Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-12-27
THIRD PARTY TALK
HELD INSTRUCTED
Norris Is Not Rated Real Fac
tor-Pinchot and Prohibi.
4 ton Put Ahead.
BY MARK SULLIVAN.

Readers distant from Washington viii
have a less-than accurate picture un-
less they apply Q large discount TO the
frequency and violence Of the explosions
about Senator Norris and Mr.. Lucas
and to the size of the headlines with
which the detonations are recorded. The
truth is Washington is not excited.
When the echoes Of the battle al
points distant from Washington caused
ply, John Dewey, to invite Senator
Norris to form a third party, that par
ticular repercuSsion impressed Wash
ington as political zero.
washington, in its serious Specula-
lions about the presidential situation
in 1882, frequently includes one, or
even two, so to speak, third parties in
its calculations of possibilities. Neither
of the third parties, seriously consid-
cred, however, has the faintest relation
TO Senator Norris of Nebraska.
Prohibition Real Issue.
The third party or parties that arise,
II any, will have to do with prol1ibi-
ton. Some experienced politicians think
it possible there may be q wet third
party, composed Of Republican vets, as
Stunning, as is commonly assumed, that
the main body Of Republicans 90 dry,
or practically dry. The same specu-
lators about 1882 think 1t possible there
may be a dry third party, Composed
chiefly Of Democratic drys, assuming,
as is commonly assumed, that the DEM
ocratic party will go wet. Into neither
OF these third parties does Senator
Norris fit.
Partly because he Subordinates every
thing else to his consuming concern
with Government ownership Of utilities,
Senator Norris has made himself dis
tasteful TO both the dryS and the vets.
The drys will never make Norris their
third-party candidate, because he voted
for ex-Gov. Alfred E. Smith in 1928 and
committed heresy from his own Repub-
lican party in order to do so. The vets
will never have Norris as the leader Of
their third party, because Norris SOL
EMMY announces himself to be-and
actually is-a dry.
It Is almost exclusively in terms of
dry and wet that Washington speculates
about a third party in 1882. So far as
the public ownership issue has any
chance of giving rise to a third party,
it is not Senator Norris who would be
its candidate for the presidency. The
man assigned to that potential role is
ex-Gov. and Gov.-to-be Clifford Pin
chot Of Pennsylvania. If there should
be certain developments about the rela-
ton Of Government to public utilities,
and II there should be certain other de-
velopments about prohibition, Washing
ton thinks Gov. Pinchot might, In the
words Of Theodore Roosevelt, throw his
hat in the ring" Washington some
times speculates about the three P's."
meaning "P1nchot, Power and Prohibi-
ton"
Other Factors Involved.
~
tically nobody in contact with the
realities Of politics, and almost nobody
In any field whatever, excepting the
professor Of philosophy from New
York, has thought Of Senator Norris
OF Nebraska as the head Of third
party.
The truth about the whole episode
that has brought Senator Norris into
recent conspicuous public attention is
that its chief reason for existence lies
in its supplying q topic Of political
news during these days when Congress
Is not in session and the ordinary crop
Of news Is slight Hardly anybody
takes very seriously the row between
Norris and Executive Director Lucas
Of the Republican National Committee
In Just one respect the question wheth-
er Senator Norris is a Republican, or
ought to be regarded as such, has
reality and importance. That respect
has to do with the organization Of the
new and evenly divided Senate.
When the new Senate holds its first
sitting its first action will be to vote
on two states of officers and committee
chairmen. The Republicans will pre-
sent as their slate the existing officers
and the existing committee chairmen,
with Senator Watson for majority lead
er, Senator Smoot for chairman Of the
Committee on Finance, and so on. The
Democrats will present as their slate an
alternative consisting Of Senator Rob-
inson of Arkansas as majority leader,
Senator Pat Harrison Of Mississippi as
chairman Of the Committee on Finance,
and so on.
Norris May Decide Result.
Between those two states Senator
Norris viii cast his votA Speaking
broadly, II he casts it with the Re
publicans, the Republicans win organize
the Senate. If he casts it with the
Democrats, the Democrats viii organ
ize the Senate. The universal expec-
tation is that Senator Norris will, as
always before, vote with the Republic
cording to the assignment OF motives
made by cynical Washington, is that
Senator Norris has a personal stake in
having the Republicans organize the
Senate.
Senator Norris is himself, under the
Republican organization of the Senate,
chairman Of most important commit
tee, the one on judiciary. II he should
vote with the Democrats, the latter
In their organization of the Senate
would take this Craftsmanship away
from Senator Norris and give it to their
own Senator. Ashurst, Of Arizona.
Whether the new Senate shall be
organized by the Republicans or by the
Democrats is a real and weighty politi-
cal question. 1t is about the only politir
cal reality that is affected by all the
current exchange about the orthodoxy
Of Senate Norris RepublicaniSm.