The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-07-22
THE PARTY nEFEcTIoNs

- HE RAkI1 DEFECIlONS
 The defection of Senator Wheeler to the LaFollette ranks is hardly to be taken as symptomatic of any discontent within the Democratic party. On the contrary, | it is readily apparent that MT. Wheeler was influenced by the personal oppor- tunity to gain, publicity for himself as the running-mate of the Wisconsin sen- ator. As the Philadelphia Public Ledger acutely observes: "This spare-built law yer from Butte is looking to the future. If things goSwell with the third ticket, there will be permanent third party. Will it need leaders? It will Senator LaFollette fs- sick and aging. So Senator Wheeler shoots in the back the party that sent him to the senate, and fares forth in search of new political grass and water-courses." It is noted that Mr. Wheeler's departure has not caused any ripple in the Democratic waters, so his influence and example may not be as valuable as the irregulars anticipated.
 That Senator Wheeler roams by him. self is typified in the figure of speech used by the Ledger when it says: "The Massachusetts-born Montanan has about him a certain dangerous hard sincerity. The great, open spaces know him as a political two-gun man, with cold, slate colored eye. Senator Wheeler had his uses in the Daugherty inquiry. Neverthe- less, two-gun men are disquieting folk in politics =. Both parties can spare their LaFollettes and Wheelers. The finest thing that could happen for the future use and healthfulness of the two old organizations this year would be the withdrawal into one weird group of all these self-ahointed political Pharisees and all the .self-labeled pure in heart"
 Although the Ledger, with its Repub- lican leanings, looks for defection equally from both parties, it is significant that it can name only Dill of Washington as among the Democratic politicians likely to follow in the Wheeler footsteps whereas, it names Brookhart, Norris, Ladd, Frazier, Borah, and Johnson of California, and hints at others, as even more unstable in their nominal affilia- tions. The Ledger denominates these men as political guerrillas masque- rading as Republicans" Thus it appears that the Republican party stands to lose far more of its strength to the new movement than the Democratic party does. Most of the states whose party leaders are forsaking the regular ranks or are expected to do so are normally Republican states. It is hardly likely that the regulars of the rank and file will follow them in body, so that the split means on the whole Democratic gain. Even in Montana it is certain that the Walsh influence will at least offset the Wheeler influence, if not actually nullify it, so that Wheeler may not be able to cause party disturbance even in his own state. Failing that, there cer- tainly is small reason for concern as to his influence upon Democrats in other states. And after all, a leader not backed by votes is hardly to be feared.
 Those who have attained standing in the party are risking their whole political futures in this venture. If the third party movement fails, and there is every reason to believe that it will fail, those who have been active in it's propaganda will never be able to recover the confi- dence of the parties they have forsaken. This will particularly be the case with those who withdraw from the Democratic party at this critical time when unity means almost certain victory. Hiram Johnson can bear sad witness to the fact that a political renegade never is restored to favor. LaFollette's record is proof of the same principle. The Demo- cratic party, however, will survive and will press victoriously onward, whether it keeps its Wheelers or loses them.