Evening star., 1932-03-27
BY GEORGE VAN sLYKE.

| OLohOE NAAN oL me-
NEW YORK. March 26.-Political
interest and public anxiety have been
stirred profoundly this week by the
sensational House revolt over the tax
bill, oversh9dowing for the moment
even the widespread concern in the
progress Of the Democratic presidential
candidates.
Considered entirely apart from it's
effect upon business and its vast eco
nomic aspect at this critical time, when
the Government is struggling to bal
ance the budget. the sudden collapse of
leadership in the House of Representa-
tlves must have profound and far
reaching influence in the presidential
campaign of 1882.
While the Republican leadership has
gene to pieces in the House as well as
| the Democratic, the reaction is more
harmful to the Democrats than to the
Republicans. The Democrats had more
| to lose They were receiving their big
test; were capitaliZing on their big op-
portunity. The country had been sur
prised and pleased by the display of
sanity and resolution of Speaker Garner
and his new majority.
K X * *
At a time when leadership is at
premium in politics as we'll as Govern
| ment. the Democrats were demonstIat-
| ing to the country. until this break
came, that they could be intrusted to
run the administration. They ap-
parently were out to dlsprove and dis
pei the old belief that the party could
not manage its own affairs wisely and
therefore could not be expected to rule
the country well.
| Many serious questions are showed
to the front by this unexpected deyel-
opment in the House. There is the
growing uncertainty of the strength of
the old line political affiliations; of
| how far the trend to independent vot
ing may go; to what extent the revolt
may permanently impair effective
| leadership in the House as it has Re-
publican leadership in the Senate, and
whether or not political realignment
! into new groups may not be more i'm
mediate than appears on the surface.
Of course. the primary consideration
| is what can be done with the insurgent
forces to bring about solution of the
unbalanced budget problem. The up
heaval in the National Capital this
week has added one more disturbing
factor to the unsettled business situa-
ton; has shaken confidence in the
wisdom of Congress, and aroused fear or
resentment over the prospective tax
imposition. Those are very present and
vital factors in the larger problem OF
| facing and beating the depression.
But in it's relation to the immediate
political situation the results may be
more definitely appraised. Most poll
! ticians are convinced that in the end
the insurgent and socialist elements in
| the House will be curbed and the bud
| get balanced: it is inevitable that such
result must be achieved. None ex-
| poets the country to go to smash be-
cause of the flareup of an insurgent
group in Congress, no matter how dis
concerting that may be to the admin
/ istration or the public.
= x x
It may we'll be, therefore, that the
| more permanent result of this startling
| break in the House will be purely pOliti-
cal Speaker Garner had displayed real
| generalship in holding his slender ma
| iority in line and rushing through the
administrations bills without partisan
wrangling. He was growing rapidly in
| stature. He was measuring up to the
size of a potential candidate for Presi-
dent. Like all men in positions of
authority, he must take the bad breaks
with the good, and no matter how re-
sponSible he may or may not be for the
collapse of the Democratic party this
week, the result must react mainly
against him.
In the end. the democracy itself must
answer to the country and the party's
nominee for President must assume the
responsibility for what has happened
But the happenings of the week may
have a very definite influence in deter
mining who that spokesman and NOM
inee may be in the campaign of 1892
It appears to be the opinion of the
Democratic leaders that Mr.. Gamers
presidential aspirations have suffered a
severe setback in one week. Not only
has he been in the thick Of the fighting
in the House and the most conspicuous
figure there, but his friends who were
making the contest for him were crush
ed in the Georgia primary.
1t is we'll known that the Speaker did
not sanction going into that primary
battle and withdrew personally after
his overzealous friends had entered him
| But the contest was made by Judge G.
H. Howard, prominent Atlanta Demo-
crat, standing as proxy and with the
strong support of William r. Hearst
| and William G. McAdoo, native South
erner and a dry. Concededly Mr.
Garner would have been better off had
| Il6 IlOG BOllc III, III VIZ" VI IllC OuICOIlS.
Under the double pressure of the House
situation and the Georgia primary the
Speakers boom has gone down fast.
| x x
The insurgent movement in the
House has hit the Republican leadership
as hard as the Democratic, but the re-
suit in terms of practical politics is not
as serious because the Republicans have
no presidential contest ahead. The Re
publican party has grown accustomed
to its insurgents and new uprising in
the House will have little, if any, bearing
on the denomination of President
Hoover. 1t may figure in the election
If the administration cannot get the
results needed; but it is difficult to
figure how it can count heavily in the
preconvention campaign.
In the Democratic presidential CON-
test. Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt of New
York has scored another notable victory
in the Georgia primary. The activities
in the States have accumulated to his
advantage. None of the other candi-
dates has made gain during the week