Evening star., 1932-05-22
PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRATS
BEST CHANCE ROOSEVELT
Murray, Most Radical, Is Considered
Unlikely as Opposition to Hoover
as Conservative.

gressive. or the for-any-reason dis
satisfied; and that the Democrats, I
their nominee and their platform, mus
satisfy this type Of voter. The politica
thought which says the Democrats mus
do this comes from highly placed
courses. 1t has much weight and /!
seriously listened to.
Conservative Is Urged.
Another view runs straight in the op-
posite direction. 1t is that the voters
who do not like the Republicans and
Mr. Hoover, the "agin" vote, will neces-
sarily support the Democratic candi-
date, whoever he is, and whether he
is conservative or non-conservative.
Therefore-so runs this line of advice
to the Democratic leaders-give the
nomination to some safe and sane
man, who will divide the conservative
vote with Mr.. Hoover. He will receive
the non-conservative vote as a gift.
tParenthetically, what can we dc
about this whole matter of terminology
In American politics? Just what does
sive" and radical? Who in active
political life deserves to be called rad
ical? In private life, among the So
called intelligentsia in colleges and
elsewhere and in some strata of or
ganized labor there are radicals in the
true European sense, meaning Social
lists, Communists. anarchists and what
not But who in public life fits the
word radical as 1t Is used in Amer
ic&? Senator Norris of Nebraska be-
Heves in government ownership and
operation of public utilities, and prob
ably that reasonably classifies him as
radical in the American sense OF the
word. Senator Wheeler of Montana
believes in setting up an arbitrary
statutory relation between gold and
silver in the precise terms of Bryan's
free coinage of silver in the ratio OF
Is to /. That, under present condi-
tions, is fairly to be called radical
although 1t is necessary to bear care
fully in mind that some of the most
conservative men In the country believe
in doing something about silver, though
something quite different from Senator
Wheelers program. Even as between
conservative" and progressive" how
can We be accurate in fitting the tag
to the man? One of the country's great
industrialists, Owen D. Young, believes
with Senator Norris of Nebraska in a
panacea for agriculture called the
equalization plan" Is Mr. Young
then to be called progressive" because
he believes IN this, or conservative"
because he Is one of the principal pill
lars of the industrial community? Who
will say that President Hoover is not
progressive? Newton D. Baker is a
director of the Baltimore & Ohio Rail-
road and of the Union Trust Co. of
Cleveland; nevertheless, certain per-
sons whose political memories go back
20 years insist Mr. Baker shall not
have the Democratic presidential nomi-
nation because he was once associated
with the late Mayor Tom johnson of
Cleveland in the latter's advocacy of
public ownership. Similarly, when Mr.
many persons excitedly indicted him as
a "pacifist st"-and thereupon Mr.. Baker
made an efficient record as head of
the greatest force of fighting men
America ever produced. The truth is,
this whole matter of terminology In
American politics Is a confusing mess.)
Two Non Conservatives.
If we classify the Democratic pos
sibilities in two groups, conservative
and nom conservative, there are but
two In the latter category. One is
Gov. william H Murray of Oklahoma;
the other, really very little like Muir
ray. and only grouped with Murray
because both are non-conseryative, Is
Gov. Franklin Roosevelt of New York
(All the other Democratic aspirants are
In one degree or another conservative
Murray we can dismiss at once. He
was the real radical in the Democratic
camp. although he resents the word; he
Continued on Third Page.)