THE VILLAGE SMITHY

The Brown Derby and fifteen cent cigar have come; they have cast their spell and vanished, but the memory and fascination remains renewed, intense. In the short period of a week, a single man has raised shouts of approval from great crowds, has drawn widely dissenting opinions from the press, and has caused no end of quaking within the shiny boots of both parties. Al Smith has opened his eastern campaign.

There has been much criticism of the Happy Warrior's platform conduct during the past week. He has shown too much bitterness and given too much time to the campaign of 1928; his untutored informality and ponderous wit have precluded serious attention to affairs of great import; his reference to the Democratic standard bearers has been to casual, too brief to win them support. Finally, his Newark and Boston speeches have come too late in the game to produce anything in the way of response at the polls.

Such criticism must rest upon a failure to understand Mr. Smith's peculiar position in the east and especially in Massachusetts. In the Democrats of Massachusetts, his name inspires implicit confidence and blind discipleship; where he leads they follow. Mr. Smith is conscious that any prolonged appeal for Governor Roosevelt would fall on half-interested cars; what Massachusetts Democrats want to hear is the tale of '28, the tale of Republican bigotry, and hypocrisy, the tale of their unswerving loyalty. To recall to their minds his moral ascendancy, Mr. Smith has small need of polished periods, of intricate logic, of strict party loyalty; his battle is personal, best won by informality, candor, sneers and jibes. His leadership thus established, he need only mention his advocacy of the party ticket, and his audience will agree.

In timing his speeches, Mr. Smith has acted with similar circumspection. By entering the contest late, he has allowed time to blot out the memory of the bitterness of last spring; he has emphasized his value to his party, by withholding support until the last possible minute. Governor Roosevelt and the Democratic moguls may object to his slights and his frankness, but in Alfred E. Smith they possess one of the most, if not the most, canny of the politicians of his time.