MEDIOCRE MAN

They say that the Republicans are looking for a mediocre man for Presidential candidate. The idea is not to antagonize any of the anti-Roosevelt voters in the country, whether they be radicals, or conservatives, or merely honest. The electorate will undoubtedly vote against the New Deal, rather than for a constructive alternative, in the next election, just as the last one was swung by those who were voting against the depression. So that it seems wise not to nominate any extraordinary individual who will deflect attention from the main issue of the campaign onto his own ideas and personality.

All this is quite in accord with the traditions of the country, besides being extremely good politics. But it still seems a terrible thing that the greatest position in America, perhaps in the world, should be filled by mediocrity. In the past the country has lived through it for a very simple reason,--that politics didn't matter anyway. But this, unfortunately, no longer is true, and no better illustration of the fact can be taken than the policies produced during this depression. No doubt can now remain, in spite of Henry Ford's continued insistence, that government policies are important, and that they must become increasingly so in the future.

No possibility seems to exist that our choice of leaders and our general political system shall be reformed to produce intelligent leadership and administration in the crucial near future. But perhaps in the inevitable next collapse, when alone action of a drastic nature becomes possible, even mediocre men may by the Grace of God and intelligent advisers make the necessary, fundamental reforms of the capitalist and democratic systems.