Evening star., 1934-05-17
The Political Mill
By C. Could Lincoln.

The results Of the Pennsylvania
primary elections on Tuesday have
been seized upon by the Republican
leaders as evidence that the tide
has turned against the Roosevelt new
deal. 1t Is rather natural that they
should do so. Thsir claims are based
on the victory of Senator David A.
Reed, an out -and-out opponent of
the new deal, over Gov. Clifford Pin
chot, q supporter Of the new deal and
q veteran progressive. Until the final
figures are in the extent of the Reed
victory can only be estimated as
probably lying somewhere between
$4,000 and l25,000. 1t is not such
big margin, but for all practical
purposes it Is plenty big enough. Sena-
tor Reed becomes the senatorial nomi-
nee OF the G. o. P. and in November
he will be pitted against Joseph r.
GufTey, ardent Roosevelt Democrat
who won the Democratic senatorial
nomina ton in q walk against Roland
8. Morris. former American Ambassa-
dor to Japan in the Wilson Ad-
ministration.
Just how far the victory of Senator
Reed can be held a sure test of senti-
ment for and against the Roosevelt
policies in Pennsylvania is another
matter. From the claims of the Re-
publican leaders 1t might be assumed
that all the supporters Of Reed were
opposed to the Roosevelt policies and
all the supporters of Pinchot were
for those policies. II that were an
exact statement Of the case, If the
sentiment of the entire State were
to be estimated, then 1t would be
necessary to add 10 the Pinchot vote
the vote cast for Hr Guffey, who GER
tainly was more of an out-and -out
Roosevelt new dealer in the cam
paign than was Gov. Pinchot Mr.
welt man and for the Roosevelt poll
cies.
The combined vote OF Pinchot and
Guffey. supporters of the new deal.
from the available returns was 1877 .268
votes. II the Reed vote has added to
1t the vote cast for Mr.. Morris, Guf-
fey's opponent In the Democratic pri-
maryland this may not be entirely
fair. since Mr.. Morris claimed also
to be q Roosevelt mantle total Is
607 ,074. The difference between the
pro- Roosevelt vote and the anti
Roosevelt vOte-using the argument
Of the Republican leaders themselves
is about 120 900 in favor of Roose-
welt and the new deal. 1t seems sur
prising that the Democratic leaders,
instead OF seeking to show that q
Roosevelt victory was not to be ex-
pected in rock-ribbed Republican
Pennsylvania, did not instantly claim
a victory for the Roosevelt new deal.
Notwithstanding the fiery contest
between Senator Reed and Gov. Pin
chot. from 40 to so per cent of the
registered Republican vote in the
State did not turn out on primary
day. The same thing is more or less
true Of the registered Democratic vote.
AS a rule about 80 per cent or IS
away from the polls in primary con-
IcStS. SuSt "heL thiS NCIy lai6c uuul-
Der of voters will do when 1t comes
to the November election 1t Is i'm
possible to predict at this time. It
Is quite clear. however. that 1t could
decide the whole question as to who
was or was not to be Senator.
There has been much speculation
as to whether the Governor would
enter the senatorial race as an inde-
pendent candidate in view of his de-
feat by Reed. Under the State laws
this would be an easy move. The
only question is whether Gov. Plnchot
believes that he has q chance In such
q three cornered race and whether he
is willing to enter into such a visor-
Gus f1ght. His health has not been
good. Indeed, he was prevented, rs
he says himself. by his i'll health from
making the customary swing through
out the State as he has done in the
past when he was a candidate for
once. He is a fiery campaigner. His
entry into the race for the Senate
might have one Of two effects or
perhaps both. He would split the Re-
publican vote, which would be 1t Is
estimated. an aid to Guffey, the
Democratic nominee. He would split
the ro-Roosevelt. pro-new deal vote,
which might be an aid to Reed. On
the whole, the Democrats will be dis
appointed If Pinchot does not become
an independent candidate. They be-
lieve that they would benefit by 1t.
Perhaps. the Governor may have his
thu Ia OF ~ hAN2a 80.
which did not 60 out to the polls
primary day, If he should decide to
enter the race. 1t would be almost
too much to expect that he would 90
into a grueling campaign such as he
would have to make next Fall merely
for the sake of electins GufIey to the
Senate instead of Reed.
In the face of rumors that an ap-
peal had been made by the Roose-
welt administration to the Literary
Digest to withhold publication of the
batch of votes received in the poll
now being taken on the subject of
the Roosevelt policies, the first of
the lot, published today, show that
thC iCoioCAS 10 AdNolCo NY
than q 2-to-l vote. 1t looks as though
there must have been some mistake
about the rumor that the followers
of the President were trying to sup
press this poll, or at least that. If
they were trying to suppress 1t. they
must now be asreeably surprised. OF
course, as the Digest comments, this
first list of returns, from New York
and New Jersey, is only a drop in
the bucket, some 10000 votes out of
the $4,000 900 ballots that are being
sent out In a Nationwide poll.
+
1t was to be expected that the
Republican leaders would be jubi-
liant over the Reed victory in Penn.
sylvania. Had Pinchot won, there
would have been a fine burst of
acclaim from the Democrats. And
certainly defeat for Reed would
have been bitter pill for the G. o. p.
The amazing thing about the whole
matter is, however, that Republicans
should flnd much to cheer about be-
cause a regular Republican sup
ported by state and city organisa-