Evening star., 1932-07-10

ing the coming 1Our mCOl1S
the campaign. the process OF
taking sides by the people, will pass
through certain phases not now possible
to foresee. 0epending upon develop
fnents: upon the reaction of the peo-
pIe to the new candidate, the Demo-
cratic one. whose acquaintance they Will
now make depending upon the course
of business. upon mistakes that either
party or both may make-dependlng on
all that and more, we shall have, by
about the first week in october crys-
tsllization of opinion and emotion which
will express itself in November.
AS of today. no one can possibly fan
to see that conditions favor the Demo-
Gratis. I mean just that-conditlons
favor the Democrats; in time OF oepres-
sion, conditions infallibly favor the
outs. That is like saying two and two
make four.
Here YVES the Democratic convention
meeting in a city having half million
unemployed, and in a country having
10000, 600. Here was the Democratic
party writing a platform that blamed
it on the Republicans and promised to
cure it if the people would elect them
to office: and here was a gallant young
Roosevelt galloping out Of the East by
airplane with an impression, not merely
of a Moses, but of magician on ny
ing carpet.
Mistake to Blame Hoover.
That the people should be disposed to
turn toward change goes without say
ing. Yet it is net certain. The Demo-
Gratis have made a mistake, and will
probably continue to make it, in charg-
ing that President Hoover is responsible
for the depression. The country is con-
siderably past the stage where 1t could
be persuaded to believe that. That was
the theme that Democratic Chairman
Raskob and his 5,000-a-year press
agent set going more than two years
ago. So long as 1t was light matter
to believe it, the country believed it. So
long as the depression was a presum-
ably brief and rather amusing incon-
venience, people took it smilingly,
made virtue of being jocular about t.
That was the period Of the jibes about
Mr. Hoover, almost as numerous at the
time, almost as much a vogue, as that
wave of Ford jokes" jokes about the
Ford car, some Is years ago. The most
familiar of the Hoover jibes of 1890
(Which Gov. Alfalfa Bill Murray of
Oklahoma is still Tepeating) said that
Mr.. Hoover must be a great engineer
because he "ditched, drained and
damned the country within year"
Those Hoover jokes" had much the
same flavor as the Ford car jokes"
Both were directed at objects which the
people regarded as sturdy and depend
able. Both had a touch OF affection
for the thing they "kidded." There
was no malice in either the Hoover
jokes or the Ford ones. Had the peo-
pie had malice toward Hoover. or to-
ward the Ford car, they would not have
expressed themselves in the form OF
humcr. One might almost say, Happy
Is the head of state whose people tell
Jokes about him." To complete the
analogy, the Ford car, it will be OBJ
served, is still going strong. Model T
Is good car.
The depression, however. has passed
through the stage when it was occa-
sion for Jest 1t IS now a grim buSi-
ness. There is complete realization that
It Is a world-storm without precedent
in destructiveness, unless we compare it
with the great plaques. The attitude
of the people toward the captain OF
the American ship is one not likely TO
make Jokes, not likely even to be pa
tient with those who do make jokes,
and certainly not likely to take seri-
ously any person or party which says
or implies that any one man was re-
sponsible for the economic tornado.
Depends on Personality.
The Democratic platform is a sound
economic program. 1t may be approx
mately the right program for leading
us through recuperation. 1t does not
differ materially from the Republican
program. Probably month, or TWO or
three months from now, the country
will be settling into crystallization
which takes sides upon the basis OF
which of two men. Mr. Roosevelt or
Mr.. Hoover, seems most likely, by their
respective emanations Of personality. to
be the best pilot for ship that is In
troubled waters.
To the individual judgment and taste
of the writer of this article there was
at the Democratic convention one man
whose performance called for unquali-
fed admiration. That was the presiding
officer. the permanent chairman, Sen
ator Thomas j. Walsh of Montana.
suspect the same instinct for admira-
ton was, in a taken-for- r-granted way,
in the minds Of the convention and OF
the country Rather more elevated than
the man whom the people set up Tor
President through a mixture Of emotion
and partisan excitement is the one they
set up as judge and referee at time
when they are divided into bitterly
hostile factions.
The Democrats, and the country,
knew this was going TO be an angry
convention. They turned to man
whose fairness would be that Of stop
watch. Walsh had been tested in that
role He had been the permanent
chairman Of that other, and even more
turbulent convention. the 1924 one,
when ZAP Smith and William G.. Nc
Adoo and their respective part1sans
clutched each others throats for some
three weeks. In that struggle religion
Catholic versus Protestant, was an issue
infusing and coloring every disputed
move. Walsh was known by all to be
a Catholic; and those who were well
acquainted with him personally knew
him to be q real Catholic, true to his
faith and punctilious in observing its
forms. But in that convention, as In
this one. Walsh the Catholic never
whispered in the ear Of Walsh the
Judge: Walsh the Democrat never re-
strained the hand Of Walsh the parna-
mentarian.
Most Arduous Role.
Walshs role in the convention was
not the one to get applause-the cheers
were for the orators and rabble-rousers,
the praisers of denouncerS, the shout
ers and breast heaters. AS each occa-
sion arose for action by Walsh, the
course of the crowd was to sit sim
for a tense moment, wait for Walshs
decision. accept it as they would .ac-
cept a sum in arithmetic. and then
pass back into the turbulence OF
wrangling.
walsh is no longer young, nor even
middle-aged. Yet his role in the con-
vention was many times more arouous
than that Of any other man. For
walsh the strain was continuous, with
out rest or interruption. al" Smith
or McAdoo could emit his burst OF
forensic energy and then retire. Walsh
had to stand every minute upon the
peak of the storm. There was never
a more appealing sight than Walsh
e at a moment when morning sunlight
was stealing through the windows in
feeble comretition with the gartSh