Evening star., 1934-10-25
The olitical Mill
By C. Csuld Lincoln.

By C. Csuld Lincoln.
With millions Of potential voters On
the relief rolls this year there Ii ire
mendous interest In what these men
and women will do ut the polls No
vember 9. The general assumption Of
many Democratic leaders in many
States Is that they will support the
New Deal Democratic candidates. It
is not likely. 1t Is urged, that these
people on relief will bite the hand
that feeds them. 1t is not human ma
ture. This line Of argument Is based
on the belief that those receiving re-
lief WIN have the idea firmly i'm
planted in their minds that only
through q continuance Of the New
Dealers In ONCE will they keep right
on receiving relief. Democratic ora
tors point to the speeches of Repub-
lican 5pellbinders demanding that
the expenditures BY the Government
be cut down and the budget balanced.
How. the Democrats say, can you
cut Government expenditures to the
bone and keep on feeding and caring
for the millions on relief rolls? They
do not suggest that the Republicans
are aiming at the billions Of dollars
which are being expended for all kinds
Of projects outside Of the straight
relief of the destitute.
II seems quite obvious that II all
the voters ION relief" cast their votes
for Democratic congressional and sen
atorial candidates, the @. p. o. can
look FOR few gains and perhaps con-
siderable losses on election day. They
would appear to hold the balance Of
power In many States and congress
sional districts, perhaps all Of them.
There Is something particularly re-
pugnant to American ideals that
merely because Of its ability to hand
out q dole to q very large number Of
citizens. On the other hand, no one
would desire that these people on re-
lief should be allowed to suffer or
starve. The Democrats cannot be
blamed for feeding them. But they
can be blamed for trying to convince
these voters that only through a con-
tinuance Of Democratic control can
they hope for relief.
The opinion that all "reliefers"
will vote together for the New Deal
Democrats Is strongly disputed in
Republican quarters. They are doing
their best TO show that millions OF
these men and women are more
anxious for work than they are for q
dole; that the New Deal has failed
to provide jobs, except Government
jobs, in great numbers, and that
there are more people on relief and
out Of work this November than there
were q year ago Some Of the more
cynical politicians are saying, pTi-
vately however, that too many Of the
people on relief. having had q taste
of living of the -Government-the
public funds-prefer TO keep on with
that style Of living rather than return
to the more arduous life ut work.
II does not seem possible that this
can be widely true. However, II an
administration had many of that
kind Of clients, 1t might keep itself
In power indefinitely, or until the
money TO feed these clients ran out
Under the caption, "A Political
Myth" the Columbus Dispatch, in
an editorial published following the
primary elections in Ohio, declared
that the assumption the voters were
purchasable through relief and other
eleemosynary activities Of the Gov
ernment had been disproved by the
election returns. There is no reason
to believe, the editorial continued,
that because State and Federal ad-
ministration had been advancing
money to people In distress those
who hnd themselves in this unfor-
tunate position feel under any obli-
cation to vote for the hand which Is
temporarily feeding them. 1t adds:
Franklin County provides q per-
feet example Of the proof. In this
county there are approximately H.
600 families which for many months
In the past have been receiving some
VA tAAC RdbhO AAltho uAoLllOuJCu OOln
from Washington and from Ohio,
and who will continue to receive
them for many months to come.
This number Of families should con-
tain at conservative estimate be-
tween 20, 900 and IS, 900 voters,
Yet when the appeal was made by
Congressman West that he ought to
be supported for the Democratic SEN
atorial nomination because he was
the representative of the political
school and administration which
have made possible current relief
measures, he was definitely rebuked.
In . total county vote of about
$4,000, Mr.. West received $3.50, or
about vote in II of the total cast
and about one in five OF the number
OF voters who are on the relief rolls. I"
In Missouri, just for example, there
were l07,428 families on relief in
August and 1871 single persons. OF
course, q great many of these persons
on relief are probably of the Demo-
cratic faith, for Democracy has flour
ished strongly in Missouri. They
could not be accused of selling their
political convictions for relief funds.
1t would not be fair to do 50. That
would be true Of Democrats in other
States. However, there In every rea-
SON to believe that q lot of the re-
liefers are Republicans, or so-called
independent voters. and they might
be Influenced.
As In other campaigns. there Is
talk today about the silent vote"
and what it Is going to do. Both
parties are hopeful that this silent
vote is going to be favorable to their
candidates. 1t Is dificult to predict
how the cat will jump, simply because
the vote Is silent. The Literary Di-
gest poll would indicate that the
silent vote Is swinging away from the
New Dealers. In many Of the States
and cities there Is q large registra-
ton this Fail, very large considering
that this is an on year. with no presi-
dental election. Here and there
local condition seems tn axnlain this