Evening star., 1932-05-01
BY GEORGE VAN sLYKE.

0EOhGE VAN sri NE.
NEW YORK, April 30.-Now that It
has become certain that the Smith
Roosevelt feud Is to be carried officially
into the Democratic National Conven-
tion In June, fear of a deadlock is grow
ign throughout the ranks Of the party.
The Democrats are again face TO face
with the difficult problem of reconcil-
ing the liberal West and conservative
East without dividing their party in a
quarrel. 1t is a question whether the
harm has not been done already. Any
kind of successful compromise bring
ing the two wings together is as re-
mote and hard to accomplish in 1882 as
in 1924 in the convention or 1928 IN
the election.
Armed with credentials won this week
in the Eastern primaries, Al Smith has
his coat and vest of, ready to fight
it out Ito the bitter end" That means
trouble, as all Democrats know. He
will have the backing Of some $50 dele
gates of his own and will be formally
presented as a candidate. Yet it is
doubtful if any single delegate pledged
to support him entertains seriously for
a moment an idea that he has any
chance at the nomination. He is and
will remain the spearhead of the anti
Roosevelt drive. His purpose is OBJ
structtve and is SO recognized.
y 4
The Al Smith victories this week have
put new life and strength into his fight.
They have slowed but not stopped the
Roosevelt rush. The first and most i'm
mediate reaction on the Roosevelt side
is stiffening of the anti-Smith forces
In wavering States, which had not in
tended to instruct their delegates. Sew
eral States which are not enthusiastic
for Gov. Franklin D Roosevelt are in
tense in their opposition to Smith, and
are planning now to cooperate more &C
lively in Stop-Smith campaign.
1t is debatable whether Smith can
get together one-third of the l ,154 dele
gates in the convention to turn back
Gov. Roosevelt. The outcome of the
California primary next week is i'm
portant. If Smith wins there it will be
big boost for him. Should Roosevelt
get the A votes from the Coast, that
victory would offset his losses this week
In the East. Roosevelt, Speaker Garner
and Smith are fighting it out in Cali
fornia, with William G. McAdoo re-en-
tering as campaign leader for the
Speaker.
Smith must enlist the active co-op-
Grafton of the several favorite sons with
their 200 delegates to perfect his veto
bloc and stop Roosevelt. Inasmuch as
four Of those favorite sons are in in
tense anti-Smith States, it is question:
able to what extent they will promote
the Smith enterprise.
X X
Two vital and pressing considerations
are presented to the Democracy as a
result of this new turn of affairs as
follows:
/. In the event that Smith succeeds
in forcing a deadlocked convention as
a necessary move to eliminate Roosevelt,
how would it be possible to bring about
a compromise, which would help the
party out of its troubles?
2. Has the long and persistent attack
on Roosevelt by those elements opposed
to his nomination so thoroughly under
mined his candidacy that it is hopeless
to try to build him up, if nominated?
Obviously Gov. Roosevelt, with the
almost solid backing of the West and
South, now has the veto power which
Smith and his allies have yet to get.
The Smith forces must strain every
point to get their one-third; the Roose-
velt men claim they are already close
to holding one-half Of the convention
intact. If Smith can succeed in stop
ping Roosevelt with a one-third veto,
it Is quite certain the Roosevelt ele-
ments will have much less serious
undertaking to stop Smith.
The presumption in the East Is that
Smiths objective, with the backing of
John j Raskob, National chairman,
and their wing of the party, is to first
put out Roosevelt and then bring for
ward Owen D. Young as their COM
promise offering. The conviction is
that Young stands at the head of the
compromise list In Smiths vest pocket.
Next comes Gov. Ritchie of Maryland.
Should there come about deadlock
in June, it is now regarded as very
doubtful whether the Roosevelt left
wing, in defeat, would accept Young,
Ritchie or any other candidate put for
ward by the Smith -Raskob combination.
That faction would counter by present.
ing a liberal, who would be as unac-
ceptable to the East as Smiths candi-
dates would be to the West and South.
The only candidate prominently
mentioned in the pre-convention dis
cusSions of possibilities who is seen as
a compromise Is Newton D. Baker.
Probably he would be far down on the
Smith list, although acceptable to the
Eastern wing, because of his pro-
nounced wet views. His strong advocacy
of the League of Nations Is not popular
in the Smith camp
X
Those Democrats who are more con-
cerned over winning in November than
in the cause and effect of the Smith
Roosevelt quarrel are lamenting the
outbreak of this family trouble They
see the fat already in the fire; the
damage done whatever happens. The
old sectional division has been revived
and emphasized, and Roosevelt, as the
leading candidate, already hurt badly
by the skillful attacks made on him.
Employing high-power salesmanship,
all the anti-Roosevelt candidates anc