Evening star., 1932-03-11
The Smith Candidacy.

Invitations to Alfred E. Smith to take
himself permanently out Of the presi-
Dental picture, coming from Democrats
who supported Mr. Smith in 1928. may
bring a showdown in this candidacy
Of the former New York Governor
which at the same time is declared not
to be a candidacy Mayor James M.
Curley of Boston, for years a Demo-
cratic leader in that Democratic city,
set the ball rolling with kilograms to
Smith urging that he take himself out
of the race in Massachusetts, in the in
terest Of party harmony. The mayor
recalled to Mr.. Smith his early state
ment that he would make no precon-
vention fight for delegates to the ma
tional convention and paralleled it with
Mr.. Smiths acquiescence, given for-
mally, in the plans Of his friends to
run Smith delegates in the Massa-
chusetts primary in April. In the
opinion Of the mayor the two do not
match up.
But Mr.. Smith not only has declined
to accede to Mayor Curley's request
that he withdraw from the Massachu-
sets primary, but charges the mayor
with sending him a tricky" telegram,
seeking to put him in false light with
his friends in Massachusetts. Mayor
Curley's comment on this reply Of Mr..
Smith is brief but pithy. He quotes
from Sir Walter SCOTS Marmion:
"Oh, what tangled web We weave
When first We practice to deceive"
The chorus Of Democratic voices urg-
ing Mr.. Smith to take himself out Of
the presidential race is by no means
confined to Mayor Curley and some Of
his Boston Democrats Senator King Of
Utah, Senator McKellar of Tennessee,
both Of whom had kind things to say
about the standard bearer Of 1928, and
Senator Wheeler Of Montana and Sena-
tor Dill of Washington, who confined
their remarks to eulogies Of Franklin D.
Roosevelt, have all made the suggestion
that this is no time for the Democrats
to get into row which may be remi-
niscent of Madison Square Garden and
just as devastating to the party of
Thomas Jefferson, Andrew jackson and
Woodrow Wilson.
1t does not seem likely, however, that
the former New York Governor Is going
to take himself out of the race. A few
more defeats, such as he and his
friends experienced in New Hampshire,
will have the effect of taking Mr. Smith
out OF the race even more positively
than If he should now issue a state
ment insisting that he was not a can
didate. If some of Mr.. Smiths friends
are correct in their analysis of the
situation, the former Governor is not
really a candidate for the nomination
at all, does not expect to be nomi-
mated and is in the picture merely to
pick up enough delegates in the North
eastern States to make it impossible for
Gov. Roosevelt to be the Democratic
uOIllliCC AOl 1lCoAuCIiL. ElIlicl IlldL ID
the case or Mr. Smith is a bona fide
candidate. If he is merely a stalking
/ horse in the move to defeat Roosevelt,
the Democrats in Massachusetts, would
| like to know about 1t. Furthermore,
they are entitled to know about it.
Sooner or later Mr. Smith will have
to fish, cut bait or get ashore. He can
not be at one and the same time a
candidate and not candidate
In the meantime Mayor Curley of
Boston will continue to beat tattoo
on the Smith candidacy in Massachu-
sets There are few cleverer politi-
clans than the Boston mayor, veteran
Of many fierce battles. The leaders
Of other Democratic factions in the
State are beginning to wonder just
where they will light If Mayor Curley
should be right, after all, in the selec-
ton of a candidate in this presidential
race. At the same time, Mayor Cur
| ley's plea for harmony among the
Democrats of Massachusetts,, so that
once a presidential nomination has
been made. the party may hope to
move forward to victory. Is not with
out its effect.