Judge — June 21, 1924 — page 16: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

To the Democratic National Convention: Gentlemen You will probably consider it presumptuous on the part of a publication that has always considered itself Republican to offer you a suggestion rather close to his hea rding your candidate for President, ut may no’ nd crave your indulgence in a matter You are blessed beyond other parties in. the prominent membership of one of those complete personalities whom God in his infinite merey sends us from time to time to cheer us on our drab, uniform way. Like Tom Reed, or P.'T. Barnum, or Mark Twain. or Teddy Roosevelt. or Henry Ford (for that Al Smith stands out. unique, genuine, picturesque, something entirely new under the sun and yet so unmistakably American that it hurts—a vital human being in a sea of robots. matter), Can't you make him your standard bearer and inject some real color and vivacity into the npaign? This is no pledge to vote for AL Smith. ‘To be sure, he has good Governor. he grand to see a “wet” come romping down the home stretch ahead of the field. Ht would also be a fine thing to scotch that disgraceful legend that am | White House. But the interest that prompts this appeal is not so much political as sporting. Why not nominate for the campaign as well as for the election? Not since T. R. used to set the country by the ears have we had even the hope of fighting for inst such a vivid personality as the Governor of New York, erstwhile trackman at the Fulton Fish Market erstwhile street urchin of Cherry Hill. Come, gentlemen, enter AL Smith and let's have for the duration of the campaign at least some of the life, liberty and mace and other things being equal it would n’s religion can debar him from the pursuit of happiness promised us by your patron saint. With renewed entreaties, ete., et« Your humble servant, Juver. RatHER CURIOUS, is it not, that with a man like Al Smith to appeal to the imagination of the country we should go on June after June grinding out in ever increasing numbers those gracefully fashioned, completely standardized, ready-to-drive sports models known as college (Forgive us, boys, but we are a product of the same mill, well, never mind.) It is the fashion, of course, to think of Al Smith’s humble origin on the lower East Side of New York, his lack of anything but a common school educa- men vintage of tion, his early environment and associations, as handicaps thi But try to think of him as a college product. smoothed, conventionalized, nicely sophisti- cated, and it is impossible not to picture him as a lesser Al Smith. Isn't it more likely that, given his natural abilities, his warm sympathies and his strength of character, he was greatly helped rather than handicapped by his lack of the he has had the grit to overcome. Nobody caught him in his set mold. He wwn-up boy, * as we call them? period of plasticity. and jammed him into “advanta just grew, like Topsy, into the rough. viril unaffected, unafraid, whose ch rm is now a national asset Suppose for a moment we a few of those names in our national history that stand for richness of personality Ben Franklin, Jackson, Lincoln, Walt) Whitman, ham Young. Barnum, ‘Tom Reed, Mark ‘Twain, Roose- velt. Debs, Henry “advantages Andrew Ford. How many of these enjoyed the * that almost every to hang around his boy's neck? velt American father is anxious Reed and Roose- Nature finds it hard to make anything original out of a rah, rah boy. Just two The conclusion seems inescapable that Hisrt Is an old story about Al Smith. however, that may be considered to refute this: He was presiding over the Assembly at Albany on the afternoon of the Harvard-Yale football game. A recess Was taken so that the Assemblymen might consult. the ticl nthe result of the game. It appeared that Harvard had won, so the Harvard contingent among them annual and gathered ina little group and gave the Harvard yell, followed by the defiant Yale contingen: d the Yale yell. When they had taken their seats Al Smith mced to the Speaker's desk and rapped for order. “Rah, rah, rah!” he rasped, “rah, rah, rah! PL PLM. *. M.!” “L rise to a point of personal privilege.” cried a member (Gf that is the proper parliamentary procedure). ‘Will the Speaker kindly explain the cheer he has just given?” 4 inly.” said Al “BF. FP. ML. stands for the Fulton Fish T Market. Siss, boom, ah——! comicbooks.com