Evening star., 1932-10-27
The Political Mill
BY C. Could lincoln.

t1al ticket. NOW tnaC Mr.. Sm1tn mas
started they are not so sure they might
not have been better of If he had kept
quiet until the end Of the campaign.
For Mr.. Smiths address on a national
hock-gS Monday night in which he had
d great deal to say about the Protestant
'bigcts" is not calculated to do the
Roosevelt-G Garner ticket much good in,
say, for example. Kentucky and Min
nesota. Gov. Roosevelt could afford
to lose Massachusetts,, Rhode Island
had to, rather than some of the West
ern and Middle West and border States
And see what Mr.. Smith did to Sena-
tor Borah, who has practiced great self
denial during the present campaign
and kept his mouth shut No one, it
could smoke Mr.. Borah out.
But AL Smith did with that speech Of
his attacking all the Protestant drys.
What Mr.. Borah had to say about the
Democrats yesterday was nearly enough
to turn the tide in Idaho The Idaho
Senator still continues to decline to an
nounce for whom he will vote on elec-
lion day. But in the lashing he gave the
Democrats across the shoulders of Mr..
Smith Mr.. Borah was only voicing
the sentiments CT thousands of dry Re
publicans-many Of whom because of
the economic conditions have been
ready to bolt the Republican party and
vote for Roosevelt. If President Hoo
yer should be elected November 8. AL
Smith will certainly be charged by
many with having pulled a Burchard
boner. the kind of mistake which is
credited with having defeated James @
Blaine way back in 1884 and bringing
about the election Of Grover Cleveland
Mr. Smith Is to deliver another cam
paign speech in Buffalo next SATURDAY.
night. 1t develops that It is to be
broadcast only In New York State. and
that speech to be made in Ithaca the
same night by John w. Davis. the
Democratic presidential candidate in
1924, will have a national broadcast.
1t looks as though the Democratic cam
paign managers were inclined to keep
Mr.. Smiths remarks right in this
eastern and northern territory, where
they are expected to do SO good to the
presidential ticket as well as the State
ticket. and also that they do not want
him to be heard in lot of States which
went Republican four years ago and
might do so fgain. Having put the
quietus on Speaker John N. Garner
and effectually censored his remarks
for the last couple of months. must the
Democratic National Committee under
take to muzzle Mr.. Smith?
A little more than three weeks ago
President Hoover leaped into the cam
paign himself, with his address to the
farmers of the Middle West delivered
in Des Moines, Iowa. Up to that time
the Republican campaign had been as
pepless as a flock of young turkeys
after a heavy rain. Overnight the
President had instilled some fight" in
the Republican leaders all over the
country. Too many of them had been
cowed by the polls taken by the Literary
Digest. by chains of newspapers and
individual newspapers. They were ready
to throw up the sponge. Since that
time the President has spoken in Cleve-
land and Detroit. On Friday he is to
deliver an address in Indianapolis. Mon
day he speaks in New York, and unless
there is q change in the present tactics,
he will be heard in Chicago or Spring.
field. ILL.,; in Kansas City. Denver and
his own home State, California, before
VIC SdAlAPdASll Cl1S&c d Oul
in the picture the President has made.
He stands today as a real, positive
figure, leader Of his party. If he
wins, it will be because of his own
efforts, Democratic mistakes and the
failure of the Democratic presidential
to measure up to the stand
ard demanded by the American elec-
torate. It Is quite true that Mr.. Hoover
is not winning over many of the Demo-
Gratis to his standard-though he Is
winning some of them as I have found
from travelling about the country. What
he needs to do however, is merely to
win back to the fold the Republicans
who have strayed from the reservation.
If he can accomplish that, he's in. 1t
is no secret that the Republicans in
this country-the men and women who
usually vote the Republican ticket and
many Of them closely bound to the
party by many ties-outnumber the
men and women who usually vote the
Democratic ticket by q big margin.
~ ~
It Is too early to say how much of a
swing back to the Republican standard
will materialize by election day. The
Democrats attempt to ridicule the re-
ports of recrudescence Of Republican
sentiment. But they cannot stop a
swing, if it is really in the air, by such
methods. What has hit them and hit
hem hard Is the fact that President
Hoover. whom they have attempted to
ridicule and to belittle for the last
three or four years, has now emerged
Is a real campaigner, and their own
candidate has suffered greatly in all
out Democratic eyes. perhaps, in COM
carlson as a campaigner. Mr.. Hoover
mpresses the voters with knowing what
ne is talking about. He does not hesi-
ate to take a stand on any issue that Is
to him. He did not trim in
INV way on the troublesome prohibi-
ion question. On the other hand,
many people are wondering today just
what Gov. Roosevelt would do if a
Democratic Congress should pass a
Garner public buildings bill, a soldiers
,onus bill or bill striking down many
If the protective tariff schedules There
;eems to be grave doubt that he would
Teto any one Of them. Yet Gov. Roose-
'elt has spoken Of the bonus in a way
hat has In some quarters been in
erpreted as meaning that he Is against
he present payment of the bonus, and
III OQlC VI lifOlC OCCuclOllS lldo SlfCu Lllc
that he would not tear down
he protective tariff. It is this failure
% be quite definite on such issues that
las made it possible for the Repub-
leans to charge the candidate with
idestepping and straddling.
OF course, it would be to the advantage
# the Democratic presidential candidate
Il he could let things rock along until
election day, without upsetting the boat.
It has been obvious that If the Demo-
,rats could cash in on the discohtent
growing out of hard times, they would
win this election. But the people have
demanded information on all kinds of
questions in this campaign. They are
hard up and they want apparently to be
sold where the candidates stand on the
ssues Of the day. So 1t has been i'm
possible for the Democratic candidate to
remain silent.
+ + + 4
Representative Louis Ludlow Of the
district in Indiana Is
having q real fight, largely due to the
fact that in his district, where q lot of
net oe1fiyaent aYistS ho In reOardad al