Hoover and “Al” Smith

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 243, 14 July 1928, Page 19

Hoover and “Al” Smith

The London “Daily Telegraph” l gives a character sketch of the two most prominent | . candidates for.the United States Presidency, Mr. Herbert Hoover. (Republican)) and Mr. “Al” Smith (Democrat). 1 •

MR. HERBERT HOOVER/ t “Earlier in the Presidential year than is usual in similar situations, the figure of Mr. Herbert Hoover has come into such prominence that there is- little doubt about his being given the Republican nomination at Kansas City Jn June. , . .... ~ ■ “It is not certain, for events march rapidly in the weeks before the Conventions assemble, and many an aspirant .has been known.to ruin his chances by some unguarded word, or some act of omission, during the critical period. Mr. Hoover is, moreover, regarded with disfavour by the manipulators of the party ‘machine,’ to whom his force of character and independent temper make no appeal. • • ' . “But he has’ such a following in the country as no other Republican, save Mr. Coolidge alope, commands. This is due to none of the gifts or arts by which popularity is won- He has no eloquence, and'no magic of personality.' But his astonishing record of devoted and successful public work, first as chief of the American Relief Commission. in Belgian, and subsequently as the most active Secretary of Commerce in the history of that office, has won him a respect and admiration so universal that the. first announcement of his willingness to be. a candidate'placed him far in advance of all other possible nominees, and the magnitude of the volume of support for him has since become more and more evident. » • “He-is, as’his country prefers its. Presidents, to be, a man of humble origin. The son of a blacksmith, he paid:’for his college • education with the work <?f his hands: he made an international reputation as & mining engineer; and he never entered public life until called to it, in the war-time emergency, on account o f his proved genius for practical and resourceful organisation—perhaps the most admired of allthe talents in the United States to-day.” :

! MR. “AL” SMITH. “AJr. Albert E. Smith, the Governor of the State of New York, is.the very antithesis of Mr.-Hoover. • His personal magnetism is irresistible; he is an admirable speaker; he has established his reputation as a sound administrator, and his integrity is as-unquestionable as Mr. Hoover’s" own. . “He, too, has risen from poverty, by force,of talent and character. If the matter ended there, ‘Al’ Smith’s supporters might hope to see him the first Democratic President elected’by a majority of the people, on his first candidature, since Grover Cleveland’s narrow victory in 1884 But there are other considerations. Governor Smith is a devout Roman Catholic :he is a .vigorous critic of Prohibition; be owes-his political eminence in his State to Tammany Hall, and the sinister repute of that organisation must be some handicap upon any seeker of national honours, however clean his own hands may be. " “All these things tell against Mr. Smith throughout, the States of the ‘solid Sotith,’ which has voted overwhelmingly ■as a Democratic block during the sixty years since-the Civil War-. The South is firmly, even fanatically, Protestant, It is Prohibitionist by rooted conviction. It has a fixed prejudice against politicians from New York, even if untafred by the Tammany brush. To all objections Mr. Smith’s proposers have one very simple answer; , ■ • . . .- j . ■ : “He is, they say, the one man in the party who-could make an effective fight against a strong Republican candidate, and if he is to be set aside, the Democrats will be heading straight for a worse electoral disaster than even their, recent history can show. If that argument prevails, the subsequent -campaign is more than likely to be the most fiercely contested since William Jennings Bryan flung himself into the arena of national politics thirty years ago." :