Evening star., 1934-08-20
The Political Mill
By C.. Could Lincoln.

dozen years later the late Senator
Robert M. La Toilette OF Wisconsin
tried his hand at leading a new party,
also dubbed Progressive. Neither of
these efforts succeeded. The Progress
sive party, as a national organization
dropped out of sight. But these
movements left their mark on the
political map of the country and
/ deep impression on the people. 1t be-
| gins to look as though President
| Franklin D. Roosevelt may succeed In
, setting up new party where his pre-
! decessors in the attempt failed; in
, setting up the new deal party" The
/ President has made no attempt to get
away from the party name, Democrat
! 1t may be said that he is seeking to
revamp and remake the historic old
party by working from within, rather
! than that he is seeking to set up an
entirely new organization.
* *E
The President has drawn into sup
! port of his new deal policies progress
sive Republicans in all parts of the
country. 1t Is true In Pennsylvania
as well as in California and Wiscon-
sin. He has virtually given his in
dorsement to the candidates. OF Sem
ator Hiram johnson of California and
Senator Bob" La Toilette of Wiscon-
! sin for reelection to the Senate He
may give encouragement to other Re
publican progressive candidates for
Congress before the campaign is over
members who have supported the new
| deal and who continue to support 1t.
If the new deal party and the Presi-
dent are to retain their present DOM
| inant position 1t is essential that the
| new dealers make not only a good
showing, but great showing in the
coming congressional elections. Re-
versals, If there should be many,
would weaken the new dealers, even
! if the Democrats continued to hold a
| fairly large majority in the House
and their present very large majority
! in the Senate. The danger would lie
not so much In the attitude of the Re-
publican opposition, but in the pos
sibility of disaffections among the
Democrats, many of whom may not
be ready to make permanent the new
deal program, which they supported
as an emergency program. That op-
position became extremely vocal in
the Senate not long before the ad-
| journment of the last session of Con-
gress. There we're indications that it
might break out in the House. But
! that oody was ruled firmly by the late
Speaker Rainey, the majority leader,
Representative Joe" Byrns Of Ten
nessee, and the chairman of the
Rules Committee, Representative
/ Bankhead of Alabama. who had back
of them also the huge power of the
Chief Executive.
The new deal issues and the new
| deal platform contain matters that
have never before been included in
! national Democratic platforms. They
are, indeed. antagonistic to many OF
| the principles for which the Demo-
cratic party has stood in the past.
| The fact that President Roosevelt has
been able to win his party over to
these new principles without great
! strife is tribute to his personal
| power and to his ability.
! II the new deal party becomes in
effect permanent organization, even
| though it continues to bear the Demo-
cratic name, it seems bound to mean
| a new political alignment. The pro-
/ gressives will be found more and more
! in the Democratic party. The con-
servatives will go elsewhere. One
great aid to the President in his con-
! troll up to date has been the support
| of the Democratic solid South" Yet
! it is in that section of the country
! that many of the conservative Demo-
Gratis are to be found. They remain
Democratic by tradition and because
! OF the race issue. They will have to
be sorely tried before they kick over
/ the traces. But the President will
/ find these Southern Democrats, per-
haps more and more reluctant to go
on with the new deal program. Espe-
cially is this likely to be so If there
appears to be a growing resistance in
! the country to new deal.
| X y
The present primary campaign In
Georgia for the gubernatorial nomina-
ton is a test of the new deal strength
| in the South. Gov. Talmadge has
| been an out and out critic of the
new deal. He has been as scathing
, in some of his remarks about what
| has been going on in Washington
and out through the country under
the present administration as AL
Smith. He is opposed by Judge
Claude c. Pitman, Superior Court
judge, who is an ardent defender
of the new deal and is campaigning
as such. There Is a third candidate
| in the field, Ed A. Gilham, an Atlanta
alderman, who is running as wet
The race lies, however, between Tai
madge and Pitman, according to all
reports. Victory Of Talmadge, while
| other matters are involved, would be
a real sock in the jaw for the new
dealers, it is said. Among the other
issues involved in the race is the long
feud between Clark Howell, former
Democratic national committeeman,
editor of the Atlanta Constitution,
and John S. Cohen, present national
| committeeman and editor of the At
lanta Journal. Cohen served as Sem
| ator for short time before Roosevelt
became President. He was an ardent
Roosevelt supporter in the pre-con-
vention campaign.
|
! The death Of Speaker Henry T.
Rainey breaks up, temporarily at least,
the strong team which controlled the
House during the new deal Congress
| Rainey as Speaker, Joe" Byrns as
! floor leader, and William B. Bank
head of Alabama as chairman of the
! Rules Committee, was the organiza-
ton that pushed the new deal pro-
gram through the House in record
time. The Speaker during the pres
1 ent Congress has been given more
arbitrary powers than ever before in
the history of the House, not except
ing the days of Uncle Joe" Cannon
Mr.. Rainey was Staunch supporter
Of the President. The prospects are
for the election of Mr.. Byrns of Ten
nessee, the floor leader, to succeed Mr..
Rainey as Speaker of the House. 1t
is expected that the House Demo-
Gratis will follow precedent in this