The Sun 42 WYNDHAM STREET. AUCKLAND WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1938 A BIG MAN FOR PRESIDENT

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 505, 7 November 1928, Page 8

The Sun 42 WYNDHAM STREET. AUCKLAND WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1938 A BIG MAN FOR PRESIDENT

SINCE politics, even America’s, is (or are) not so crooked as horse-racing, it may be anticipated a few hours ahead of the decisive announcement of the Presidential election result yesterday that Mr. Herbert Hoover will be the next tenant of the White House. It is always rash to prophesy in any political circumstances nowadays, but in this case the risk of being confounded in predicting the ultimate selection of the world’s greatest man of commerce for the highest post of honour in the United States appears to be less substantial than a ghost s shadow. To make appropriate use of a hideous American colloquialism, Mr. Hoover’s return seems “ a cinch.” Whatever may be the result of the popular poll in the quadrennial election, of Amei'ica’s President on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, the appointment will not be finalised until January, when an electoral college of representative electors from each State will vote for a President by ballot. That process, however, usually is little more than a formality; thus the so-called popular Presidential election practically determines the issue. On this occasion the contest has been almost exclusively confined to an exti-aordinarily keen battle between personality and psychology. There has been little that is political in it, indeed, Amei’ica never has been politically-minded. There is not enough scope in serious politics for noise and whizz-bang excitement. Except for the Prohibition question, there have been no political issues really at stake. Either, of the Presidential candidates might well have taken the other’s political platform and found it but little different from his own. The old days of passionate political heresies have passed. Who cares much for pQlities in America, or anywhere else for that matter nowadays, so long as business promises to be profitable for the big man, and life reasonably bright with cheaper radios and quieter automobiles for the small man, and quick, efficient and cheap vacuum cleaners for housewives? There has been nothing vital in this Presidential election to split the rival parties into camps of political scalp-hunters'. As a British newspaper correspondent at Washington has observed, the fight has been between two first-rate men representing two widely different conceptions -of life. There have been neither catch-cries nor chasms between them. Their appeal to the people has been more personal than political, though each naturally has tried valiantly to express an intelligent interest in politics. Throughout the lively campaign, which largely has been a conflict of shrill propaganda and splash advertisement, the odds have been pre-eminently in favour of Mr. Hoover. He not only represents big business and achievement, but actually in himself, in policy, and in profession is the embodiment of successful business and meritorious performance. He is an engineer by training, and does not talk about getting things done. He does things that others have not been able to do. Mr. Hoover has grappled with the inefficiency of the Allies, the inefficiency of American farmers, the hopeless inefficiency of tlxe Chinese, and he has been the strong man and the dominant spirit of organisation in the crises and calamities of communities and nations. Flood or famine, war or pestilence, send for Hoover! Of course, the politicians always have hated the man. He reciprocates their loathing. lie has never stood for office, but has had high positions thrust upon him. He cannot speak, and when he tries his voice is rasping. But he is a man both in appearance and in real ability. If elected President, Mr. Hoover will give America something to boast about in thorough bone-dry administration. THE MORNINGSIDE TUNNEL ' IT is now decreed that the Morningside railway tunnel, giving improved access by rail between the main city station and the North, will be coipmenced next year. This assurance has been communicated to the people of the Auckland Suburbs electorate by Sir James Gunson, Reform candidate, who, like Mr. H. G. R. Mason, the sitting member, has shown complete realisation of the importance of the scheme. Sir James has now made the most important official pronouncement issued on this subject for some time. The importance of the work is commensurate with its magnitude, for it is by no means an inconsiderable engineering task. At the present time the steepest gradients on the Main Trunk line are just .outside Auckland (Parnell Rise) and just outside Wellington. So far as southern traffic is concerned, the Westfield deviation is eliminating the steep haul up Parnell Rise, and the Tawa Flat deviation, on a similar scale, is cutting out the costly climb from Wellington to Johnstonville. But the trunk railway system of the North Island does not terminate at Auckland. There are districts of great and growing importance to the North, and it is to serve these with economy and facility, to eliminate the primitive system of shunting at the constricted Newmai-ket yards, and to open the way to electrification and speeding up of the subxxrban service, that the Morningside tunnel is designed. Broad details of the plan are fairly familiar. The main tunnel will extend from Beach Road, just opposite the new station, to the Newton gully, and there will be another much smaller tunnel further on. A new arrangement of stations on this line may effect a readjustment of property values in certain localities near the city, and the danger of speculation has been realised, and measures taken to meet it. There is a real need for the tunnel, and the Prime Minister’s promise that it shall be started next year will be greeted with satisfaction. This promise may mean a start on January 1 or December 31, or any day in between, and we should prefer to see the vagueness removed. It would be heartening to see the job started before the winter, so that unemployment at the worst period could be eased.