Sacred Subject

Two centuries ago one John Gay, a poet, wrote a lyric play called The Beggars' Opera in which he slurred Sir Robert Walpole, British Prime Minister who had assumed the task of rescuing England from the financial crash following the bursting of the South Sea Bubble. When Gay wrote a sequel and the Duchess of Queensberry solicited subscriptions for it in the palace, right-minded Queen Caroline indignantly dismissed her from the Court.

Last week another John Gay, a Wisconsin politician, made a slurring speech at Waukesha. At a Republican rally where 2,300 citizens were assembled, John Brigg Gay, tall, slender, military, a champion marksman, popular with his fellow War veterans, got up to explain why he should be elected to Congress-- a job for which he was defeated two years ago. G. O. Partisan Gay spoke for a full hour, while John Chapple. Republican nominee for Senator (see above), waited his turn and the crowd grew restive. The interminable flow of oratory went on until suddenly Nominee Gay had everyone's shocked attention. Said he :

"Two years ago when I ran for Congress, my opponents made capital of my having received Wartime disability compensation to charge that I was not physically able* to fulfill the duties of Representative in Congress. Yet these same opponents elected for President a man who cannot stand upon his feet without crutches!"

The citizens of Waukesha could not believe their ears. By common consent Franklin D. Roosevelt's infirmity has not been mentioned in a political speech for two years--not since his followers themselves pointed to it in the campaign of 1932 to down rumors that his health was too poor to survive the rigors of the Presidency. The Press has studiously refrained from referring to the condition of his legs. Citizens have bitterly resented even the most oblique reference to it in public. It was taboo. Were it not for occasional press photographs showing him steadying himself on the arm of an aide, future historians could hardly guess from news reports of the day that the 32nd President of the U. S. was any different, physically, from his 30 predecessors in office.

Caesar was deaf in his left ear. George III was insane. The Kaiser has a shriveled arm. Andrew Jackson had tuberculosis. Abraham Lincoln suffered from chronic constipation. None of these statements is offensive to U. S. citizens. But when John Gay mentioned the infirmity of a living President of the U. S., angry booing broke loose in the Waukesha hall. A quartet struck up a campaign song, thereby temporarily restoring order. Then Nominee Chapple rose and spoke :

"Men and women of Waukesha. the President of the United States has been insulted by a previous speaker on this program in a reprehensible and personal way; and while I may differ with Democratic policy, I will not stand for that kind of attack. I therefore refuse to speak upon this platform and I will return to Waukesha at a later date.''

Seven weeks ago Wisconsin's Democratic Governor, 69-year-old Albert Schmedeman, troubled with varicose veins, put down his foot unsteadily while descending from a speakers' platform, slipped, injured his ankle. Infection set in and his leg was amputated above the knee (TIME. Oct. 15). Howard Greene, his Republican opponent, declared on the stump that it was cruel of the Democratic organization to force a crippled man to continue the campaign. Last week political quidnuncs estimated that, although Mr. Greene had not been as inept as Mr. Gay, he, too, had lost votes by his remark.

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