Life — August 23, 1928 — page 12: what you’re looking at

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

THE POLITICAL FRONT The Gentleman from New Hampshire Ir I were Herbert Hoover, I should lie awake nights worry- ing about George Higgins Moses. This amiable gentleman from New Hamp- shire is altogether too bright to hold a position of great prominence in a campaign for the Presi- dency. He has the quality, which he shares with Mrs. Nicholas Longworth, of blurting out horrid truths in the form of epigrams bound to be repeated. Mrs. Longworth’s apothegms on politics and personalities are seldom reported, but Mr. Moses’ always are; he makes them for that purpose. As manager of Mr. Hoover's Eastern campaign, he is apt at any mo- The Hoover will sweep ment to say something that will hurt Mr. Hoover's chances, It is not that Mr. Moses is indiscreet; he just has a quaint way of phrasing his comments and judgments, and no control over his sharp and telling wit, The Republican candidate has far less to suffer from Dr. Hubert Work's stu- pidity than from Mr. Moses’ brilliance. Chairman Work has more or less been muzzled, but nobody will muzzle Mr. Moses. When Dr. Work says something silly, which is practically always, nobody pays much attention, for it is generally understood that this ambitious physician- in-politics is not clever. The New York press, on the other hand, is ready to re- po Senator Moses’ slightest comment in avy type. His animadversions on the Democrats are caustic enough, but it is his fleeting comments on the Republican situation that really hurt. For example, he caused acute distress to some of his Hoover is fitted with the famous SILENT motor, developed after eight years of research at the Mellon Institute; only the Hoover has been tested in actual use by our Government down in Washington. The powerful Hoover removes the dirt by DRY CLEANING. Fully guaranteed to run for four years without oiling, or will be replaced. Get in line with the Hoover and clean up. colleagues when he character the theory at Mr. Hoover would = the Solid South as so much “bunk.” Such admissions are not made in itics, but Mr. Moses makes them. In his exhilaration he is capable of inventing a wisecrack that will resound through the country. His insatiable exhibitionism, his appetite for applause, expose him to th peril of being tar too “smart.” The man who, when Minister to Greece, harangued the Athenian populace in their native tongue will not confine his campaign a. tivities to issuing platitudes on a mimeo graph. THe GENTLEMAN from New Hampshire enjoys an important place in the United States Senate, but hitherto he has not attracted much public attention. Tem. peramentally he is as much an obstruc. tionist as Jim Reed of Missouri or Borah of Idaho. His satire is not so sharp as the former's, nor his debating capacities sustained and intelligent as the latter's Were he more indus- trious and less witty, Mr. Moses might be- come one of the com- manding figures in our Upper House. He is reveling in his new prominence in pol- itics and savoring his grandiloquent tides to the full. If Mr. Hoover is elected, Senator Moss will emerge with great prestige, for be was one of the first—the very first in New England — to construe the President's English as final and to indorse Mr. Hoover for the nomination. He was a efficient Chairman at Kansas City and hoped to be named for Vice-President, for he is an expert diner-out and doesn't mind opening conventions or closing corner-stones. eee Mr. Mosts can make one valuable com tribution to Mr. Hoover's campaign and that is an atmosphere of vitality. The Hoover canvass tends to become too much an affair of set speeches, of solemn and carefully prepared pronguncemments The Hoover technique is that of a druggist weighing the elements of a prescription. What is needed just now 1s a freer a0 less constrained manner on Mr. Hoover's rt. He still acts as if he were afraid of is shadow; his sentences sound as if a dozen drafts had been written and the definitive phrase finally memorized. Som of his sentiments seem more formult than convictions. Mr. Hoover should ct comicbooks.com \