The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-12-28
POLITICAL YEAR SEES COLLAPSE
 OF INSURGENCY
Election Leaves Demo- crats Somewhat At Sea;
 Battle Looms
By RAYMOND CHAPTER

nificant political development ol lo@t was the distinct swing back toward con servatism after the restless insurgent postwar wave.
 As the year began, the dominant place was held by the La Toilette in- surgents, who had captured control of both houses of congress by virtue of the coalition with the willing democrats. La Toilette believed the time had come to launch an independent candidacy which would challenge the two old po litical parties. Democrats believed that the scandal disclosures would lead the public to repudiate the republican administration. So convinced Was Hiram Johnson of the strength of the protest among the voters that he em- parked on az campaign to seize the republican presidential nomination from Coolidge.
 But the drift already had set in the ohter way. President Coolidge demon strated his hold on the republican party during the pre-convention primaries and | from the day of the Cleveland conven- | tion his strength increased steadily until his election in November.
 La Toilette believed that with conser- vative republican and democratic can didates opposing him, he had fertile field. The support of the American Federation of Labor gave him much en- couragement.
 Farmers Forget
 But soon the price of wheat began to shoot up. The farmers began to forget their indignation. The anger of revolt .subsided. The conservative turn began and the landslide for Coolidge was on. | Democrats started the year with high hopes due to the scandal disclosures. But their wrangling at Madison Square | Garden became national spectacle They came out of it badly split, their morale dissipated, and as most of them inwardly realized = defeated. Davis worked hard, kept his campaign on a gentlemanly plane, but failed to stir any enthusiasm. Republicans quickly saw that their best opportunity lay in exploiting the alleged La Toilette men, ace. They pointedly ignored Davis and created the impression which they de sired-that they were not worried about the democrats at all. They stirred up scare over La Follette's supreme court proposal and his ownership of railroad plank, and soon had the coun- try deciding between radicalism and conservatism. This was the way the republicans wanted the issue drawn and the result demonstrates that their andy. sis of the public mind was correct.
 A Unique Campaign
 President Coolidge's campaign was unique. He probably made fewer cam paign promises than any presidential candidate in recent years. His economy and let -things-alone policies were so overwhelmingly vindicated ill the cleo tion that there is no thought of depart ing from them.
 Hence, the Coolidge administration for the present at least-is destined to be as placid and calm as the even tenn perament of the President can make it. He is opposed to stirring things up. This session of congress is asked to get the regular annual appropriation bills through and do little else.
 Only one outstanding problem engages the Presidents attention. That is the problem of agriculture. It has been relieved by the recent high prices. But the President contemplates some other remedies of an indirect nature. He believes in an extension of cooperative enterprises, and the readjustment oi freight rates on farm commodities, but not in tinkering with schemes to con trol prices artificially. An agricul, tural commission is now meeting charged with the duty of recommending a pro gram to the President.
 Otherwise there is little to engage the Presidents attention outside of the regular routine. He has preached econ omy relentlessly during the year and given personal demonstrations by such incidents as his recent trip to Chicago in q common car, when he ate in the public diner. If congress makes further reductions in government expenditures, and passes the regular appropriations bills before it adjourns March 4, he will be we'll pleased.
 Glancing back over the past year certain questions as to the future inev- itably arise. What is the future of the democratic party? Of the La Toilette movement?
 Still FlOundering
 The republican future seems well charted. They have lost confidence as a result of the dismal exhibition at Mad is0n Square Garden, and the defeat at the election, the second in four years. The two factions which nearly wrecked the party at the New York convention are still intact, gathering strength to bounce upon each other.--McAdoo and Smith continue to lead two bitterly hostile forces, dissimilar in every re- spect except as to their party label. The rural, klan, dry, progressive south and west is aligned against the cosmo- politan, anti-klan, ewet machine-con- trolled groups in the big northern and eastern cities. They fought to a state mate in the convention and are ready to renew their battle as soon as the party recovers from the daze of the last election.
 The party has no unanimous program. Some leaders want to make 1t a pro- gressive party and some believe that it should be conservative. No legislative policy has been formulated. The party is drifting.
 Falls Far Short
 What is the future of the La Toilette movement? It, fell far short of its expectations in the election-and far short of the fears of the republicans and democrats. But that has not -dis- couraged La Toilette and he is shaping his forces to bring about the creation of third national party which would place full congressional and state tick cts in the field at the off elections in 1926, and another presidential ticket in the field four-years hence.
 What the effect of this move will be no one can foretell now Much will depend upon the skill and sound judg- ment of the new party's leaders. Much will depend upon what turn the pubic mind takes. It is constantly shifting back and forth like pendulum, one time conservative, one time progressive La Toilette has seen it swing many times in his career and he is now bank ing on a swing back in his direction. He feels that the point farthest to the right was reached last November and