Amid persistent assertions that President Jimmy Carter is running a “low road” campaign. the Democratic incumbent has been reminded of a statement by the late President Harry Truman on campaign ethics: “You have to appeal to people’s best instincts. not their worst ones. You may win an election by doing the other, but it does a lot of harm to the country.” The quote, taken from Time Magazine, was read by Rep. Olympia J. Snowe. R-Me., in a short speech just before the current congress recess. Mrs. Snowe added; “I urge President Carter to take Harry Truman’s advice.” Earlier in her remarks. she rapped Carter for saying the 1980 election will be a referendum on war and peace, and for accusing GOP nominee Ronald Reagan of racism. ”It’s time to get off the low road,” she said. “and back to the issues that concern all Americans: Inflation, high taxes. putting people back to work. balancing the budget. national defense Reagan has been chided widely for verbal gaffes and “foot – in – mouth” inaccuracies, but in more re cent days Carter has been target for much media criticism for caustic campaign comments. The Washington Post accused the incumbent of “running mean” by seeking to “discredit rather than prevail over opponents.” Columnist James Reston of The New York Times said the “mean and cunning tactics of Carter’s campaign” have been disappointing to many of his supporters. “One does not have to be inordinately fond of Reagan – as this columnist is not – to see the egregious error of Carter’s brutal ways.” said Michael Killian. Chicago Tribune columnist. This past week. Carter has been criticized for his statement in Chicago that Reagan’s election could result in separating “black from white. Jew from Christian, north from south. rural from urban.” Especially critical. Independent Candidate John Anderson called the statement “so patently ridiculous and so patently political that it almost defies description.” Reagan’s comment: “I think Carter had some harsh words for the country, not necessarily just for me. I think he owes the country an apology …” While most congressmen rising to offer comments in the House have been Republicans, two Democrats blasted Reagan’s record while the latter was governor of California, according to The Congressional Record. “Reagan claims that as governor he cut the previous rate of budgetary growth by half,” said Rep. Norman Y. Mineta, DCalif. “Unfortunately. Reagan’s memory does not serve him well. The budget under his administration increased from $4.6 billion to nearly $10.4 billion – a 126 percent gain .. ” Rep. Beryl Anthony Jr., D-Ark. was equally critical. “Reagan bills himself as a tax slasher. He boasts often that while govemor of Califomia he returned $5.7 billion to the taxpayer in tax relief. “Nothing could be further from the truth. Not only did taxes increase more rapidly than under his liberal predecessor, Edmund G. ‘Pat’ Brown. but very little of this tax found its way back into the pockets of the taxpayers.” Anthony added that California’s per capita tax burden rose from $244 to $488. Rep. Delbert L. Latta, ROhio said he was amused to listen to the anti-Reagan speeches in the light of President Carter’s record. Under Carter, government spending has increased by more than $200 billion annually, he charged. “When he took office, our spending was about $400 billion a year. and now we are looking at a budget of $636 billion for fiscal 1981.” Rep. Bud Shuster. R;Pa. blasted what he called Carteromics” which he termed “a strange mixture of inflation, high taxes, and increased government spendicivgl and unemployment. at it really is. is a prescription for disaster.” And thus the arguments go. Both Carter and Reagan and their supporters would serve the people far better by discussing what they will do for the country if elected rather than hurling low-level oozes of vitriol at each other. The true test of whoever gets the most difficult job in the world on Nov. 4 will not lie in how well the victor can excoriate his political enemies but rather in how well he can administer an increasingly wasteful behemoth executive branch. control inflation and restore the chance for any American who wants to work to enjoy a greater amount of what he or she earns for that work. Q