Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-01-15
The Political Mill
By C. Could Lincoln.

Coincidental with the controversy be-
| tween John J. Raskob, chairman Of the
Democratic National Committee, and
Frank Kent of the Baltimore Sun over
the charge by the latter that Mr.. Raskon
holds first mortgage on the Democratic
party, Is launched q boom for Gov.
Albert G. Richie of Maryland for
President. The two facts, while they
may be unrelated in reality, neVerthe-
| less may have common ground OF in
| terest. 1t has been assumed that Chair
man Raskob and the group In his
party which he represents will have a
| good deal to say about the selection of
| the next Democratic candidate for
| President. Further, 1t has been as
sumed that Mr.. Raskob and his friends
will favor one Of three outstanding
Democrats in New York-Owen d.
| Young, Franklin d. Roosevelt or Alfred
| Z. Smith. This group Of New Workers
naturally does not include Gov. Richie.
The challenge of the Raskob leadership
of the national Democratic organiza-
ton may not have been made in the
| 1t may serve as check upon the Ras-
kob group.
Mr.. Kent has called to the attention
Of the Democrats at large the fact that
John j. Raskob q man Of great wealth,
has contributed, out of his own pocket,
| something like a quarter of million
| dollars to pay for the upkeep of the
| Democratic organization and has under
written, along with his associates, a
| great part of the million-and-a-h half
dollar deficit which the Democratic
party faced at the close Of the 1929
| campaign. In the opinion of Mr.. Kent
/ this gives the Democratic chairman q
lien on the Democratic party. On the
other hand, there are plenty Of Demo-
Gratis who consider that Mr.. Raskob
having run the party into debt. is in
duty bound to see that the obligation
is paid off. Indeed, some OF them would
be perfectly willing to have Mr.. Raskoh
pay it all and then fade out of the
| picture. Mr.. Kent fears, however, that
! having paid of this large sum the
Democratic chairman will stick closer
than ever and demand quid pro quo
| y
| Efforts have been made since the
close of the 1928 campaign to shake Mr..
| RaSkob loose from the Democratic Or
| ganization. They have been made in
the main by the Democrats of the
South. 1t is not long ago that Josephus
Daniels, former Secretary of the Navy
under President Wilson and also a
newspaper publisher, demanded that
Raskob quit on the ground that Mr..
! RaSkob was more interested in the sue
| cess Of the campaign to repeal the
| eighteenth amendment than he was in
1.-The success of the Democratic party.
Mr.. Raskob has withstood these efforts
to pry him away from the chairman
ship. Indeed, the wet element in the
Democratic party has been so strongly
in the ascendency that it was fore
| gone conclusion that Mr.. Ra,Skob would
not be disturbed. Mr.. Kent's charges, If
they are to be considered charges, are
1 something else.
The report that the Democratic
| party'S national organization is merely
a vest pocket adjunct of millionaire
will not fall pleasingly upon Demo.
cratic ears. If an enterprtsing news
gatherer and observer had turned up
the fact that millionaire, say Mr..
| Rockefeller, was providing all the funds
| for running the Republican national
! organization, what q howl would have
| gone up from Democratic threats! How
are the Democrats going to make head
way in the next campaign with their
| charges that the @. o. p. Is owned,
bought and paid for by the wealthy
men of the country II the Republicans
can retort that the Democratic organ
ization is a one-man affair, bought and
paid for and presumably owned by one
| millionaire. Mr.. RaskOb? Mr.. Kent has
| succeeded in raising an awkward QueS-
| ton for the Democrats to answer, those
who would like to see Mr.. RaSkob pay
of the Democratic deficit, and particu-
larly those who would like to see Mr..
Raskob and his group nominate the
next Democratic candidate for Presi-
dent. The Republicans, who have seen
their own national organization under
fire for one reason or another during
the last year will chortle over this
dilemma Of the Democrats.
+ 4 ~
It has been obvious for a long time
| that Gov. Richie would make his seri-
Gus bid for the Democratic presidential
nomination in 1882. Back In 1924 he
was supported by the Maryland delega-
| ton at the Madison Square Garden
Convention as a "favorite son" candi-
date. At that convention Richie threw
his strength, such as it was, to AL
Smith and other opponents of William
@. McAdoo. In 1928 again Richie
threw his strength to AL Smith. But
friends of Mr.. Richie three years ago
were thinking consistently Of 1892. In
deed, more work was done out in a
number of the States for Richie at that
| time than appeared on the surface In
measure the Richie forces have
! played the game with wisdom. There
seemed little chance of the nomination
of Richie until AL Smith had been given
his chance. Furthermore, there seemed
little chance of Ritchie's being elected
President, even should he be nominated,
until after the pendulum had swung
further away from the height of pro-
hibition's popularity. Ritchie has been
crusader against national prohibition
ever since the eighteenth amendment
was adopted.
In his inaugural address. delivered in
Annapolis yesterday and broadcast all
over the Nation by radio, Gov. Ritchie
uttered the keynote speech of his cam
paign for the presidential nomination
It was an eloquent speech, based on
Democratic principles. He attacked the
Republican administration, centraliza-
ton of government and national pro-
hibitiOn. The administration, he said,
has over q period Of years taken no
proper account Of the economic condi-
tons which were developing. The fact
that so many Americans are unable to
find jobs, he insisted, was due to poor
leadership by the Republicans. HIS
tional problems, although the occasion
was the Inauguration of the Governor
Of Maryland, an ONCE to which Gov.
Richie was elected for the fourth time
last November. There are many Demo-
Gratis who believe that Gov. Ritchie's
nomination would be acceptable to the
country. They believe that he can
carry the South Notwithstanding his
opposition to prohibition; that he could
carry the border States and the popu-
lous States of the North and Middle
West. They point out that he would
not have to meet the religious issue, as
did AL Smith; that he will not have to
meet the Tammany issue, as will Gov.
Roosevelt, and that he Is not the official
Young. On the other hand, business
would not be alarmed, they say, by the