like the donkey who stood equidistant between two bales of hay, perish from sheer indecision among the symbols that compete for our attention.
Here, for example, are the reasons for their vote as stated by certain private citizens to a newspaper just before the election of 1920.
For Harding:
"The patriotic men and women of to-day, who cast their ballots for Harding and Coolidge will be held by posterity to have signed our Second Declaration of Independence."Mr. Wilmot———, inventor.
"He will see to it that the United States does not enter into 'entangling alliances.' Washington as a city will benefit by changing the control of the government from the Democrats to the Republicans."Mr. Clarence———, salesman.
For Cox:
"The people of the United States realize that it is our duty pledged on the fields of France, to join the League of Nations. We must shoulder our share of the burden of enforcing peace throughout the world."Miss Marie———, stenographer.
"We should lose our own respect and the respect of other nations were we to refuse to enter the League of Nations in obtaining international peace."Mr. Spencer———, statistician.
The two sets of phrases are equally noble, equally true, and almost reversible. Would Clarence and Wilmot have admitted for an instant that they intended to default in our duty pledged on the fields of France; or that they did not desire international
