The Hawera Star. MONDAY, JANUARY 20, 1930. BY WAY OF PROTEST.

Hawera Star, Volume XLIX, 20 January 1930, Page 4

The Hawera Star.

MONDAY, JANUARY 20, 1930. BY WAY OF PROTEST.

Delivered every evening by o oelook in tiawera, Alanaia, .kaupokonui, Otakeno, Oe-.. Pihama. Dpunalse. Mormanby, Okaiawa, Dlttiam, Mgaere. Maugatoki. is-a-ponga, Awatuna, Te Kiri, ilatioe. towgartb, Alanutabi. Kakaramea, Alton, Hurleyville. Tatea, Wlienuakura, Waverley, Mokoia. Whakamara, o>*angai, Aleremere. Fraser Jxoad and Ararata

Gable messages from th e United States more frequently make mention of President Hoover than of any other citizen Uf the United States, but next to the 1 President surely must come Senator Borah. Apparently, if the Senator is not criticising something or somebody, then ho is being severely criticise!. The other day a leading New York paper said that ■‘■‘•when the Archangel Gabriel blows the last trumpet, Senator Borah is sure to protest that the pnoceeding is ill-timed, irregular, and : wholly out of accord with his own understanding of celestial harmonies.” For over twenty years he has been a , member of the .Senate, and for the greater part of that time-he has been protesting against something or other. As a good Republican, of course, he L opposed the ratification of the Treaty of Versailles, to which a Democrat Pre- : sident had placed his signature. Not so very long ago he .spoke of the ! Dawes Plan as “loosening the deadly (and destructive grip of the Versailles ! Treaty, which Europe had fastened on her own life.” The ratification of the treaty having been refused, Senator Borah proceeded to protest vehemently against the proposel basis for the settlement of war debts due to the United States, and especially against the inclination of the Republicans to look with a degree of favour on the World Court. Senator Borah .would have none ,of it. This international court, .he protested, would weaken the national spirit and might c ntangle the Republic in the affairs of a distressed Europe. He was . largely responsible for the reservations which the Government at Washington has had to make with regard to the World Court. Mor e recent protests by tile man from Idaho have been against the non-recognition of the Soviet Government by the American authorities, and the initial steps for an added measure of limitation of naval armaments. The one thing that many American newspapers regard as inevitable is that Senator Borah will protest. •He rarely disappoints them, and yet he remains one of the most popular figures in public life. Personally he is said to keep away from party headquarters, and he seldom figures in the social life of the capital. He is a great reader and student, and, but for this | compelling power of protesting, prob ably would be classed as a man .of a * retiring disposition. He commands the public car because of his fine record. No shadow of suspicion has ever rested on his name. He has been a fearless critic, but lias never stooped to anvthing that .was in any way ques- ; tionable. Somehow his countrymen have come to expect from him these outbursts of the most candid criticism, often levelled at those in authority in .other countries and made so pointed . that they have, on several occasions, ’ been the subject of diplomatic discus- * sions. To his party he must b e a problem, but the Senator goes on his tem- . pestuous way, and the policy or the person incurring his dislike must be prepared to face a storm of criticism directed with great skill and immense energy. Sometimes, of course, he is accused of setting up ninepins for the purpose of knocking them over, but, even if that wer 0 true, there can be no doubt that the people have come to enjoy watching the thing done. Senator Borah is an outstanding figure in the United States, and should long remain so, for lie has - one trait that will always command attention —lie knows I where lie stands on all public quesJ tions. Often he has been the champion of lost causes, but the causes, at any rate, had a fighting champion. If life, as wp are told, should be a protest and not an apology, then Senator Borah lives a full life.