The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-03-30
PRESS ON A THIRD PARTY


 It is generally agreed that, ii there is to De third party, Mir. LaFollette should be its leader. Mir. LaFollette is the most pro nonnced party misfit in the country. He would be at home in neither of the two ex- tsting parties. The only outlet for him would be to mould party of his own along the lines peculiar to his own intellectual and emotional processes. There is group, both in congress and outside, the members of which do not appear able to reconcile themselves to the recognized form of political thinking. They are sometimes called radicals but it is just as likely that they are politically patho- logical, and that they are not so much prophetic of a new era as themselves out of step, with their own generation. They may feel that the times are out of joint when it is not the times but themselves. Still, they are definite group, and they may as well have leader. Mir. Lafollette may very we'll be spared for that distinction.
 According to the Washington Star, Mir. Joseph Manley of Chicago, secretary of the national farm-labor organization, "cited the vote which the senator rolled up in the North Dakota primaries as testimony of how the senator stands with the farmers. But Mf. Manley insisted that Senator LaFollette must definitely desert the Republican party and come out as candidate, or that he will lose his apparent leadership. Mir. Manley predicted that the industrial leaders in the East can be organized and join the farmers, and the combination under the leadership of Senator LaFollette would win" How eyer,ait is faint praising of either slabor or farmers to deliver them thus, and without consulting them, to an cratic leadership.
 Affecting to disbelieve any serious intention sfr-. s-I, H.. .E Al. cousin senator, the Chicago Daily News re- marks: Among well-informed Washington correspondents the belief is gaining ground that, instead of desiring to head a third party ticket, Mir. LaFollette will rather seek tpSincrease the number of his congressional adherents. He is said to be boring from within the Republican party, having for his objective the balance of power in the next congress. The discussion of third-party tickets should not divert attention from the problem of restoring party leadership in con- gress, of hastening the dissolution of obstruc- tive sblocs and taking all legitimate steps to obtain teamwork and harmony in the federal government" However, if the movement causes a split in the opposing ranks the Dem- 0eratS can look with considerable equanimity ipon the progress of the schism provided, Democratic solidarity is carefully safeguard ed :; for third parties are impartial as to the source of their adherents.
 x Comfort for the Democrats is extracted from the situation by the Memphis Commet- ciaI-Appeal "Votes that seem to show the certainty of the nomination of President Coolidge are not nearly so important as votes that indicate the certainty of third party with Senator Robert NJ. LaFollette at its head. Parties propose with great flourish of trumpets at their national gath erings, but voters dispose in the secrecy and quietude of the polling place throughout the nation. At the head of a third party Sena- tor LaFolIette will be either just strong enough to assure Democratic landslide or else so strong that he will throw the election into congress" A similar view is that of the Atlanta Constitution "The fact is, Le- Follette's political power is that of an cleo tion vote He cannot name president, but 1t is not at all impossible that he may be able to say who shall not be president And his antagonism to tbe Coolidge wing of the partygis of outstanding significance"
 Democratic benefit is perceived likewise by the Arkansas Gazette: Despite statements by sLaFoIlette and his packers that this movement will draw many voters from the Democratic as we'll as the Republican party, there can be nd doubt that an independent Republican ticket, which is the LaFollette plan. will hurt the Republican party in the next presidential election, according to the measure of strength it develops, for the very same reasons that the Bull Moose movement brought disaster to the Republican ticket in 1912" Looking with a somewhat jaundiced eye upon the proposal, the Philadelphia Public Ledger deplores it: Nothing less a1a nln nnI lution could place LaFollette in the White House. The pacifist vote, with the pro- German strength, might be his. Wisconsin and North Dakota may idolize him, since both have a wide streak of political insanity. He might carry few cow-and-corn, hog-and- wheat commonwealths, thereby increasing his power in congress. He might even help install Democrat in the White House. If his revolt should amount to anything, it would serve only to aggravate the nations present political disorder and make even the sixty eighth congress seem a very paragon of states manship and legislative ability. The true estimate of LaFollette the Ledger gives as follows: "Any serious mention of LaFollet. te's name, any actual attempt to crystalline q national political move around him, is a melancholy confession of third partyism's weakness. It cries aloud the lack of leader ship necessary to pull together all the twisted, aeonizing and headless third-party yearnings abroad in the land." The Florida Times-UniOn of Jacksonville finds that "the idea in the whole matter that win De of value is that a division amongst the Republicans means Democratic opportu- nifty" And so, the St. Louis GlObe-Demo- crat: "Lafollette, with strong support in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Nebraska, the Da- ketas and possibly Iowa, Oregon and Wash iugton at his back, may never be able to be president himself, but he will come nearer than any other political leader to saying who else will not be-"
 x By all of which it appears that real third-party headed by LaFollette is the very last thing the Republicans would like to see, while the Democrats are willing to take sporting chance and bet the odds in their favor. .--s
 THE BAYOU LA RATRE CHANNEL