Evening star., 1932-02-21
Smith Kept in Background.

DllllleS. ne assets lllcy Itlt SURE tlicy
could keep; the liabilities they under
took to get rid of.
Smith Kept in Background.
With an eye on the South and West,
RoOsevelt's friends and those who now
took charge of his political fortunes
began tactics designed to dissociate
Roosevelt from Smith. Smith was kept
at elbows length This effort came to
a climax at the meeting of the Demo
cratic National Committee in March,
1881, in the struggle which took place
over a policy about prohibition. Smith
and his friend. Chairman RaSkOb, IA
vored a certain wet policy. Nearly
everybody assumed that whatever was
Smiths policy about prohibition would
also be the policy of the New York
State democracy. Roosevelt'S friends.
having control of the New York State
organization, took, to everybOdy's sur
prise, a position opposed to Smiths.
This. with the other efforts that had
been made to dissociate Roosevelt from
Smith in the public mind, was sue
cesSful The mark of its success is
that Roosevelt became, and remains
today the favored candidate of precisely
those sections that most oppose Smith
the West and South.
But by the time the process had been
successful. Roosevelt's friends and man
ayers were dismayed to discover that in
| getting rid of the liabilities of aSsocia-
ton with Smith, they had also lost some
| of the assets. During the last few
months, until Smiths recent statement
made the cleavage clear. the managers
of Gov Roosevelt's campaign were most
| earnest and energetic in their efforts to
restore in the public eye the picure Of
close political and personal association
between Gov. Roosevelt and Smith.
With the South and West largely in
the bag" the Roosevelt managers
turned to garnering the North and East,
and in this part of their campaign
sought zealously to make it appear that
there was nothing but intimacy and
palship between Frank" and al By
this time, however. Smith was ready to
do some disSociating on his own &C
count. His statement on February 8,
that he would be willing to take the
nomination if the convention should
give it to him. not only differentiated
him from ROoSevelt's candidacy, but in
effect made him rival TO Roosevelt.
Smiths Friends Offended.
Throughout the process of parting,
| the separation. Some things done-lf
not by Roosevelt himself, then in quar-
tiers close to him-gave justified offense
to Smiths friends. The atmosphere Of
the Roosevelt camp seemed one of self
conscious uperiority-"Snooty" is a
modern slang word for it-toWard
Smith. There have been published
statements that Roosevelt made a re-
mark about Smiths record as Governor
which. when transmitted to Smith
ears through two intervening persons,
had the effect of criticizing the thing
of which Smith is most justly proud.
Ut is fair to add that when publica-
| ton was made that Roosevelt had be-
Titled Smiths record as Governor,
Roosevelt energetically denied he had
made that remark or anything like it,
| Smiths friends tell of incidents. in
| cluding newspaper stories. alleged to
have been inspired in the Roosevelt
| camp. which had the effect of detrac-
| tion Of Smith. as well as of Raskob and
| of other friends of Smith. No doubt
| the original substance Of these incl
dents may have been magnified in pub
| lication. Newspapers prefer drama to
calm, and controversy to peace; and 1t
is in the nature of things for newspa-
pers to emphasize separation between
! TWO lIlpOi Idlit puUuC Hltu
| That Roosevelt should give offense to
Smith. or permit any one in his circle
to give offense. was politically unwise
Nevertheless, the fact that Alfred E
! Smith has cause to feel offended in a
personal sense at Franklin D. Roosevelt
| does not of itself necessarily make
Roosevelt less desirable candidate for
the presidency, or a less competent
President if elected. In no public state
ment made by Smith has he ever given
any reason for feeling that Roosevelt
would not be the best nominee. About
Roosevelt's qualities, Smith has made
no public statement whatever, neither
for nor against. II Smith has ever
made any such statement privately the
writer Of this article knows nothing
of it.
| Backbone Of Opposition.
II IS a fact, however, that other
Democratic leaders, some of them prac-
tically equal rank with Smith. have
grave doubts, on wholly public grounds
whether Roosevelt would be the best
nominee. or even the second or third
best. These leaders do not have Smiths
personal reason for diSapproving OF
Roosevelt. They have no personal feel
ing of any sort about Roosevelt. They
| nave, dS HldICcT OIL party dIfO puUliC
policy, convictions that Roosevelt would
not make the best nominee, nor, II
elected, the best President
This conviction, entertained by party
leaders dissociated from the personal
tension between Roosevelt and Smith
constitutes the backbone of the So
called stop Roosevelt" movement
These leaders think it would be dan.
gerous to have the party committed
four months in advance of the conven.
tion. to nominating one whom these
leaders regard as not the best Those
leaders who hold this conviction. with
the aid now given them by Smiths at.
titude, will be able to keep Roosevelt
from rolling up two-thirds Of the dele.
gates, or even majority. The nomi.
nation will be kept In suspense. Wher