The Coolidge Examiner

Since the outbreak of the European War there has been a great deal of talk about adjourning politics and national unity. Some of this talk has come from quarters that really are playing politics by urging its adjournment. But it also comes from quarters sincerely disturbed by the present grave situation. The question requires close examination and serious consideration.

In response to an inquiry from the United States News, a weekly periodical of fact and opinion published in Washington by David Lawrence, asking whether in the present conditions politics should be adjourned, the writer made the following answer:

"If the word 'politics' is to be construed in its invidious sense of seeking narrow and selfish partisan advantage at the expense of national welfare, most assuredly 'politics should be adjourned' not only under present conditions but under all conditions at all times.

"But if 'politics' means, as Webster defines it, 'the theory or practice of managing or directing the affairs of public policy,' most emphatically it should not be adjourned, but instead should be a subject of quickened interest on the part of the people of the United States and their duly elected representatives."

There is a feeling that President Roosevelt might well keep a close mouth for a time with regard to war matters. This is because fear is entertained that his freakish temperament may prompt him into putting his foot into it and unnecessarily complicate our neutrality, on which the people are insisting because they do not want to be dragged into another war.-Cumberland (Md.) News.