The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-10-15
IDEA |S ABANDONED ]
 IF PUTTING FORTH THIRD PARTY MAN
Lineup Will Make Independ- ent Candidacy Of Ford
 Much More Difficult
By RAYMOND CHAPTER (By Leased Wire to Age-HeraId)

WASHINGTON, Oct. 14.-Scouts
 who have been out west sizing up I the political outlook for the pro 1 gressive group headed by Senator
 LaFollette have come back to urge
 that control of Congress and not
 election of third party candidate for President. be the main object I next year.
 If this becomes the policy of the progressives, 1t would make an inde- 1 pendent candidacy by Henry Ford l difficult, for 1t would split his po- I tential organization and that might
 mean disaster at the election. Investigators talked with many To- | cal progressive leaders In various states of the middle and far west and found general opposition to the naming of third party presidential candidate. Many feared that 1t would
 result only in the progressiyes los | ing out all around. But by going | into individual estates and congress sional districts and throwing support
 to the progressive candidates for the House or Senate, be they republican l or democrat, they would increase | their balance of power in Congress. l This strategy enabled the drys to
 put prohibition across after they had | fumbled along with prohibition 1 third party for years, getting mo- where.
 spurn Third Party.
 | Seasoned politicians, progressive, conservative and reaetionary all treat | lightly the sporadic talk of third party national ticket. whether the prospective candidate be Henry Ford, | Hiram Johnson or LaFollette. Demo- crats figure they will lCse votes if Ford should run Independently. That is why he cannot be dismissed as a democratic possibility simply be- | cause some of the party bosses dis like him. Senator Couzens' indorse- l ment of his former business partner l indicates that Ford would draw from | independent voters in the republican 1 party as well.
 Senator LaFollette, head of the bi- partisan conference for progressive political action, has been in Europe all summer, and the policy of the group will not be determined until the fall conference is held on his re- turn But as a practical politician of many years standing, LaFollette has always opposed third party raid ing tactics. He will hardly be tricked now into selling his influence for the empty honor of heading third party ticket. He now controls the balance of power between the democratic and republican membership. in the Senate. By going into the state pri- maries and nominating old party candidates with progressive leanings he stands to increase the margin Of strength. Then it would be possible for the progressives to dominate the federal government from Capitol hill In the 1923 election, if all should go well in the meantime, they would attempt to dictate the nominee of one of the major parties.
 o O O
 LaFOIIette Looms.
 This does not mean that no effort will be made to force nomination of progressive presidential candidates in the republican and democratic con- ventions. The progressives are going into the western primaries and ob- tain a large slice of delegates which LaFollette will control at the repub- lican convention. Conservative lead CTS do not believe aLFollette can in fluence the nomination, however.