Evening star., 1932-04-29
ROOSEVELT'S FATE
LIES IN CALIFORNIA
Hopes to Regain Lost Pres
tige in Three-Sided Pj-
mary Tuesday.
BY the Associated Press.


California. which tipped the electoral
balance to Woodrow Wilson with a dra-
matte flourish 16 years ago, may now
be destined to write another unfor-
getable page of Democratic history as
arbiter CT the fortunes Of Franklin D.
Roosevelt.
Next Tuesdays three-sided primary
comes just at the moment of greatest
suspense for the New York Governor
and his adversaries. The Roosevelt
parade is at its first halt Al Smiths
victory in Massachusetts, was far more
sweeping than expected by the Roose-
Velt followers and the undivided vcte
in PENNSYLVANIA disclosed a Smith
strength which surprised them. They
| desire, imperatively, to get the band
wagon rolling full speed again.
Three sided Race.
In his effort to regain the prestige
he has lost, Roosevelt faces both Smith
and Speaker John N Garner in Cali
fornia. The campaign has been a
hammer-and-tongs chorus for weeks.
Roosevelt has the advantage of having
made the earliest start. Smith has the
advantage Of the shove given him by
his Eastern showing this week. For the
Garner supporters it is desperate bat
tie to win for their candidate his first
convention votes outside of Texas.
The A delegates alone make a size
| able prize, but their numerical strength
does not tell the whole story.
If Roosevelt wins, he will have put
psychology of victory again on his side;
| reduced the Stop-Roosevelt block to a
1 margin so thin that it must depend on
the staying qualities of most of the
| favorite son delegations for success;
struck back at Smith for what Smith
did to him in Massachusetts,. and
brought the Garner boom to such a
| state that Garner may decide TO get
! out and put the Texas delegation also
into the Roosevelt basket.
/ If Roosevelt loses in California. it
will mean almost certainly that his
rush to foreclose the nomination has
| failed, and that the question will be
thrown into the convention itself, with
results no one can foresee.
Overshadows All Else.
Altogether, expectancy over the
| California result is overshadowing
everything else among the Democrats.
Apparently little attention is being
paid to the charge of Roosevelt work.
ers that money was used freely for
Smith in Pennsylvania. and the earlier
charge of Alfalfa Bill" Murray about
Roosevelt spending in the West. These
are among the things that are being
left to simmer with no clear indication
whether or not they will suddenly and
spectacularly come to a boil just on
the eve Of the convention.
| Something is simmering among the
Republicans, too, but the Hoover man
ayers, whose list of claimed delegates
has passed the number needed to aomi-
nate, do not seem disposed to worry.
| DR.. Joseph I. France of Maryland,
who has been the only candidate en-
tered in considerable number of State
preference primaries, is claiming many
OF the delegates which the Hoover men
count as their own. DR.. France de-
clares he has the law on his side in
this matter, and is prepared to see that
the convention observes the law.
| Quite apart from the claims OF the
Marylander, reports persist that move
may be made at the last moment to