Evening star., 1934-02-12
The Political Mill
By @. Could Lincoln.

From coast to coast today Repub-
hcans are gathering to listen to
speeches commemorating Abraham
Lincoln-the first Republican President
| Of the United States. These speeches
will urge the @. o. p. to new life
and activity and warn the country
against too great swing to the Left
under the leadership Of the present
Democratic administration. There
will be many a call for a militant
minority to fight the huge expendi-
lures Of Government funds-which
must come out Of the taxpayers sooner
or later or result in repudiation; to
fight the encroachments by the Gov
ernment upon all kinds Of business
| and all kinds Of activities Of the peo-
| pie. The first duty OF the G. o. p,
according to these leaders, Is TO focus
the attention Of the people upon what
is happening-more and more CEN
| traliZed power in the hands of the
Chief Executive, the building up OF
huge bureaucracy, with millions Of
men and women subsisting upon Gov
| eminent pay; the creation of a vast
politically minded group with its feet
In the public trough. The first effort
of the Republicans, it will be claimed,
| is to put out the fire before starting
to build anew.
r y =
1t Is likely that many Of these Re-
publican speakers will accept some of
the Roosevelt recovery program with
more or less good grace. They realize
that the pouring forth Of billions Of
dollars by the administration has been
| popular with lot of people-the peo-
pie who are receiving the billions.
But they will all declare that none of
the present activities of the Govern
ment under this relief program should
be made permanent, and 1t is against
permanency of these new Government
activities they will inveigh. Indeed,
they Will say, the longer these activi-
ties are continued the stronger will
become the dictatorship" of the pres
ent Chief Executive And they will
warn that dictatorship, after all.
thrives only when one political party
Is entirely dominant and there is no
strong minority party. For that rea-
son, If for no other, they will contend
there should be a rebirth of the
G. o. P. along militant lines.
%**
In measure Lincoln day is the
real Republican start of the congres
sional campaign which will eliminate
next November in the election of a
new House Of Representatives and
something more than one-third of the
members Of the Senate. There will
De- In addition to these congressional
electlons, thousands Of State officers,
county oIncers and municipal officers
elected next Fall. The hope of the
Republicans lies in the interest
aroused In these thousands of minor
electlonS. In these elections of sheriff
prosecuting attorney, State Iegisla-
Uors, Governors, ETC., are ground roots
| OF party politics. The interest in these
elections on the part Of Republican
partlsans may give the congressional
canoloates greater chance of success
There has been many a plea in re-
cent months to the Republican lead
ersnlp In House and Senate for a
DrlSk attack upon the Democrats. This
leadership, however, has believed the
Time was not ripe and has taken the
position that Republican attacks upon
the Roosevelt program would be con-
Strued merely as partisan political
attacks at a time when the country
was anxious to have something done
though not sure Just what II
wanted Generally speaking, there
lore, the G. o. P. leaders in the Con-
gress have pulled their punches" up
to date.
One Republican leader from the
Middle West, Senator Vandenberr of
Michigan, is telling his people TODAY
Wnat course the Republican marty
should pursue. He believes the Re-
publican party has two functions to
perform. First, TO aid by construc-
i've, and not obstructive, opposition
In the formation Of the Roosevelt pro-
gram. Already the Republicans have
done something along this line. They
were instrumental in bringing about
the defeat or abandonment of a bill
which would have given the President
authority to appoint a nonresident
governor of the Hawaiian Islands and
OF the original administration plan
Tor an arms embargo which might
nave drawn the United States into
war. In one instance Republican in
slStence on legislation, opposed by the
Roosevelt administration, prevailed
the so-called temporary insurance Of
bank deposits which went into effect
on January l. Incidentally, Senator
Vandenberg was the author of this
amendment to the banking act OF
1888, generally referred to as the
Glass-Steagall act, setting I'D this
temporary insurance of deposits. an
insurance provided for all deposits in
banks Joining the system up to 81. 500
The bill as it would have become law
had not the Vandenberg amendment
been adopted, provided for no bank
deposit insurance until next July. So
popular has the temporary insurance
clause become there is talk Of making
it permanent law and forgetting about
the permanent clauses which would
provide for insurance Of much larger
deposits.
! The second function Of the Re-
publicanS, according to the Michigan
Senator, is to prevent the dictator
ship" from becoming permanent. The
G. o. P. must arise from the depths
to which it has fallen and stand for
the old and constitutional separation
Of the Government into three
branches, with q legislature that is
independent
In the main, Republican leaders dc
not look forward to a revived Repub-
lcan party wholly conservative. There
seems no chance that the "Old Guard
Of the G. o. P. will be placed in the
saddle again, or that the party could
really be revived under such leader
ship. This may be an error on the
part Of the Republican leaders. When
the pendulum swings, it Is likely to
I cxrriY1