The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, September 8, 1919, Page 5

’ ~ Taft, Wood, Pershing, Llowden and Ole Hanson Trotted Out by Bossés ~ : and Are Rejected as Possibilities by the People 7| UD-TIME horse traders used to | work overtime before a county fair fixing up a lot of spavin- | ed, ring-boned, knock-kneed, stiff-legged, lame, halt and blind horses to be passed off as’ high-class work and driving animals. Wind-galls would be touched up; a hotse lame in the near fore-leg had its off fore-leg “tendered” too, so that the other lameness would not be noticed; bad joints would be “frozen”; a “dopey” horse would be given a touch of “high life”; a couple of weeks of grain feed would be relied upon to . finish the work, in the hope that the animal could then be sold or traded to some unsuspecting person to advantage. 7 7, p y/ 7 7 . 7% With a presidential campaign coming on next year the political horse traders are up to the same tricks. They are bringing out a group of worn- out, discredited politicians, fixing up high-sound- ing platforms and declarations of principles for them, in the hope that they can be foisted upon the public as real progressives and men of the people. 3 Republican campaign managers made their first bid with former President Taft, when he was sent “around the circle” to talk for the league of.na- tions. But Mr. Taft exhibited his usual talent for putting his foot in his mouth by indulging in gratuitous attack upon § the organized farmers of the Northwest. He has further alienated all hope of labor support by calling labor’s railroad plan “bolshevistic” and it is generally agreed now that Mr. Taft has been definitely shelved. - At about the same time a group of profes- sional politicians in Ohio and other states under- took to capitalize the supposed popularity of General Pershing by put- ting him forward as a candidate. But when the soldiers started drifting back from France the -politicians found that Pershing’s supposed pop- ularity was a myth. So the general has now joined Mr. Taft in the discard list. With the idea that a military candidate might - still be found, General Leonard Wood was brought forward. Wood was to be posed as the “martyr” of the war. Wood is and has begn a political general. Due to his adroit wire-pulling he was jumped over the heads of officers with much longer service and more thorough training. When the war broke the war department refused to trust him to lead a division in France. After Wood had made a few speeches it was discovered that he had just two planks in his platform. One was his personal “peeve” at his failure to get to France; the other was compulsory military training. A few speeches by Wood show- ed “that his “peeve” did not promise to be a big vote-getting asset and when more of the soldiers, got back from overseas the politicians learned def’ initely that they showed no great enthusiasm for any military man for president, least of all a noisy advocate of compulsory military training on the Prussian system. So most of the promised sup- port for Wood left him. GOVERNOR LOWDEN BOOM “BURSTED BY RACE RIOTS The next “dark horse” to be trotted out into the ring was Governor Lowden of Illinois. Lowden, from the standpoint of the politicians, was depend- able, safe and sane. He also had to recommend him, from a progressive viewpoint, the fact that during the height:of the war hysteria he Had issued a proclamation deprecating mob violence. Stand- pat leaders throughout the Middle West began get-- ting their heads together and planning opportuni- ties to have Lowden deliver addresses in which he would show himself to be “solid and substantial” and at the same time make a few carefully gen- eralized remarks about the rights of labor and the farmers to catch a few of their votes. A typical situation existed in Nebraska. Nebraska is the first state to hold a presidential primary. In 1916 the state elected delegates instructed ‘for Henry Ford. To prevent a possible repetition of thig “crime” the standpatters of Nebraska, headed by Governor McKelvie, canvassed the situation and decided to unite on Lowden as their candidate. A meeting for Lowden was arranged in Lincoln, the state capital, and Governor McKelvie called a special session of the legislature to meet at the time that Lowden would be in Lincoln, so that the legislators might hear him, meet him and then scatter throughout the state, spreading Lowden sentiment. But, as Mr. Burns said, the best laid plans of mice and men often strike a snag. At just about the time that Lowden sentiment was scheduled to be sweeping Nebraska by storm the Chicago street car strike, race riots and the cost of living furor broke in rapid succession. Governor Lowden’s pronouncements on mob violencé" proved to be only empty words; he was shown as a hesitant, inefficient politician instead of the strong statesman he had been pictured, and the investigation of the. Chicago IT CAN'T BE DONE! : 3 —Drawn expressly for the Leader by W. C. Morris. Every time the old-gang newspapers, at the command of their masters, have gone after the Non- partisan league, they have