The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1928-09-20
KEEPING UP
With
THE NE WIS
BY LUDWELL DENNY

the unWlSe oneS-Wno go IN Tor
election prophesy are trying to figs
ure how much this McNary- Haugen-
ism conversion will help Smith.
Counting out the paid soothsayers
of both parties, you will not find
many who think AIS advocacy OF
that particular farm relief panacsa
is going to win the West from
Hoover
There are many reasons for this
skepticism. All of them are simple,
and most of them sound plausible.
Here are few:
First-Farmers like others of the
two-footed species are tickle when it
comes to remedies. Almost any
agrarian ointment may look like it
has kick at first But after sew
eral years of incessant talk about
the McNary- Haugen equalization
fee principle there is a suspicion
that the farmers enthusiasm for it
is dulIed.
Smith has the disadvantage of allI
belated discoveries. And what h@
finds is the rejected expedient of his
political opponents.
That may be wise, as it is doubt.
less sincere. But it can not DO
called thrilling. And thrills. as ii
happens, are an even more impor-
tant commodity in politics than in
the movies. BY and large political
minority leaders in the past have
captured the imagination and votes
OF the majority electorate only with
new tricks.
historically speaking it would
nave been better then for the Dem-
ocratlc presidential aspirant. If he
had 10 accept McNary- Haugenisn1,
10 nave given it new name and q
new dress. '''-' y
THE most accurate gauge of the
Il spell cast by this remedy on
Ghe suffering farmers is the Repub.
mean national convention. This was
the chief issue-and at the end of
the only issue-used by MIDDLE
western farm politicians to block
the nomination of Hoover.
For propaganda purposes at LEASH
That was the thing which held to-.
gether the famous Lowden-Dawes-
watson alliance" but the charm
did not WORK
The significance of this failure is
that McNary- Haugonism rested on
more than hatred and distrust of
Hoover. rested in fact on the power.
tul political machines of the farm
belt States Even if Smith of New
York had the drive of farm leader,
who had conceived and fought for
this principle, which he has not, he
has no Middle Western Democratic
State organizations comparable to
the Republican machines which
could not pull the dirt farmer ma
Jortty away from Hoover.
AS politician who owes his ex-
traordinary success in part to the
Tammany machine, Al probably
would be the last to underrate the
Importance in terms of actual ballots
of the vastly superior Republican
organization in the zone Of Agrarian
revolt.
For the point is that Hoover has
taken over practically intact those
Republican organizations which
failed to defeat him, and is using
these former McNary- Haugen
legions to fight the infant Smith
NdcNary- Haugenism,
THIRD-This change of heart OF
i the Republican middle western
Senators and Congressman can not
properly be attributed solely to their
desire to get aboard the Hoover
bandwagon. For without them there
would have been no Hoover band
wagon, and they knew 1T.
They we're stronger than the old
Bull Moose. They could have split
their party wide open. Even though
this is not the sort Of act which
party politicians relish, they would
have had little choice as a matter
of self-preservation had McNary-
Haugenism been the dominant po-
litical force in the farm belt which
they attempted to make 1t in their
anti-Hoover battle.
On the contrary it became clear
several weeks before the Kansas City
convention. and has become increaS-
ingly evident since last June, that in
the main it was these politicians
and not their dirt farmer constit-
uents who we're keeping alive Nc
Nary Haugenism. Hence, there
never was any real danger this
spring and summer of a majority
farm bolt from the Republican party.
That does not mean there has
been or is no farm revolt. Prac-
tically all party and neutral OBJ
servers agree that agrarian distress
is basic and widespread, that the
farmers will continue increasingly to
demand relief until they get it.
But likewise most of these OBJ
servers agree that the rank and file
of farmers neither understand nor
specifically advocate the McNary-
Haugen equalization fee, and that
with time most of them have lost
what little interest they ever had
in it as a cure-all.
The truth seems to be that most
farmers are determined to get re-
lief, the more and the quicker the
better, but they don't care how or
by what method it comes.
If this is an accurate picture OF
the situation, Smith will not be able
to beat Hoover on an attempted re-
viva1 of tbe axnirinp McNarV-TIaII.