Judge — September 1938 — page 14: what you’re looking at

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

yo Se The Hon. Franklin D. Roosevelt, The White House, Washington, D. C. My dear Mr. President: Permit me in confidence and with great earnestness to point out to you, as I have attempted to do in the past, where, in my opinion, in that future when you have removed your hands, the success or failure of the new trend in government inspired by you rests. To come to the point, quickly, it rests in the hands of Charles Sawyer, nominated on August ninth for Governor by the Democrats of Ohio. And I say this, Mr. President, because he won that nomination practically alone in the grandest old rough-and tumble fight that has been staged in any of the forty- cight States in a long, long time. He won it because he had refused to com- promise on decent motives since he first expressed his intention of securing the nomination, In spite of the depressing effect of a great personal family loss, in spite of it being necessary for him to be both father and mother to five fine chil- dren, despite the advice of old and prac- tical politicians that it was an impossi- bility to win against the odds imposed by the most perfect political organiza- tion ever set up against a candidacy, he won, Last winter, prior to the Columbus dinner which was to celebrate your birth- day and which he arranged, only to see the opposition try to take it out of his hands, he was supposed to be too scared by a formidable opposition to continue his candidacy. Well, sir, he didn’t scare worth a hoot, and with his eyes fixed on his goal he marched straight forward and a good part of the time, alone. You know how it is when your friends are polite and wish you well but don’t do very much helping you get anywhere. You remember Martin L. Davey, don’t you? He was Charles Sawyer's opponent and, whether you like him or not, Mr. Davey is an organizer par ex- 12 tor-at-Large A confidential letter to the President of the United States cellence, a fighter who will fight any- body regardless of size and without wasting much time getting into it; he swings from his ankles and has the en- ergy of four men. He and Sawyer were old schoolmates nearly thirty years ago and cach had a wholesome respect for the other's ability, which neither lost in the bitterness of the campaign; and I would like to wager, in spite of one having lost and the other having won, that each of them has a greater admira- tion for the other than he had a year ago. Later, as the months passed, Sawyer began to receive endorsements which were in many other States the kiss of death for the recipient. Other endorse- ments followed, given by people in or- ganizations who discovered in this man a strength of character too rare these days. He kept his campaign on a high plane and carried no banner for any groups or persons other than for the whole electorate, with the promise of good government. Alone, except for his seventeen-year-old son namesake, he drove down quiet country lanes, into sleepy river towns, in ‘and out of teem- ing manufacturing centers, into the hurly-burly of the big cities, and ham- mered, hammered, hammered on the theme of good and honest government —not a new thought for a candidate, but when you heard him say it it sound- ed different somehow and carried con- viction, There wasn't a piece of political soil in the State that he didn’t spade over. He kissed no babies; he made no deals for future appointments; he employed no cheap tricks; he just kept hammer- ing, hammering, hammering on the theme of good and honest government for Ohio. Then in the last days of this campaign the opposition pulled out all the stops against him—the shopworn old attempt to arouse bigotry, the impor- tation of professional rabble-rousers, the story of vast sums of money, the state- “I want you to examine my brother, doctor. He thinks he’s George Washington. THE JUDGE FOR SEPTEMBER comicbooks.com