Show BACKBONE OF THE NATION in an editorial released a few weeks ago george peck 1 new york columnist paid tribute to the editors of the small town newspapers published throughout the nation and pointed out that these journalists are a mighty power in the political economic and social life of america 1 part of which we published at that time quoting from that article arthur P dawley editor of tha th a wickford rhode island standard has expanded on the theme in a well conceived and aptly phrased editorial of his own which is timely as we face the coming election A hint as to how we could get qualified men into office comes from a well known editorial bureau in new york city in a recent release this bureau made the flat assertion that the typical american is to be found in the rural areas and is the real backbone of the nation the statement says these people are to be found in the smaller communities and in the rural districts in the hinterland are the hardheaded clear thinking citizens the people who cannot be fooled by false doctrines nor deluded by quack panaceas and who steadfastly adheres to sound american principles if this statement is so and it has come in times past from other reliable sources every citizen ri in small communities like ours should not only feel complimented but encouraged cou raged to make ours a better democracy with another election only a few days away every voter must pick and choose from among the candidates up for public office it seems to us that the remedy for red tape too many bureaus and agencies indecision in high 21 places weak foreign policies and a host of other governmental mal practices of our day could be cured if the rural resident knew v his strength through the ballot in communities where the primary system is used the voter can pick his candidate but where such selection is is in in the hands of parties the voters choice is sometimes only that of voting for the lesser of two or more evils the party picks a man who will fit into the machine and say little more than yes if he wants to stay in and be advanced its the same system as in the military services not much back talk or else this rigid system of well oiled functioning gets results but not always the ones wanted by the general public or for the best interests of all in a small community any family which has lived there for a few years is well known to the people of that place people through association know whether a man is an honest hardworking hard working patriotic individual or a pious hypocrite sharp dealing scheming creature or some other kind of a crook who is clever enough to keep out of jail and thinks this entitles him to be called honorable the manin the small community knows his neighbors neighbor S and could really draft a good man for office and the man selected would know that a majority of his fellow towns town S people had confidence in him and would be proud to hold a public office without fear of being considered a crook because he was taking an active part in politics rural people sending the right men to the state legislatures and filling the community offices with men they could respect and trust would put the nation back on the road that the framers of our constitution meant for our public officials to travel generally speaking voting the straight ticket in small communities will not give us the best government |