Show What Would B. B Franklin Do 1 WHAT WHAT would Benjamin Franklin do in troublous troublous trou- trou 11 blous times such as these A Michigan editor editor edi edi- tor asks the question and then suggests that he would be a pretty fair sort of statesman to pattern pattern pat pat- tern after If we keep in mind that the telegraph telephone telephone telephone tele tele- phone radio and newspaper keep the entire nation informed upon every question in minutes where it took weeks and months in Franklins Franklin's day and if we keep in mind a host of changes that have come over the country in the century and a half elapsing since his time we can draw much upon the wisdom of the sided many-sided man He could work for radical reforms and at the same time keep both feet solidly on the ground meanwhile keeping an eye on the cash drawer Ben sen was a new dealer too and wanted things changed quite a bit this writer mused He liked women women built cook stoves wrote editorials edi edi- negotiated treaties fought the king published published pub pub- a paper and discovered electricity electricity but but his perspective of things was eternally right At a time when the U U. S. S supreme court has sprayed chilly water on ardent reformers Franklin and h his inexhaustible s fund of common commonsense commonsense commonsense sense are worth remembering If we think we have public discontent with v the status quo in our land today we might remind ourselves that it is as only a pale shadow of the discontent that was abroad in 1776 The old order was being put into limbo with v bullets then and Franklin was one of the men who would have gone to the scaffold if the attempt had fail failed cd If we are get get- ting a new deal today we got a new deck and anda a new game then Such times provide a field for crackpots They tempt a man who wants to see a new order of things established to follow his ideals until his feet leave ground Franklin one of the foremost of the idealists never once lost his contact with reality He was able to build for the future without without without with with- out forgetting the necessity for living in the present He could go to Paris and sell the most autocratic court in Europ on the beauties of democracy and freedom and at the same time he could write homely advice that filled Poor Richards Richard's almanac He could help build a better world and remember that Saturday nights night's payroll payroll payroll pay pay- roll had to be met All of this may remind us that tha t it is not necessary necessary sar sary to go off into the clouds when working for sweeping reform The vexing argument about whether we are arc to have recovery or reform is wasted effort A stolid idealist of the Franklin stripe would figure out a way to get both |