Evening star., 1952-02-11
keiauyer Hits Remark
President That
PriIna Is EyeWash
y ne Assoeicied pre,s


NASHUA. N. H, Feb. 41.-Sen-
atoT Kefauper ef Tennessee. the
only ayowed Democratic presi-
dential candiAat& is beginning to
throw hls campaign fire in the
direetlon ef tlas Truman camp.
Speakine here yesterday at the
annual dinner nf the New Hamp-
shire Chamber Of Commerce to-
some 500 guests. the Tennessean
took B crack at the Presidents
recent description of presidential
primaries as eyewaSh and also
paid his respects to morality in
Government.
The Senator, former head of
the Senate Crime Investigating
Committee. and. the President are
entered in the New Hampshire
primary Of March II, the first to
be held in the country. While
Senator Kefanver's. appearance
was advertised as non-political, he
took occasion to lay down what
amounted to a direct challenge toI
wage q real battle for the ''popu-
larity" vote and for convention
delegates.
Plans Aggressive Campaign.
When the Presidents name was
entered In the primary. MIR. Tru-
man announced it would be with
drawn. but later decided to allow
1t to remain on the ballot.
Senator Kefauver indicated he
would carry on an aggressive cam
paign in New Hampshire.
II shall be seeing q great deal
more of you during the next few
weeks" he said. You have a lit
tie matter coming up on March
II in which I have very great
personal interest. And since II
don't consider it eyewash at all,
but rather take it as a democratic
method for you to express your
choice for nominee for the high
est Office in your power to give, i
shall be back frequently.
II want to get to, talk to you
and have you talk back to me be- |
tween now and March IL. That,
in my opinion, is the way a de-
mocracy should go about select
ing its public officials.
Joins in Sponsoring Bill. /
"In fact" he added, II believe
In primaries so sincerely that I
have joined with Senator Doug
las, Representative Bennett and
others in sponsoring a bill that
will encourage other States to
have primaries such as you are
doing. I also intend to support a
measure sponsored by Senator
Smathers which calls for. a con-
stitutional revision requiring that
primaries be held and that the
results be binding"
Speaking Of crime, Senator Ke-
fauver said that the international
gangsteri was not too different
from his domestic counterpart.
There is a parallel between the
code of the domestic criminal and
the social philosophy Of the to-
talitarian state. Both are preda-
tory. Both have the mesinso-
lent disregard for mans freedom
and independence"
Stresses Public Morals.
Senator Kefauver said that. in
his opinion, too much emphasis
could not be placed on the neces-
sity of healthy public morals at
the basic unit Of government. and
Of politics. in the United States
the locality"
"Our Federal Government is a
collection of the morals and the
politics of the thousands of local
tiles through the Nation" he said.
1.-THE ordinary course Of man
up the political ladder in the
United States is by successive
steps from the locality.
I'm the locality, however. the
moral tone of his later service as
Governor, Senator, Ambassador
or President has usually been set.
If the community is one in which
the racketeer is the man to see
when it comes time to elect an
alderman, Judge or mayor, then
we are fortunate if in later service
this man arises above the moral
tone of his beginning.
Similarly it is the sum total Of
the economic well-being Of our
communities that make for a
United States with a healthy
economy. The racketeer and the
gambler are parasites on the COM
munity and the Nation. They
perform no useful service: they
produce nothing" t
He said that some criminal
gangsters and unethical people
had wormed their way into Gov
ernment at all levels, adding:
"This was and still is sapping
some of the vitality and strength
from our democratic processes.
It has caused some loss of con-
fidence and even in some places
disrespect of a few public off,
Gals"
Describing our foreign policy as
"too negative" Senator Kefauver
said:
For a long time it has seemed