Campaigning by Slander

W

HAT is the gravest part of the charge made by Governor Cox against the Republican party? Just what is it that makes his charge so serious? Have you any reasons for believing that it is or is not so?

Can the people of a nation be free if it maintains a corrupt government? Why or why not?

Some people criticise the Republican party for using the Liberty Loan method in securing its campaign funds. If the object of campaign contributions is both legal and moral, ought citizens to be concerned about the methods used to secure the amount, or the amount secured? If so, has this any bearing upon Mr. Cox's charges? What were some of the "gum-shoe methods used in some of our past Presidential campaigns? Do you praise or condemn these methods?

Name and discuss possible results of the charges made by Governor Cox against the Republican party. Have these charges had any effect upon your personal opinion of the Republican party, or the Democratic party, or the Government of the United States, or the voters?

Investigate with great care the meaning and the nature of treason. In your opinion, does or does not The Outlook go too far in saying that the charges made by Governor Cox against the Republican party partake of the nature of treason?

Does the failure to substantiate accusations with evidence justify the conclusion found in the last paragraph of this editorial?

Among valuable books on political parties for your library are the following: "Introduction to Political Parties and Practical Politics," by P. O. Ray (Scribners); "Preface to Politics," by W. Lippman (Holt); "The Boss and the Machine," by S. P. Orth (Yale University Press); "The New Voter," by C. W. Thompson (Putnams).

The Primaries and the Maine
Election

In this issue The Outlook comments upon the results of the primary elections in Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Georgia, and the election in Maine. Do you note points common to all of these elections?

Have the primary results in these four States settled anything? Of what value are primary elections in general? Are they worth the cost involved?

Is Maine normally a Republican State? Is the present Governor Republican? If it is normally Republican, do the results in its election have any significant bearing upon the Presidential election that takes place next November?

In its comments on the primary elections 1 These questions and comments are designed not only for the use of current events classes and clubs, debating societies, teachers of history and English, and the like, but also for discussion in the home and for suggestions to any reader who desires to study current affairs as well as to read about them. -THE EDITORS.

The Outlook refers to Non-Partisanship in Wisconsin, the Esch-Cummins Railway Bill, the Frank case, and, by implication, to the "solid South." What do you know about these?

The Outlook speaks of Thomas E. Watson as a demagogic leader. A number of editors used to refer to Theodore Roosevelt in exactly these terms. What are the characteristics of a demagogic leader? Was Mr. Roosevelt such?

What, in your opinion, do the results of the primaries thus far held indicate? If the Republicans should win the election next November, do you think that would mean that the people of the United States wish to remain outside the League of Nations?

The Republican Policy Toward the Farm

What is a "basic industry"? Is farming the basic industry in America? Can you name any industries that are not basic, and if so, show why they are not?

What do the two leading political party platforms of 1920 say about agriculture? Is there any essential difference between the Republican and Democratic statements on agriculture as found in these platforms?

Do farmers in your locality enjoy the social status that agriculture as an industry entitles them to? If not, why don't they?

It is well known that farmers do not seprofits upon their capital cure reasonable and labor. Why is this so?

Do you think farming should be organized upon a strictly modern scientific basis? Are farmers organizing in this manner? If farming should become so organized, would that make any difference in the price of foodstuffs?

you

Do think farm laborers should work longer hours and for less pay than do factory and office workers? Do they?

About one-third of the people of the United States are employed in raising farm products. Would it be well for them to have one-third of the representation in our Federal and State Governments?

What is meant by co-operative buying and selling of farm products and supplies? To what extent has such co-operation been effected? What are the benefits of such co-operation to the consumer and the farmer?

How does a farmers' exchange operate? A milk producers' association? What do you know about the New York Dairymen's League? The New England Milk Producers' Association and the Eastern States Movement? How important are these organizations in our economic life?

What are the provisions of the Federal

istered more liberally? Do you consider the Act class legislation?

Here are some valuable and interesting books on farming: "The Place of Agriculture in Reconstruction," by J. B. Norman (Dutton); "Agricultural Economics," by H. C. Taylor (Macmillan); "Helping Men Own Farms," by E. Mead (Macmillan).

UNTIL

TIL you try you can't possibly imagine the fun and artistic satisfaction of taking just one room-the one that is now an eyesore and source of mortification every time your friends see it and transforming it into a perfect gem of daintiness and charm.

Everyone is an artist at heart-your eye knows color harmony. And how exciting it is to find just the right color scheme-tinting walls in a soft, neutral tone, revarnishing old furniture in the wood effect you desire, working doors and wood trim into the color scheme, varnishing the floor and then tying the whole room together with delightful cretonnes or chintz.

Murphy Univernish is splendid for home use. It is not only very fine Varnish but has the invaluable quality of being impervious to boiling water. It is wonderfully durable on floors. Furnished as a clear varnish or in the following transparent wood tones-Light Oak, Dark Oak, Bog Oak, Walnut, Mahogany, Green. Every inch of woodwork in kitchen and bathrooms should be protected with Univernish, for it is sanitary, easily cleaned and durable.

Thousands of stores sell Univernish. We should be glad to direct you to such a store and to send you an attractive color card.

