Show CITIZENS SHOULD I 1 KEEP i HE P IN 1 TOUCH I WITH OFFICIALS ty ny ROBT ROBIT N STANFIELD i the general habit of the americal Ameri american cap I 1 electorate Is to do 10 most of its benl enl family washing iri ili one great batch during national state and municipal campaigns and then aen depend on the party in power to handle tho the public linen till the next ell election no won S of thia linon linen gets pretty dirty before tho next general washday the rank n nril nd filo file of voters go I 1 back to their farms farm their stores I 1 0 their 1 air offices and their reg regular bilar jobs und leave their official representatives t to wrestle yr estle with their problems on their own i meanwhile there are arc always inter I 1 ested groups having special axes to grind w who h 0 maka the peoples rep I 1 the 4 objects of their attention these groups never lose sight of tile the things they want they maintain constant contact with legis intorf and public officials they know that the way to get things is to go after them the bc peoples representatives are left largely to i guess peas what their constituents coni I 1 really think or deslie desire anti and seldom hear from thorn them except in tile the j fo form rm ot of some organ organized izett propaganda i ot 0 identical letter or telegram cam 1 laign us usually baliv promoted by 6 y the groups who have their own anter ests to serve representatives especially in congress have become so inured to this sort of appeal that it has become a standing joke I 1 think I 1 can truly say speaking from my experience as U S senator that theL Congressman the would rather lather have a dozen letters written by his constituents own hands handa voicing in their own language their opinions and desires than a thousand thousand propaganda letters identical in wording ling speaking again agai iii from my own experience pe peri lence ence 1 I can testify that members of both houses of congress areas arc as a rule busy people they put in long hours before and after adjournment of the regular daily sess sessions alons in multitudinous committee meetings and hearings the reception of special delegates and individuals having havIll gl particular particular measures to plead besides their social ile demands mands which sometimes extend far into the nighttime night time 1 I 1 let nobody think that the members of the senate and the house h have ave noth ing to do the business man closes close 91 u up lus Is office at a certain time in the afternoon and goes home to his family i the congressman is seldom if ever at liberty but in spite of all this the peoples 1 ale 4 depre representatives senta tives i is s always delighted I 1 to receive a genuine letter from back home and he always takes pleasure in answering it if lt ita contains some lighton light on pending legis I j 1 lation or tells about the opinion of the home folks he is grateful ile he knows it is reliable I 1 think public officials generally feel the same way they are glad to know the real wishes of their constituents free from boilerplate boiler plate propaganda another habit of the american electorate is to recognize only ohly the members of their own political 11 party when making an appeal democrats write aw ito to D democrats republicans to republicans etc this is political sectarianism of a subversive sort its tendency is to destroy elec troal solidarity this sectarianism has no proper place at all in my judgment except upon the bu hustings stings after public officials are elected and inaugurated they are in a holy sense the representatives senta tives of tile the whole and the whole people should feels feel free to i counsel with them the democratic democrat t ic i I official is just as much the representative I 1 of ili liia republican fellow i citizens as he is of his Demor catic fellow citizens anti and the republican i 0 official f fic 1 01 1 is i just u st as much the representative of liis his democratic fellow citizen j as lie he is of his lile republican publican fellow citizens if this is if not true in practice then democratic government is a false fae alarm will anybody deny that the president of the united I 1 states is the president of the whole people if 11 he a is not that whose president is lie he Is the governor of a state the governor of the republicans or the governor of the democrats democrat only poppycock I 1 am not advocating the destruction of political parties they serve a useful purpose in the their lir proper sphere but that sphere does docs fi not 0 t include constantly arashi crashing i ng ahe the doors of the peoples governmental workshops in my judgement jud gement failing in ill making their own wishes known citizens should refrain from arinsb arin sr criticism of their officials blont shoot your senator or depre seita tive e they are arc doing the best trev alic can i i |