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Said and Done. What does his record reveal of Ed Martin, the unmistakable Republican? For one thing, it spotlights a basic difference between the two political philosophies on which the American people will have to decide now and in 1948. In 1935-39 Democratic Governor George H. Earle and his "little New Deal" pushed through much "social" legislation. But virtually all of it was declared unconstitutional by a Republican-controlled state supreme court. Then Earle's successor, hymn-singing Republican Arthur James, axed two more labor-angled measures which the court had overlooked. Martin approved of James and said he hoped to make a record "half as good."
Ed Martin started from that point. He turned a $71 million deficit into a $200 million surplus, reduced taxes $45 million a biennium, and by lowering unemployment compensation contributions saved Pennsylvania employers about $75 million a year. He somewhat liberalized Pennsylvania's workmen's and unemployment compensation laws. He initiated compulsory physical examination of all schoolchildren. He started a program to clear up the state's polluted streams.
Labor leaders, who watched Republicanism in Pennsylvania kill 48 labor-backed bills during one legislative session, decided then that Ed Martin was no friend of theirs. The C.I.O. still thinks of him as hostile. But A.F.L. leaders have changed their minds, and now for the first time since 1937 the Pennsylvania Federation has refused to support the state Democratic candidates.
Pennsylvania voters, fed up with government controls, mandates, busybodiness, liked Ed Martin's administration.
What Ed Martin has said from time to time throws more light on his political philosophy: "When a politician promises he can make a law that will create 60 million jobs he is guilty of a cruel and heartless falsehood. . . . You cannot pass a law that will bring about production. . . . Only enterprise can create employment. . . . Free enterprise is the property of no political party."
In 1944 he attacked Franklin D. Roosevelt for "political debauchery, blunders, quarrels ... for the steady swing of the Federal Government towards the left." In much the same terms, he has attacked the Truman Administration and his opponent, Joe Guffey.
The Smog. In Pennsylvania's golden Indian summer the campaign was in full swing last week, as it was throughout the nation. The key man with the gravelly voice led the Republican cohorts as he once led Pennsylvania's National Guard.
Extravagances were answered with extravagances. Opponent Guffey thundered at Martin: "The plunderbund has run riot at Harrisburg." Roosevelt-hater Joe Pew exulted: "The honeyed voice of the Pied Piper is gone." But, he blared, there are still "political rats."