Imperial Valley press., 1931-12-14
6. O. P. WILL
Give CHICAGO
1892 MEETING
Continued From Page Il

of the depression which party
leaders acknowledge is no mans
fault. Part Of 1t, however, is laid
on the shoulders of President
Hoover. Some of the staunchest
old-line Republicans feel and do
not hesitate to say privately that
he has been lacking in political
skill. There is considerable criti-
cism of his debt reduction maneuV-
ers At a time when the admins
tration is asking the country to
shoulder the most drastic peace
time tax increase in history, thev
are not happy over the administra-
tions debt policy which they say
appears to the man in the strees
as a proposal to give away money
to Europe at the expense of Amer
lean taxpayers.
They also feel that Mr.. Hoover
has been too much engaged in
major controversies out of incidents
such as the navy league criticism
in which he sought vlndiction
own appointees.
Underlying it all is the fact that
Mr.. Hoover was accepted originally
with great reluctance by old-line
party leaders in 1923. They did not
regard him as a Republican at
heart. His long residence abroad
and his indecision in 1920 as to
which party he chose to become
affiliated with sowed the seeds of
much suspicion among a group to
which party loyalty is the cardi-
nal requirement. The result was
that even Charles Curtis, now
vice-president, opposed Mr.. Hoov-
er'S nomination at the Kansas
City convention declaring in a pub
lie statement that the party could
not afford to name a man for
whom it would have to "apologiZe'
This grumbling, more pronounced
than at any Republican gathering
in the last 20 years, is deeply sub
merged in private conversation how
ever. At the moment there is no
the open. There are two reasons.
First the revolt has no dominating
national figure who will lead the
fight in the open. Second, since the
Roosevelt fight in 1882, it has
been a party axiom that no Pres
ident could be prevented from TAX
ing denomination for a second term.
Long For Coolidge
Many old-line Republicans long
for the return of Calvin Coolidge.
They voice this feeling in private
conversation and private letters to
friends in Washington. But Mr.
Coolidge will not permit any such
movement and his friends have been
given to understand that empha-
tically.
There also has been tall, for
bringing Ambassador Charles c..
Dawes into a fight. Dawes has
5isavOwed such talk.
Unlike the 1912 episode, this
smouldering dissatisfaction comes
from the ranks of the party reeu-
lars. Insurgents have abandoned
hope of setting up an effective
movement to prevent Mr.. Hoover's
denomination. Anything they will
do will be directed at throwing
their votes to the Democratic can
dioate. Senator Hiram Johnson, an
old foe of Mr.. Hoover's, is now
leading fight against the Presi-
dents debt policy which promises
to be historic. There is no indjca-
ton that he will seek to wrest the
nomination away from Mr.. Hoover,
though the uncertainties of politics
makes that a remote possibility.
The result is that despite tic
grumbling, party leaders are recon-
ciled to the denomination of Mr..
Hoover. They probably will enter
formal endorsement Of his ad-
ministration at the national COM
mittee meeting. The record will
be kept straight though every in
formed person in Washington
knows what lies beneath the for
NAL record-that the Republicans
are entering their winter of dis
content, unhappy and with low
morale, hopeful that the Democra-
tic party's record for playing into
their hands will not be b;oken at
1 =.