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Show may adopt any form of government known or to be known, by man. But we should proceed frankly and openly to such basic changes as these and accomplish them in the democratic way, hy popular ma. .lorities on 'candidly expressed proposals. pro-posals. Never should we agree, if we hope to remain democrats, to a subtle and unacknowledged trans, formation of our state of society. Eight years ago we supported Franklin D. Roosevelt with boundless bound-less enthusiasm. Four years ago we supported him with some misgivings. mis-givings. The course of events since then, culminating in the president's pres-ident's ill-disguised and successful maneuver for a third term nomination, nomi-nation, forces upon us the conviction convic-tion that we can no longer support the president whom this newspaper helped twice to elect. The Democratic national platform plat-form of 1932 was liberal, forthright nd courageous. Standing1 on that declaration of principles Gov. Roosevelt as a 'candidate for president pres-ident was impregnable. Had the tenets of that platform been obeyed obey-ed the United States would today be in a far better situation financially, finan-cially, economically, politically than t now is. By the logic of four two-party system the choice for president lies between Wendell L. Willkie and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Even had the president achieved a flawless record of administration: which we have denied, the time is now at hand when lie should retire. He 'Cannot in sincerity say that Wilkie is any less qualified than himself to drect the government in the next four years. That Mr. Roosevelt refuses to make this concession is a partial index of his character. It harmonizes harmon-izes with many executive acts since March 1933. It is the trade mark of one who has come to consider con-sider himself The Indispensable Man. Public Forum This column is for the use of our readers as long as articles ar-ticles are not defamatory to private individuals. This newspaper doesn't take sides with any of the views expressed. express-ed. Contributions are welcome. (Editor's note The following follow-ing is part of an editorial from the Cleveland Plain Dealer on Tuesday morning, August 20, Wilson. The Plain Dealer elects to abide by the idea that the country should make social progress as fast as it can pay for it, whereas Mr. Roosevelt has attempted, not a liberal, but a radical goal. The only possible outcome of his policies, poli-cies, as we, see it, is State Socialism, Social-ism, followed inevitably by some form of Fascism. Under our system of government, govern-ment, if a sufficient majority can be obtained to amend the .Constitution .Constitu-tion in a given direction, America 1940. It has been contributed with the contributor's name on file). THE PLAIN DEALER SUPPORTS WENDELL L. WILKIE FOR PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES . . . We come to this decision with no regard either for party names or political considerations. Rather, our decision is based on the best analysis we can make of the moral problem confronting the United States of America. We have reached reach-ed this conclusion, which seems inevitable in-evitable to us, with the regret which decent people feel about breaking old ties. For close to a hundred years the Plain Dealer has refrained from supporting for president any other than Democratic candidates. We say this in no spirit of apology or of boastfulness. On occasions we were probably wrong. Now for the first time we depart de-part from this century-old Plain Dealer tradition. Wo recommend the defeat of a Democrat who is seeking a third term to the presidency. presi-dency. If; anyone reads into this an act of desertion, we insist that the result re-sult rests on the shoulders of Mr. Roosevelt and not on ours. The Plain Dealer chooses to remain re-main Democratic. The Roosevelt administration, by contrast, has abandoned the Democracy of Jefferson, Jef-ferson, . Jackson, Cleveland and |