Stratford Evening Post WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1930 LEADERS WHO FOLLOW.

Stratford Evening Post, Issue 66, 15 October 1930, Page 4

Stratford Evening Post WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1930 LEADERS WHO FOLLOW.

THERE seems to be an increasing- tendency among our parties and politicians to announce that they hold their deepest convictions subject to a popular vote (says the Hew York Times). This is. to be sure, of the nature of a supposedly clever evasion. But it is symptomatic of a loose habit of mind and morals, together with a disclaimer of responsibility. This attitude is not pleasing, and many voters who are growing impatient with shuffling politicians are ready to exclaim to them, I would thou wert either hot or cold. Lukewarm leaders, when a great issue is forcing its way to a positive decision, are not a very happy sign of the times, politically. American public men of other days were not so ready to abandon a principle on demand. They did. indeed, seek popular approval and support, but their attitude was that if the country did not second their ideas and plans, it must get somebody else. They themselves would not change with every wind of political doctrine. When Abraham Lincoln asserted that this country could not endure half slave and half'free, he took a stand from which he could not retreat. In the time of the greenback craze, political leaders like James A. Garfield combated it boldly, and never dreamed of saying that they would surrender it the elections went against them. Similarly, when the free coinage of silver seemed to be a winning cause, those who fought it did not hold their financial convictions at the disposal of a majority vote. They might be defeated, temporarily, but at least they could retain their selfrespect and their honour as public men bound to advocate what in their hearts they believed. Some of__thgir more timid successors to-day are unpleasant, like thi> French politician who was heard to sav of his rather undisciplined faction: “1 must follow them because I am their chief.”