Murphy Varnish Company

THE CHURCH AS A JUDGE

(Continued)

as to whether the Commission's methods were the wisest and the best that I concede at once-but what I am seeking to know now is how the Church can carry out your contention as quoted above without the right of investigation as to the facts in a given situation. Does not the Church have the right to judge as to whether the principles for which she stands are operating in a given situation? Are you not practically shutting the Church out of industry altogether when you prohibit her from trying to ascertain for herself the facts at first hand? Certainly the Church ought not to condemn injustice or the unjust without the facts which reveal these conditions. How is she to get the facts? JOHN MCDOWELL.

The Board of Home Missions of the
Presbyterian Church in the United
States of America, 156 Fifth Ave-
nue, New York.

[An editorial entitled "I Came Not to Judge the World" and concerned with the subject of these letters appears on another page. THE EDITORS.]

CONCERNING THE OFFICER

BY CARSON C. HATHAWAY

During the war everything was all right, whether it was the abundance of cooties in France or the absence of sugar in the home land. "C'est la guerre," we said, and murmured not. To-day we have swung to the other extreme. The anvil chorus is in full control. Among its victims are the League of Nations, hammered unmercifully by the Senate; the English Government, hammered by the Irish brethren; and the commissioned officers of the United States Army.

A few words concerning the bombardment of the last-named individuals may not be out of place. Nurses from overseas lament the officer's deficiencies, doughboys recount his failings, and Congressmen shake their heads in dismay.

The reasons for the existence of criticism are not hard to find. The American citizen is the most independent mortal on the face of the earth. Ordinarily he lives and moves and has his being subject only to the weather man and his Own conscience. But war is not only uncomfortable, as General Sherman said, but extremely inconsiderate of persons. In order to preserve his liberty from a foreign foe John J. Doughboy had temporarily to give up his liberty to the tender mercies of his superior officers. They bathed him, exercised him, fed him, and put him to bed, all according to schedule. It was a brand-new experience for John. The officer was responsible for the performance of all the public duties of every private in his command. If John failed to keep step, he had to be admonished accordingly and there was no time to say "please." Many a soldier's feelings suffered a rude shock before he learned to do squads right; some of the men haven't recovered yet.

Added to this feature of the story, bear in mind that forty-eight per cent of the officers in our Army had been soldiers about three months longer than the men under their command. Only one officer out of six had previous military experience. At the time of the signing of the armistice there were 200,000 commissioned officers in our Army, and of this number 6,000 had come from the old Regular Army and the others had received their commissions after

CONCERNING THE OFFICER
(Continued)

graduating from officers' training camps. Concerning the two colonels and the one lieutenant-colonel who graduated from such camps little has been said, but concerning the 62,445 second lieutenants the dictionary has long since been exhausted.

Through no fault of their own these men were called. upon to do a new job. A man can't learn to lay bricks in three months, Fmuch less command men. Many a young officer bitterly regretted his sudden rise to power, secretly longing for "private life" if for no other reason than to escape the flood of criticism that he knew was coming his way. Officers are like warts; their lack of usefulness is lamented the more they are exposed to public view.

The dislike of the officer is but another evidence of the power of the association of ideas. Every soldier was required to do a certain amount of disagreeable work, such as kitchen police and physical drill. The latter was enjoyed by the youngsters, but as for the older men-how their knees did crack and their backs ache! After a man had, under threat of unknown punishment, performed the "side straddle. hop with arms overhead" for some fifty times he was ready to swear eternal vengeance upon the lieutenant and his descendants to the third and fourth generation. Later, when real hardships were met, the resentment did not die away, though the officers were only accompanying factors in the inevitable discomforts of

war.

If the officer happened to be a young sprout with only a trace of fuzz on his upper lip, so much the worse. It was one of the regrettable features of our military procedure that it was difficult to obtain older men to act as officers. The War Department appealed valiantly, but almost in vain. This feature of the problem did not add to the morale of the doughboy. An officer is theoretically supposed to be the i father of his company, but it is difficult, if not impossible, for a boy of nineteen to be father to a man of thirty-five.

Finally, the American doughboy took it very much to heart whenever the officers seemed to be having a soft time of it. They ate at separate mess, wore better clothes, and had privileges denied to the enlisted 1 man. The fact that they paid for their meals and bought all their equipment at scandalous prices did not soften the feeling in John Doughboy's heart. His democratic tastes were offended. A democracy does not tend to produce a feeling of respect for superiors. So the doughboy thought to himself, "Why should I have to salute at every turn?-he is no better than I am!"

It was not the particular officer, as a rule, who aroused the soldier's animosity. His own captain was probably all right, providing the "chow" was forthcoming at regular intervals. It was the genus officer who aroused his ire. The stranger who called him down for not saluting properly or the passing officer who seemed to put on airs stirred up a bitter feeling not to be eradicated by all the popular officers in the regiment.

But, aside from such objections, which might be very difficult to remove under any system, the fact remains that the officers were little better or worse than any cross-section of the intelligent manhood of our country. The United States called for leaders and took the best material at its disposal. The majority rose from the rank