Show washington digest latest blasts of political oratory orator y dire are devoid of substantial facts honest abe gets many fine tributes from republican speakers but U S voters receive minimum of basic governmental information by WILLIAM IVILLIA 51 service national press washington D 0 WASHINGTON About halt half of tile republican representatives andson ands and senators cn in congress most of the republican governors and scores score of lesser lights are back home as these lines are printed they have been away on speechmaking speech making trips they used abe Lincol ns birthday as tho the rallying point they concentrated on 12 just as their arch rivals concentrate annually on andrew jacksons birthday for ballyhoo and money raising honest abe received many many m any fine tributes ills his services to his country were told by good orators and bad the tributes were justly deserved but I 1 could not help wondering no as I 1 read page after page of there speeches just how abe lincoln would feel about somo some odthe things that were said some of the national policies that were wera advocated some of the solutions that were offered for national problems it may have been just my imagination but I 1 thought honest abe was a bit restless as his great statue sits out its unending days in tile the vast memorial on the banks of the potomac river the memorial Is so arranged that honest abe gazes through daylight and darkness at a vista that includes the talland tall and imposing monument to george washington and beyond to the capitol of the united states the things that have been going on beneath the capitol domo dome and the things that were said by republican nag flag wavers and represented as being lincolnia Lincol ni an it seems to me have been quite sufficient to make the lincoln eyes heavier to make the lines of his stoney face deeper just no as the democrats last month failed to convince very many people that jackson would do as the new dealers have done so the republican orators tailed failed to prove they are sticking to Lincol ns traditional philosophy lo the tragedy Is that each major party Is attempting to streamline a national figure and the result obviously Is that neither jackson nor lincoln has been presented to the newer voters in the light of the genuine ine services which they rendered their country republican presidential nominee aspirants have field day these speeches to which I 1 have referred included of course resounding statements by five or six of the men who aspire to be the republican presidential nominee there were senators taft of ohio of michigan and bridges of new hampshire and new yorks racket busting district attorney thomas E dewey governor bricker of ohio republican leader martin of the house of representatives and former president herbert hoover anyone who heard the speeches s or read them must have come to the some same conclusion that I 1 reached the days oratory with the possible exception k of mr hoovers speech was as devoid of good substantial facts as a frog Is of feathers there was outburst after outburst of bitter criticism reference after reference herbert to new deal dea failures repetition hoover ver upon repetition of charges of waste and assertions of danger to our national welfare all of these things angs were said with the usual pounding of the table and slapping of hips but the republican orators either forgot their facts or neglected to use them in the excitement of the oc caslon casion whai what I 1 am seeking to say any Is that no campaign Is worth much in any political battle unless the attacking forces base their charges in the simple facts that individuals under tand stand generalities mean nothing any more president ent roosevelt has been the greatest of all history and the folks have been dig ging up some of his earlier general statements to ask about them such presentation of attack or defense leads definitely to a lack of confluence on the part of the voters I 1 referred above to mr hoovers speech let us take one section of lt it as an illustration of what I 1 mean about generalities mr hoover talked about the 45 national debt ile he went further lie he figured wit out that tile the annual ann ual interest on this debt la about a year and thus according to the calculations each man woman and child in the united states is paying almost per year in interest going further it if there is a family of five that fam ilys share of the interest on the national debt Is roughly a year or a little more than three dollars a month now most of the speeches contained a few plain und and simple facts like that most of them hit around the mark but not a single one of the laid laia down aown a beai oar rage of facts acts they failed ailed miserably to apply the facts acts to tho the affairs ot of the individual voter so even though the republican orators did not ask me for advice I 1 am going to offer some tt il they really want to restore this nation to its native conservative way of doing things they will tell the factual story oi of the new deal and Us its theories and dreams and the voters ought to ask for facts instead of general statements statement sl in these conclusions I 1 believe honest abe likely would agree taft challenges presidents H handling of 01 budget senator tail taft lately got right close to specific statements when he challenged president roosevelt on the question of balancing the budget he took many of the federal agencies that have come into being under the I i i 1 4 1 A i A it i X aa 41 SENATOR ROBERT TAFT new deal alphabet and pointed out the cost of each and how little worthwhile he believed them to be it was something mr roosevelt could not answer without resorting to generalities the senator however ho W has slipped away again fr from om the channel he appeared ready to paddle like the rest of the bandl candidates on the republican side he Is I 1 s no longer using the ammunition available these references to the necessity essit y for the use of facts recalls how thoroughly the national labor relations board has been discredited by a special house committee which Is investigating the funny looking activities of the board thus far the investigation has had very little in the way of sensational statements except those from the record of the board itself its own papers its ltv own writings the exchanges between its own members and staff workers has served to show better than volumes of argument what ridiculous di policies the narrow minded officials ar ard and d employees have inflicted upon an unsuspecting eting public why these were facts another illustration the administration Is determined to gain congressional approval tor for another three year extension of its right to negotiate trade treaties now there Is no doubt that the trade treaties help in soine places and hurt very much in others but I 1 sat eat in the house ways and means committee room one day listening to administration testimony in support of its request for the three year extension the witnesses all government officials that day had the facts it Is true that they used those facts to show what they wanted to demonstrate they were careful that the sordid side of the story was not told they failed also to break down the facts to individual application but they pieced together a story that was understandable it was effective and opposition w vas as d difficult cu 1 t because tho the opposition was not equipped with a complete record on the story thus built up it is likely the extension will be voted I 1 have observed the activities of tho the republican national committee for some months it has flopped completely in the most obvious of its jobs presentation of factual information to the country about what the new deal hns has been doing day after day delivery boys bring copies of speeches to my office and day after day I 1 look vainly for facts I 1 do not moan mean to say there are no facts at all I 1 do insist however that there ore are heaps of opinion that convinces xione cone whereas the facts underlying those opinions would have important weight |