Mr.. Truman will salve his conscience
with the thought that it was just so
much campaign oratory"-a phrase
that Wendell Wilkie used in recant-
ing something he had said when he
was his party's nominee in 1910.
Nothing to Inspire Youth.
There is, however, nothing to in
spire American youth to believe in
the virtues of democracy when
President of the United States is so
careless of speech as to compare
American citizens Of any school Of
thought with the Nazis of Hitler's
regime.
The whole campaign has been a
disappointment. Gov. Dewey has
been temperate and dignifed. but
his speeches have been cautious and
implicit rather than explicit. The
fear of distortion and misunder-
standing evidently kept him from
making fortnight statements on
current issues. Even his humorous
remark about the engineer who
almost caused the death of persons
at the back end Of the Dewey train
q few weeks ago was made the sub
ject of speeches by Messrs. Truman
and Barley. AS reported in the
press, Mr.. Dewey smilingly remarked
that maybe the engineer ought to
be shot at sunrise" but that the
crowd would let him of this time.
So desperate apparently are Messrs.
Truman and Barkley that they
seized on the incident as perhaps a
blunder.
1t all reveals so plainly a serious
underestimate of the intelligence of
the American people. Some day,
when the elections are over, the
question of changing the method of
picking nominees ought to become
q major issue in America so that
both parties can pick men really
capable of holding the Offices of
President and Vice President of the
United States.