Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-01-11
ROOSEVELT HANDICAPPED
AS PRESIDENTIAL TIMBER
Too Far Out In Front at Present and New
York Democrats Are Not Of Mind
10 Give Him Nomination.

A98Sng 20 u a. present RUE a p0N&lGA
strategy. In abort. Smiths following
may come into Q mood IN which tlasy
demand the presidential nomination 81
1882 for htm-and VIII be resenttui e
Il y denied him In favor Of Gov. Roose.
welt.
Two Have Same Following.
In New York state the following OF
Gov. Roosevelt and the following Of
ex-0ov Smith are almost identicaI:
certainly they overlap to Q great decree.
To nominate and elect either Roosevelt
or Smith, the two followings must be q
unit. II Jealousy arises between the
two followings It ID likely to be fatal TO
both men. And the arising Of that
jealousy Is much feared by those ma
tdonal leaders Of the Democrats party
who VIII largely determine the next
presidential nomination. II the follow
ing Of ex-Qov. Smith throughout the
country should get the notion he IA
being denied Q denomination to which
he Is entitled, they might readily vote
republican, OF stay home In the cleo
The apprehension Of this In verv
much TO the front Of the minds OF the
national Democratic leaders, most OF
whom are equally friendly to the Gov.
ernOr and the Ex-Governor. The way
out OF this dilemma Is for the friends
OF Gov. Roosevelt and the friends of
ex-Gov. Smith IN New York State TO
unite on . third man from the same
State, and the obvious compromise,
largely agreeable to both sides, IS
Owen d. Young.
Yet another apprehension about
nominating Gov. Roosevelt has to do
with Tammany. Since nearly a year
ago there have been decorating q Sc.
ries Of explosions Of scandals In Tam
many, which, It Is anticipated, wiIl
make that organization as much an
object OF suspicion among Democrats
and other voters outside New York in
1882 Is it was In 1923.
Handicap h Unavoidable.
In this condition the mere inevi-
table association Of Mr.. Roosevelt as
the Democratic Governor Of New York
State with the Tammany Democratic
machine In New York City II q ham
dicap to him. u h an unavoidable
handicap, hardly possible 10 be overcome
BY any course Of action ON Gov.
Eooeevelt's part. Further than this,
Gov. RooseveIt's attitude toward the
earlier scandals that began to stm-
mer last year was one which caused
the leading Democratic newspaper In
New York-the World-to charge him
with something like conformation, or at
least with failure TO be sufficiently Wig
orous in disapproval
Gov. Roosevelt, Of course, sttll has
nearly 10 months Of once before the
national convention that will nomf-
nate the presidential candidate. II
is possible for him TO follow . line Of
action which would dfnerentiate him
from Tammany and exculpate him
from any charge Of lack Of vigor In
fuTtherinG the exposure Of scandal
and the punishment Of evil-doing. It
u possible for Mr.. Roosevelt, Is Gov
promote the cleansing Of New York
City government as managed By
Tammany. II, however, Gov. Roose-
welt follows . course dtnerentiattng
him from T4mmany, he runs the risk
Of making an enemy Of that organs
zation. And opposition by Tammany
would 60 far toward preventing Gov.
Roosevelt from having the loyal sup
port Of his own State delegstiOn IN
the Democratic National Convention.
without his own State delegation he
can hardly, Of course, be nominated.
In short, the Tammany scandals con-
stitute another Of the several reasons
that cause the national leaders Of the
Democratic party TO hesitate about Civ
Ing him the presidential nomination.
YOung Net q TammAny.
This dilemma, like the other. h one
for which the easy solution Is owen
Young. Young is Of New York-but
not Of Tammany. The Democratic nom
nation could be given 10 Young, and 1t
could Be given him In part through the
agency Of Tammany-but the country
would never think of Young as having
any faintest faint Of TammAny.
What Is here said Is the Judgment OF
washington leaders Of the Democratic
party-of Washington leaders as dis
ers and national leaders who have their
seats Of power In New York. The
judgment meets with assent from OBJ
servers who look upon pre-conventton
strategy from the standpoint OF long
experience. The Washington leaders
think the New York leaders WIN fol-
low the course outlined above. With
leaders OF what they call the New
York group" Of States. They think
Owen Young will have-not necessarily
on the first ballot but in o later stage
the backing Of substantially all the del
egates II Nn those larger Northeastern
States that In the aggregate have much
power In Democratic National Con-
vention.
To say all this is not to say neces-
sarily that Young win certainly get the
nomination, but It Is as much as can
be said about the Democratic preSiden-
tial nomination In the space here avail.
able. The plans Of the friends and adj
vocates of Senator Robinson of Arkan-
sas, and Of ex-Secretary Of War Newton
D. Baker Of Ohio, and of Senator Bulk
ley, also Of Ohio, and OF ex-Gov. Byrd
Of Virginia, as well as Gov. Ritchie Of
that Is material for ar
other article on another day.