Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-01-16
Politics at Large
By C.. Could Lincoln.

L r.
the recent campaign and still the titular
head of the party on that account, is
to deliver an address tonight over the
radio. What the former governor pro-
poses to say Is a closely guarded secret.
but it will be heard by millions with
great interest. The future of the Demo-
cratic party ever since the election in
November has been the subject of wide
comment. Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt,
Mr.. Smiths successor as chief execu-
tive of New York, has undertaken to
sound out sentiment by addressing let
tiers to some 5000 county and State
chairmen. And, according to Gov.
Roosevelt, there is an awakened mill
tant spirit in the party, which de-
mands strong organization to con-
tinue throughout the interim before the
next campaign.
X X X X
The tenor of Gov. Roosevelt's recent
statement with regard to the replies he
received from the county chairmen has
been the subject of criticism in certain
Democratic quarters, on the ground
that it was calculated to stir further
the strife within the Democratic party
itself. 1t is possible that Gov. Roose-
welt felt impelled to make a public
statement rejecting the majority of the
replies he had received because of the
wide publicity given letter addressed
to him by Representative Box of Texas,
Democrat, who Is the Democratic whip
of the House. Mr.. Box in his letter
demanded that the control of the party
be Wrested from the influences which
have controlled it during the last cam
pa1gn and which brought about the
nomination of Mr.. Smith.
The feuds which have arisen within
the Democratic party itself in the last
four or five years apparently have not
been allayed. The Democrats of the
North and East in the last convention
and campaign took the lead. The pro-
posal now to wrest from them control of
the party made by Mr.. Box has not
tended to lessen a feeling of irritation
And Gov. RooSevelt's recent statement
which has aroused criticism even in the
North, has added Goals to the fires.
When and how the Democrats of the
various sections of the country will be
able to unite once more on common
ground is a problem. It is a problem
that is exercising the minds and in
genuity of many of the party leaders
At present John j. Raskob is still chair
man of the Democratic national COM
mittee and SO far has not indicated he
intends to retire. How he could grace
fully retire when the national commit
tee has deficit amounting to 81 300, 00O
no one has yet been able to say
although there have been calls for his
scalp, just as in the case of the letter
of Mr.. Box to Gov. Roosevelt. His
predecessor, Glen Shaver of West Vir-
GINA, who managed the John w. Davis
campaign in 1924, remained chairman
of the committee until after the Demo
cratic national convention in Houston
last June. He, too, found a stable
deficit to be paid off after the 1924 cam
paign, though a much smaller deficit
than at present exists.
X X X \
Should former Gov. Smith in his adj
dress tonight take himself out of the
picture, so far as future Democratic
nominations for the presidency are con-
cerned, the situation might clear uI
somewhat for the Democrats. Already
there have been demands from some
Democratic sources that Mr.. Smith bs
the candidate again in 1882. If it be-
comes evident that Mr.. Smith is to BIZ
a receptive candidate, the next foul
years are likely to be four years of bat
tie for the Democrats. The lines were
strongly drawn in 1928-So strongly that
some of the additionally Democratic
States in the South and on the border
swung definitely to the Republican col
umn. Any indication that Gov. Smith
may be candidate in 1882 is likely te
make it far easier for the Republicans
to consolidate the gains which they
made in this Democratic territory Gov
Smiths strength in the North and East
is great-so great that he carried Mas.
sachusetts and Rhode Island, which
have voted for Republican presidential
candidates for years. But it was moi
great enough to swing New York anC
New Jersey into line, and the sugges.
ton that his stand on prohibition gave
him chance to win in Pennsylvania
and Illinois proved a mere delusion.
X \ y
The bitterness among the Democrats
in some of the Southern States is in
dicated clearly in letter which Will
L. Sargent, secretary of the Tarrant
County Jefferson League, in Fort
worth, Tex, has sent to Representative
Box. In his letter Mr.. Sargent said:
The loyal, true Democrats of Texas
the South and the Nation. resent the
insult to our party leaders and the
100000 votes that you cast on the
democratic party in your uncalled-fo
letter to Gov Franklin d. Roosevelt OF
New York, of recent date
Your language and assertions are
similar to those Of every Hoover Demo-
crat before and after the new election
who turned Republicans and became
the worst enemy the Democracy OF
Texas and the South ever had.
Our party, our platform, our leaders
and our organization, if we follow your
advice and challenge, must be repudi-
.ated as we'll as chastised-ostracize
so to speak-15, 100000 loyal Demo-
Gratis; turn over to such Democrats
as you and the Republican party (via
Hoover Democratic route)-for purifi-
cation and control.
1.-THE battle is on in Texas. and two
years from now. none but true party,
true loyal Democrats will serve the
people"
The Democrats are to have an oppor-
tunity to demonstrate to the country
What they stand for again in the COM
ing special session of the Seventy-firSt
Congress, which it now appears Presi-
dent-elect Hoover will call soon after he
is inaugurated. Two problems of great
interest to the country are to be taken
up in the special session, farm relief
and tariff revision. They will have to
make their record on those issues, as
Democrats.
X X X H.
The question whether Mr. Hoover is
to include in his cabinet woman, as
recognition of the activity of the women
of America in politics. and particularly
in the last campaign, has been agitated
for weeks. Mrs. Alvin T. Hert of Ken
lucky, vice chairman of the Republican
national committee during the last two
prominently mentioned for a cabinet
office than any other woman. But now
Mrs. Hert has issued statement, in
which she says, II do not wish or ex-
pect any Government post whatever"