Show Bruc karts washington digest latest blasts of political oratory 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 BRUCKART service national press washington D 0 WASHING washington TOM about half of the republican re representatives presenta tIves and senators in congress most of the republican pub licin governors and scores of lesser lights are back home as these lines are printed they have been away on speechmaking speech making trips tripi they used abe Lincol ns birthday as the rallying point they concentrated on F february 12 just as their arch rivals concentrate annually on andrew jacksons birthday for ballyhoo and money raising honest abe received many many fine tributes his services to his country were told by good orators and bad the tributes were justly deserved but I 1 could not help wondering as I 1 read page after page of these speeches just how abe lincoln would feel about some of the things that were said some of the national policies that were adv advocated 0 cat some of the solutions that were offered offered tor 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 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 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 dome and the things that were said by republican flag wavers and represented as being lincoln Lincol ni an it if seems seems to me haye been lufte sufficient to make the lincoln eyes heavier to make the lines of his stoney face deeper just as the democrats last month failed fo 0 o convince very many people that jackson would do as the new dealers have done so the republican orators failed to prove they are sticking to Lincol ns traditional philosophy lo the tragedy is that each major party is attempting to streamline i a n national figure and the result obviously Is that neither jackson nor r lincoln has been presented to the newer voters in the light of the genuine 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 BrI 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 r and form former er president herbert hoover anyone who heard the speeches or read them must have come to the same conclusion that I 1 reached the days oratory with the possible exception Z of mr hoovers speech was as devoid v old of good substantial 1 facts as as a frog is of feathers there was outburst after outburst of 1 bitter criticism reference after reference herbert to new deal hoover failures repetition upon repetition of charges of waste and assertions of danger to our national welfare all of these things were said with the usual pounding of th the e table and slapping of hips but the republican orators either forgot their facts or neglected to use them in the excitement of the occasion what I 1 am seeking to say 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 stand generalities mean nothing any more president roosevelt has been the greatest generall zer of all history and the folks have been digging up some of his earlier general statements statement s to ask about them such presentation of attack or defense leads definitely to a lack of conal dence on the part of the voters I 1 referred above to speech let us take one section of atas it as an illustration of what I 1 mean about generalities mr hoover talked about the DO na lional debt he went further lie he figured out that the annual interest on this debt is about a year and thus according to the calculations each man woman and child in the united states Is paying almost 8 50 per year in interest going further if there is a family of five that fam ilys share of the interest on the national debt Is roughly 42 50 a year or a little more than three dollars a month now most of the speeches contained a few plain and simple facts like that most of them hit bit around the mark but not a single one of the speeches laid down a real barrage of facts they failed miserably io apply the facts to the affairs of the individual voter so even even though the orators did not ask defor me for advice I 1 am going to offer some if they really want to restore tills this nation to its native conservative way of doing things they will tell the factual story of the newdell new deal and its theories wid md 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 handling of budget senator tatt 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 4 SENATOR ROBERT TAFT new deal alphabet and pointed out the cost of each and how little worthwhile he believed bell eyed them to be it was something mr roosevelt could not answer without resorting to generalities the senator however has slipped away again from the channel he appeared ready to paddle like the rest of the candidates on the republican side he is no longer using the ammunition available these references to the necessity 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 th the e investigation has had very little in the way of sensational statements ants except those from the record of the board itself its own papers its 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 and employees have inflicted upon an unsuspecting public why these were facts another illustration ih the e administration is determined to gain congressional approval for another three year extension of its right to negotiate trade treaties now there is no doubt that the trade treaties help in some places and hurt very much in others but I 1 sat at in the house ways and means committee room one day listening to administration testimony in support of its J request for the three year extension the witnesses all government bials 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 was because 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 the republican national committee for some months it has flopped completely in the most obvious of it its jobs presentation of factual information to the country abo about ut what the new deal has been doing day I 1 after day delivery boys bring coples copies of speeches to my office domce and day after day I 1 look vainly for facts I 1 do not mean to say there are no facts at all I 1 do insist however that there are heaps of opinion that thai convinces vone none whereas the facts underlying those opinions would have important weight |