Evening star., 1932-08-22
CAMPAIGN LACKING
IN CRUCIAL ISSUE
Blaming Hoover for Depres-
sion Held 0bsoIete-Votes
Hinge on Recovery.
BY MARK SULLIVAN.

The issue upon which the campaign
Is to turn remains uncrystallized. The
setting UP of an outstanding issue Is
not advanced by Gov. Roosevelts
speech. Democratic leaders outside Gov.
Rcosevelts circle do not believe tnat
an issue can be made out OF charges
that President Hoover is responsible Tor
the depression. That keynote was taken
I'D shortly after the depression began
three years ago by what was then the
Democratic management under Jonn j.
Raskob. The able publicity man whom
Mr.. Rask-b employed pressed with eX-
treme vigor and continuity the charge
that Pres ident Hoover was responsible.
Scores of speeches written in Demo-
cratic headquarters and fathered by
Democratic Senators and others put for
ward the idea that Mr.. Hoover was to
blame.
This early course Of the former Demo-
cratic management came to an END
through two agencies. The severity OF
the indictment of the President caused
reaction against the Democratic man
agement. About the same time the
later shocks of the depression began to
emerge from Europe. The two condi-
ticns caused the former Democratic
management to drop this line of attack
That was in the early part of 1881.
Since then. up to the time OF Gov.
Roosevelt's speech. it has not been the
Democratic policy to renew this charge
In any important way.
Europe Becomes Factor.
A tenable statement might say that
the United States was the first to feel
the shock in October, 1929. So long as
the depression was confined to the
United States it was plausible to as
sumo. and many serious economists
actually assumed that the fault lay in
the excesses. speculative and otherwise.
which had taken place in the United
States. At that time it was. If not ac-
curate, at least plausible to lay the
blame on the President. That was the
time of the Towering of a type OF jibe
about the President. An empty pocket
the Hoover ag" Mr. Hoover was
the greatest engineer in the world be-
cause he had "ditched. drained and
damned the country" About that time
however, came a series of shocks out
side the United States which paralyzed
much of the world. In the seriousness
that arrived with this condition, dis
position to blame the President ceased.
About the cause of the shocks abroad
economists will argue for years. Many
agree that the shock IN Austria was
country territorially bv the Treaty of
Versailles The financial breakdown Of
Austria was q contributing cause of the
collapse in Germany. Another cause in
Germany was the fault of the Versailles
Treaty The collapse Of Austria and
Germany both contributed tc the peak
of the whole world crisis which was the
fall Of the British pound In September,
last year.
End of Defensive Fight.
During all the latter part Of the de-
preston. no serious economist and very
few politicians have tried to put the
blame on Mr.. Hoover For the past 10
months, at least, the justified tendency
of the country has been to see Mr.. Hoo
yer in the role of patient, resourceful
and quietly gallant defender of the
country against shocks from abroad.
Although apparent recovery has been
under way for some six weeks, Mr.. Hoo
yer has profited politically less from re-
covery than from the feeling that he is
general who has come to the end OF
p long, defensive fight. This feeling is |
now a large asset of the President: If |
the present recovery should go on, he |
would profit from that also.
Whether the recovery SO far is gen.
uine and will continue Is the question !
that is far more important than charges. |
loose or discriminating, about the origi- |
nal blame. Nearly all business leaders |
excepting a few speculatively inclined IN |
New York think the recovery SO far is |
sound The political question hangs on |
the distance recovery from so deep 4
depression can go by November 7. That |
it cannot go to full cure by that time
everybody knows. The belief that there |
will still be distress in the United States !
next Winter is shown by the Presidents |
own steps to organize defene against 1t.
The best the Republicans hope for is
recovery sufficient to bring peace of !
mind to the country by giving the peo-
pie the feeling that the worst is past.
that no new shocks are ahead. and that |
the country is on the upward path. That |
this state of mind. if it comes fully 10 |
pass will re-elect the President, IS
hardly doubted by any one.