Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-02-01


nate President Hoover.
With this program some groups with
in the Republican party will be dissatis-
fed. Their dissatisfaction, however, will
not be SUFFICIENT to prevent the re-
nomination of Mr.. Hoover. Wet Repub-
licans will think about Senator Dwight
Morrow of New Jersey and will long to
nominate him, but Senator Morrow win
have no traffic with them. The Repub-
lican National Convention will end with
dry platform, with a private-owner-
ship platform emo government in bust-
messy and with Mr.. Hoover as the
nominee.
Thereafter there will arise the ques-
ton whether one of the dissenting Re-
publican groups will nominate q third
candidate. One of them almost GER
tainly will.
1t is not the wet Republicans who
will be most likely to start a third
party. The reason is that the wet Re-
publicans will have another place to 60.
They can go to the Democratic party,
for the Democratic nominee In all prob
ability will be wet.
VIII Meet and Quarrel.
Let us consider the probable course
Of the Democrats. The Democrats will
meet and they will quarrel. They Will
quarrel as violently as they did in 1924.
They may quarrel as violently as they
did in 1896, when there were two Demo-
cratic parties, the silver one and the
gold one. The Democratic convention
will open with Gov. Franklin Roosevelt
wet and public ownership-having
more delegates by far than any other
one candidate. But Coy. Roosevelt will
not have the necessary two-thirds.
(That fatal two-thirdS rule that makes
battle and slaughter so likely and so
frequent in Democratic national con-
ventions) The dry Democratic dele
gates from the South and from the
rural sections of Northern States viii
oppose the nomination of Gov. Roose-
accepting any wet. They will demand
the nomination of Senator Robinson of
Arkansas or of ex-Gov. Byrd Of Vir-
ginia (brother Of the southern polar ex-
plorer. Explorer Admiral Byrd is al
most as much political asset to his
brother, ex-Gov. Byrd, as Aviator Lind
bergh is of his father-in-law, Senator
Dwight Morrow.
After the dry Democrats have resist
ed the nomination of wet Democrat
Roosevelt through a gruelling number
Of ballots, attempts at compromise viii
be n1ade-compromiS on Owen d.
some other possibility at present little
mentioned
In the course OF the connection In
the Democratic convention, some TO
bust-voiced enthusiast is certain to
shout the name of Alfred E. Smith, and
for time at least there viii be o
stampede toward Smith, stampede
which may or may not be successful
but which certainly viii add to the
commotion.
Can't Ten 0hteome,
What will be the outcome Of the
Democratic convention no man can tell.
The outcome may be Gov Roosevelt.
It may be ex-Gov. Smith. It may be
something else, something very eccen-
trio and unanticipated. In any survey
made II months in advance, We are
limited merely to saying that the DEM
ocratic nominee is likely to be a wet,
Government-ownership man.
All that has been said so far suggests
that two groups of voters may be salts
fed by the two presidential nominations
of the major parties. Dry, private-own-
ership Republicans will be satisfied with
the denomination of President Hoover.
Wet, Government-own Democrats
will be satisfied with the nomination, II
1t should turn out that way, of Gov.
Roosevelt of New York or ex-Gov. Smith
OF New York.
Assuming these two outcomes in the
two major parties, a very considerable
number of voters is going to be either
less than half satisfied or totally dis
satisfied. These are the voters In both
parties who at one and the same time
are dry on prohibition and government
ownership on power.
If you wish to visualize this group,
to see it personified, consider, for ex-
ample, Senator George w. Norris of
Nebraska and the considerable follow
ing ne has. Not that Senator Norris
VIII be the candidate Of the third party
he Is too old and is otherwise handi-
capped. The candidate of the third
party will be another. But Senator
Norris Is the perfect personifcation of
the voters-and there are many-who
will want a third candidate. As re-
spects party, Senator Norris is Of both
parties and Of neither-both Republican
and Democratic, and neither Republican
nor Democratic. AS respects prohibition
Senator Norris is dry. AS respects
power he Is almost morbidly hostile to
the private power interests.
To satisfy voters of this type there Is
the makings of third party-and the
predestined candidate of it is Gov. Gif-
ford Pinchot of PENNSYLVANIA, Gov,
Dinchot Is the outstanding, fortnight,
exponent of extreme
dryness on prohibition, and of bitter
to the private power interests.
Gov. Pinchot will attract and solicit
who are dry, but differ
from Mr.. Hoover on power. Similarly,
Gov. Pinchot will attract and solicit
Democrats who are for public owner
ship, but at the same time want to be
Try on prohibition. Pursuing one issue,
ne will denounce the Republican candi-
late for being wrong on power; pur-
suing another, he will denounce the
Democratic candidate for being wrong
IN prohibition. ct will be Republicans,
however, whom Pinchot will most at
candidate to whom he will do most
larm)
It should be said again that the
phrases Government ownership" and
private ownership" are merely rough
both for the groups of
'oters and candidates to whom the
phrases are applied in this article They
ire used here merely as the best brief
phrases available. There is a third
,round about power. 1t consists of pri-
ate ownership modified by very strong
Government regulation. This third
position is the attitude of many Re-
,ublicanS about power. It Is possible
'efore the presidential election comes
he Republicans may have enacted or
nay have embarked upon, or may adopt
n their platform, this third ground.
This, however, would only slightly
fleet what is said in this article on the
Whole subject