Evening star., 1934-04-08
BY G. GOULD LINCOLN.


Harmony, with big H." is the
aim of the Republicans in making
their plans for the coming congress
sional elections. To that end impor-
tant conferences are expected to take
place during the present week. when
Chairman Everett Sanders of the Re-
publican National Committee is to be
here.
This much-desired harmony looks
to united front, with the National
Committee and the Joint Congress
sional and Senatorial Campaign Com
mittee cooperating to the fullest ex-
tent.
Either this harmony is to be sought
with Mr. Sanders remaining in Office,
or, if that is not possible, with the re-
tirement of the present chairman and
the revamping of the National Com
mittee set-up. There have been in
timations that Mr.. Sanders, who has
refused absolutely to resign from the
Craftsmanship under pressure from
those who wished to get rid of him.
might yet be willing to retire for the
sake of harmony.
Two Schools of Thought.
Two schools of thought are found
among Republicans here. One holds
that it would be better to retain Mr..
Sanders as chairman, provided he is
willing to go along with the sena-
torial and congressional committees
in their new Set-up. The other holds
that it is time to have a change of
front in the national organization.
The first contends it would be better
to have Mr.. Sanders remain than to
have a new chairman who might de-
sire to stir things up: better to
hold on to the old broom than to
have a new broom and perhaps a
clean sweep They fear that if a
new chairman came in now he might
feel it necessary to make a record"
and thereby might kick over the ap-
pie cart, which the Republicans are
beginning to feel is running along in
their direction They are greatly
anxious to make a good showing in
the congressional elections and to give
the lie to the assertion that the G. o.
P. is defunct.
Forcing Mr. Sanders out of the
chairmanship, which has been threat
ened in the past, many of the Repub-
licans have come to the conclusion. is
not in the cards right now; it could not
be done. But persuading Mr.. Sanders
to step aside, they say. at his own re-
quest, may be an entirely different
matter. According to reports brought
here recently, former President Hoo
yer. who continues to be the titular
head of the party and who picked Mr..
Sanders tor chairman to run the 1882
campaign. is not insisting that Mr..
Sanders be retained as chairman. But
these same reports have it that Mr..
Hoover has not looked with favor
upon the selection of some of the can
didates for the chairmanship who have
been put forward.
Causes of Dissension.
The appearance of disunion and lack
of harmony which the Republicans
have given in recent months. grew out
of the demand of some of them for a
revamping of the National Committee
and the manner in which the new con-
gressional campaign organization was
set up under the nose of the National
Committee. with a notice that this
committee was going to run the cam
paign. 1t was interpreted as a kind
of slap in the face for the National
oh Tn addition, thorp
was plenty of gossip to the effect that
the national chairman had been un-
willing to go along with some of the
plans of the Republican congressional
leaders.
The Republicans have reached the
conclusion. however. that this is all
wrong. They are convinced they have
chance to make a good showing in
the coming elections. the Democrats to
the contrary Notwithstanding, and they
are convinced that it is no time to keep
on fighting among themselves.
If Mr.. Sanders decides that he
would be glad to step aside and turn
the burden of the national committee
craftsmanship over to other shoulders,
then the question arises; who is to
succeed him? More recently the pro-
posal has been advanced that Col.
Theodore Roosevelt should be drafted
for the Job. This suits some of he
Republicans remarkably well They
believe that Col. Roosevelt would be
acceptable to the various factions IN
the party. They point out that It is
particularly necessary to have a chair
man who would be popular in the
West, and they think the younger
"T. r. would be that. On the other
hand are those who fear that Col
Roosevelt might perhaps be too
active, might start swinging the new
broom" in big way.
Col. Roosevelt Enthusiastic.
Col. Roosevelt was here over the
week end and it is known that he had
conferences with a number OF the
Republican leaders in Congress and
out He is enthusiastic over the pros
poets of the National Republican Club
of New York, of which he has recently
been chosen president.
The Republicans are taking stock
of their possible assets for the coming
campaign. They hold that various
acts on the part of the admlnjstra-
ton have irritated lot of people.
The N. R. A. with its restrictions has
caused some of the soreheads The
A. A. A. with it's processing taxes, re-
striction of crops, etc. has accounted
for others. The handling of the air
mail contracts and the handing of
the airmail service over to the Army
with subsequent deaths of Army avia-
tors accounts for many more. they
say.
The revenue bill now pending. and
which has grown from s250,O00,000
measure to a proposal to raise nearly
half a billion dollars additional
through taxation, is calculated to
make the people feel the burden Of
some OF the activities of the Roose-
velt administration more and more,
the Republicans say.
Then there is the Roosevelt reci-
procity tariff bill which the House
has passed and which is soon to come
before the Senate That bill would
give to the President blanket power