"We Shall Ride Forward"

The Columbine swooped out of a fading afternoon sky, cleared the bare, brown Montana hills, and touched down on the airstrip at Missoula, where Dwight Eisenhower last week began a round of speech-making that became progressively more political as he moved on to Washington, Oregon and California.

Some 30,000 persons crowded Missoula (pop. 24,000) for the doggedly unpartisan presidential dedication of an aerial fire-fighting depot. Places on the platform with Ike were assigned to public officeholders; this excluded many of the state's Republican Party leaders, but would have given a seat to rabidly New Dealing Senator James Murray--who failed to appear (a traffic jam delayed him, his friends said). During a brief talk about natural resources, however, the President did slip in a plug for the G.O.P. senatorial candidate. Representative Wesley D'Ewart, whom Ike described as "my good friend Wes."

Wes D'Ewart needed all the help he could get in his race against Jim Murray, who has become a habit with Montanans. Every six years, the Republicans figure Murray is ripe for plucking. His age (78) is cited against him. and he is a pariah to the Democratic isolationists following ex-Senator Burton K. Wheeler. D'Ewart, whose congressional district covers more than half the state, is well-known and well-liked. Nevertheless, chances are Montana will re-elect Murray, as it has since 1934.

From Montana, the Columbine carried Ike to Walla Walla, where searchlights glared at the President as he stepped down from the plane onto politically apathetic soil. Since Washington elects neither governor nor Senator this year, the state's interest, such as it is, centers on the seven House contests: Democrats are given a fighting chance to pick up one of the six Republican seats.

The Zealots' Creed. After a night's sleep and a breakfast pep talk to western Republicans, the President headed a 30-car caravan that rolled through spectacular canyons to the site of the $287 million McNary Dam, on the Oregon border. On hand to flip a switch activating the dam's fifth generator, the President took occasion to define one of the West's most vital issues: public v. private power. It was a bold, effective, potentially dangerous speech.

"There are some," said the President, his voice rising above the roar of the spillway, "who contend that the development and distribution of hydroelectric power is exclusively the responsibility of Federal Government . . . Only thus, these zealots would have us believe, can we poor citizens be protected against exploitation by what they call the 'predatory' exponents of capitalism--that is, free enterprise . . . These believers in centralization fail to warn us that monopoly is always potentially dangerous to freedom, even when monopoly is exercised by government. Curiously enough, they proclaim their fear of a private power monopoly in a county, city or state, but urge upon us all a gigantic, overwhelming, nationwide power monopoly. But, of course, they also see themselves as the all-wise directors of that monopoly, so all would be well."

Then the President laid the Eisenhower Administration's power policy right on the line. Said he: "We shall avoid extremes. We shall neither withdraw from the power field nor federalize all electric power generators in the U.S. Instead, we shall continue to advance in a spirit of helpfulness to all localities, and in a spirit of cooperation with local citizens. When local enterprise can shoulder the burden, it will be encouraged and supported in doing so. But where local action cannot or should not fully meet the need, we shall have federal action."

Political Field Day. Ike's McNary Dam speech was topped by the frankly political address he saved for the next night, when he appeared before some 20,000 in the jammed Hollywood Bowl. Again and again he pounded home the same theme: a strong Republican Congress is necessary to carry out the Eisenhower program.

"The program is not yet completed," said Ike. "There is much to be done, and we shall keep on working. We shall keep on despite those misguided and irresponsible people who, hoping for individual political advantage, spread fear--fear of war, fear of atomic disaster, fear of international catastrophe, fear of depression--false fears, my friends, of tomorrow and of ourselves. Fellow Americans, two years ago the people of this country proved that they will not listen to peddlers of fear. We shall ride forward over their gloom-filled talk and their cynical doubt.

"For a political party in our nation to be held clearly accountable to the people for its political philosophy to guide the course of our Government, it is essential that that party control both the Executive and Legislative branches of the Government. On the other hand, when the Congress is controlled by one political party and the Executive branch by the other, politics in Washington has a field day . . . These are the reasons--the compelling reasons--why the completion of this great program requires the election of a Republican-led Congress."

This was the strongest language used by Ike since his 1952 campaign; it was the sort of talk Republicans across the U.S. had been waiting to hear.

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