Evening star., 1933-12-07
The Political Mill
By 8. Could LINCOLN.

Ths Republican National COMMITTEES
has circulated for publication Z
pamphlet-a new pamphlet
the Roosevelt administration. It's only
Dead Cats" witch Doctors" Bank
Wreckers," i'Iraitors.s These, It q ex-
planned IN the text, are epithets hurled
at critics Of the administrator none
tary and recovery policies by the Presi-
dent himself, Speaker Rainey, Gen. Hugh
8. johnson. N. r. A. administrator, and
Donald Richberg, general counsel OF the
N. r. A. The q. O. p. Committee in its
pamphlet insisted that the Roosevelt
administration had been given all the
laws 1t asked, all the authority It could
desire and free field without partisan
attack to work out its recovery program
and put 1t into effect. The inherent
defects IN the program, the Republican
committee asserted, had brought criti-
cisms and these criticisms had been
answered by calling names. The criti-
cism, the committee added, had not
originated with partisan opponents of
resident Roosevelt, but with outstand-
ing members Of the Democratic party.
ana " nad been continued by the rank
(tH 4
Whether the Republican National
COMMITTEES would have done better to
Leave the attacks on the Roosevelt adj
mnlstrat1on to the disgruntled Demo-
Gratis has become q moot question.
tnere are those who say that to launch
2 partisan attack at this time, when
tne people still want to give the re-
c1veIy program chance, was Q stupid
thing TO DO. They insist that the
smith, were doing grand Job on the
Roosevelt administration, and they saw
further that the tendency Of the Demo-
Gratis, all Democrats, under direct Re-
publican attack, will be to get together
again. Nor are the Republicans them
selves, despite the activity OF the party
governing committee, united in the at
tack on the Roosevelt administration
Only the other day q former Repub-
lican Vice President, Gen. Charles q.
Dawes, In q public address declared
that the President and his program
must be upheld. just as the country had
upheld Woodrow Wilson In non-partisan
manner during the World War. The
pamphlet OF the @. o. p. committee
takes fiat issue with the suggestion
that conditions must be Compared TO-DAY
with war conditions, and asserts: eve
are not in war. We are In q state of
profound peace" But the Roosevelt
supporters will assert, on their part,
that the peace Is far too profound, and
that's what Is the matter with the
country.
AE4
The G. o. P. booklet states q series
OF objections which, it claims, the
American people have to the program
and policies Of the administration.
These objections include DICTATORSHIP"
cracking down on any business or in
dustry which asserts its right to ques-
ton the wisdom of certain economic
policies, purely political in their origin,
without being threatened with economic
DEATH" The pamphlet continues:
The American people object to the
RECOMMENDATION Of agriculture and in
oustry after the manner either Of So
vietism or Fascism.
They object to having some bu-
and squad left all private enterprise
from Nation wide motor corporations to
side street barber shops.
They object to putting private ini-
ttat1ve in the guard house.
They object to the use Of that un-
American weapon Of coercion and re-
prisal-the boycott-against those who
refuse to accept without question a
program which even its author and
sponsors frankly admit to be expert
mental.
They object to muzzling the radio.
The radio has supplanted the public
platform Of former years as the medium
Of public discussion. To censor or
muzzle it IS to suppress free speech.
Notwithstanding Gen. Hugh s. john
sons repeated public denials to the
contrary, documentary evidence Is in
hand that broadcasting stations have
been officially threatened with loss Of
Their licenses unless they censor the
use OF their facilities In behalf Of the
N. r. A.
They object to the mu;zline Of the
press-the bulwalk Of popular govern
ment. That this has been attempted
Is evidenced by the stubborn resistance
for over two months Of the N. r. A.
to writing into the newspaper code q
reafdrmation Of the constitutional guar
antics Of freedom Of the press.
The wage Garner objects to q none
tary policy that threatens his dollar
with the loss of one-half of its value
when he lays it on the merchants
counter, and falls at the same time to
equalize his loss by doubling the num-
ber he gets In his pay envelope"
4 ~
The American people very likely will
object to one and all Of these attempts
to curtail their freedom described by
the G. o. P. Committee provided they
are convinced that these attempts are
actually being made. But the only
question, from the point of political
strategy, is whether It would be better
to let the American people do their
own objecting in their own way. II the
people get the impression that they are
being regimented into opposition to the
recovery program for partisan political
purposes alone, they are not likely to
Republican National Committee drive
reply that the people were regimented
into opposition to the Hoover admin
tstration by q series Of partisan poll
tical attacks conducted by the Demo-
cratic National Committee beginning in
1929 and running through 1882. So
there you are.
The administrations policies, par
ticularly its monetary policies and the
operations Of the N. r. A. and the
A. A. A., have been the cause of dis
sension within the ranks Of the adj
ministration itself. The division has
come along conservative and liberal, not
to say radical, lines. The conservatives
have had so far the worst Of it. The
President let out the Undersecretary
Of the Treasury, Mr.. Acheson, and the
financial adviser, Prof. Sprague, with
out more ado, because they did not
believe in his handling Of the gold
question. And now another row has
cropped up in the Department Of Ag-
riculture. where the A. A. A. admins
TRAITOR. George N. Peek. has become
restive over the activities Of the AS
sistant Secretary, Rexford G. Tugwell,
recognized as. q leader of the "brain
trust" Whether Mr.. Peek is to 60 or
not seems to be the question. Rumors
have been rife that many Of the
young liberals" in the administration
were not s1tisfied with the way things
seemed to be going while Mr.. Roose-