Adult Education

Arriving back at his headquarters in Manhattan last week, the least ambitious of all third-party candidates announced that the election was "in the bag." not for himself but for Franklin D. Roosevelt. By this piece of intellectual honesty Socialist Norman Thomas made a fool both of himself and of his opponents.

Although Nominee Thomas has scoured the continent from coast to coast, since July 1 has averaged two speeches a day and spent most of his nights in Pullman upper berths, although enough intellectual candor has gone into his speeches to debunk the inflated bombast of U. S. politics, this onetime Presbyterian minister has made much less impression in this campaign than he did in 1932. That year, because many a thoughtful citizen refused to have either Hoover or Roosevelt, the Socialist Party, with Norman Thomas heading its ticket, rolled up 884.741 votes its best record since Eugene Debs nearly touched the million mark in 1920.

This year, with George Nelson, a 63-year-old Wisconsin farmer, as his running mate, Socialist Thomas has made a more civilized and enlightened campaign than any other candidate. While he preached the doctrine of Socialism in 40 States, he refused to be fooled either by political flummery or about his own prospects. For him it has all been a great lark and in nearly every speech he has said exactly what he thought of his fellow candidates: "Mr. Roosevelt, with the almost hysterical blessing of Labor, is going into office without any mandate. . . . There is not even the absolute certainty that Roosevelt would be a week or two later in calling out the troops in strikes than Landon. . . . It is foolish for the labor unions to waste more of their good money on the Roosevelt campaign. Jim Farley has done a beautiful job. . . . Governor Landon is a nice fellow who is over his head. . . . Colonel Knox is overstating his case so consistently that he is wrong even when he is right. . . . Browder and the Communists are kissing Roosevelt. . . . Lemke is running for President with three Messiahs on his shoulders."

Only trouble with this type of campaign was that it did not make Socialist votes. Undeterred by the prospect that he would run a poor fourth in the election in spite of being on the ballot in more States (39) than any other third-party aspirant for the White House, indefatigable Mr. Thomas last week sallied forth into New England and New York to provide more free adult education.

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