returned considerably sadder, if not any wiser. cause the only weapon they had was untruth, and the League is too big and vital a movement to be squclched by the transparent falsehoods of its enemies. packers, the controlling political influence in + Iliinois, made it seem unlikely that their can- didate could win any large popular favor throughout the country. Out on the Pacific coast the standpatters chiefly fear Senator Hiram Johnson of California. To prevent Johnson from getting any large measure . of western support it was decided to bring out Senator Miles Poindexter of Washington as a presi- dential candidate. Poindexter was described some years ago by Samuel Blythe as “Psychological Moment Miles.” In other words, Poindexter is one of the wildest-eyed insurgents in captivity when insurging is popular; at other times he is quite docile and regular. When Poindexter is run- ning for election as senator and is asking for votes from the people he is highly progressive; just now, however, he is not seeking the votes of the people, but is trying to tie up delegates to the national convention, so that his progressivism is not notice- able. It is-reported that the plan of bringing out Poindexter as a candidate was first broached by Senator Lodge and former Senator Weeks of Mas- sachusetts. The standpatters of Washington, in- cluding such men as “Sammy” Perkins, Republitan national committeeman and secretary to Mark Hanna; Governor Louis F. Hart and the heads of the lumber trust and fishing interests in Washing-. ton—men who frothed at the mouth when Poin- PAGE FIVE dexter’s name was mentioned a few years ago, are all behind Poindexter now. Poindexter’s own statements are confined to such jingoistic utter- ances as “Never let us haul down the flag in the Philippines” so that they give offense to no one in this crowd. But the public outside of the Pa- cific Northwest never heard much about “Psycho- logical Moment Miles” and in the Pacific North- west they have seen and heard so much about him that he is unlikely to command anything like the popular support he formerly had. OLE HANSON’S HANGING PLEA ELIMINATES HIM . There is another citizen of the state of Wash- ington who is reputed to have presidential ambi- tions. This is Mayor Ole Hanson of Seattle. Mayor Hanson used to be a Repuplican. Theh he became a Bull Mooser. During the last presidential cam- paign he received money from the Democratic na- tional committee and stumped the country for Wil- son. It is reported on good authority that the same men who provided the money for the Hanson tour in 1916, in the interests of Wilson, arranged for Hanson’s recent tour of the country, ostensibly in the interests of the Victory loan, but really to see how Ole would take as Democratic presidential can- didate. But it seems that Hanson made the same mistake that Taft did on his similar tour—he open- ed his mouth merely to put his foot into it. Han- son’s plan of hanging everybody who disagreed with him politically to the nearest lamppost was regarded by every- body as too raw for the American public to swal- low. And as a result Mr. Hanson’s presiden- tial boom suffered a se- vere frost. Secretary of War Bak- er, mentioned in some cir- cles as a possible Demo- cratic candidate for pres- ident, has alienated much of his former pro- gressive support by com- ing out for a plan of compulsory military training favored by the military bureaucracy, which always has in- clined toward the Ger- man system of militar- ism. Former Secretary McAdoo, who retired from the cabinet osten- sibly because he could not support his family on his earnings, thereby dodged going on record in regard to some of the big questions of the day, but the people of the United States are not looking for an artful dodger for the next president, What the United States is leoking for is a strong man of the people, not committed to any of the special interests, not afraid to speak . out, and able to translate the decp desire of the working men and women, of city and country, for better conditions into acts. A few months ago the Nonpartisan Leader ad- vised its readers to avoid following the lead of the professional politicians. In that article it was stated that there was still time to hope that the strong man needed to lead the people of the United States out of present unbearable conditions might be found. That hope is looming stronger than ever today. The hearty enthusiasm that has met the sugges- tion that Governor Lynn J. Frazier be mtade the Republican standard bearer is a sign of the times. Whether Governor Frazier, as a representative of the organized farmers, or a man of the standing of Frank P. Walsh, as a representative of the or- ganized workers, or any other individual be chosen- is unimportant. The important thing is that the tide of public opinion is drifting strongly in that direction. In spite of the blindness of the old po- litical leaders there is strong hope of a big gain SornrY. BoSs BUT T CANT BE DoONE 575210\ These papers failed be- for the people’s cause being made as the result of . existing conditions. ThePresidentia‘lHo’rS_e ShoW I's On!”;