Evening star., 1934-11-13
Woman Leaguers.

The American Liberty League has
been quietly laying its plans for an
active campaign when Congress as
sembles in January. The object of
the leagues campaign will be to de-
feat such New Deal legislation as the
league considers inimical to free
American institutions and violative
of the Constitution. 1t will oppose
making permanent some of the laws
which were enacted to meet emer-
gency conditions.
The league is branching out. An
nouncement was made yesterday that
Mrs. Charles H. Sabin of New York,
Mrs. Henry B. Joy of Detroit,
and Mrs. James Ross Todd Of Ken
lucky, all women of prominence, had
been elected to membership in the
Executive Committee of the Liberty
League. Mrs. Sabin, speaking for
herself and others, predicted they
would recruit millions Of women
She has proved her worth as an
organizer before this, when she
headed the Women's Organization for
Prohibition Reform, one of the most
effective groups that worked for re-
peal Of the eighteenth amendment.
Mrs Sabin, like the president of the
league, Jouett Shouse, insists the new
organization is non-partisan, that it is
not aiming to become a new political
party, that it is not anti-New Deal
nor anti-Roosevelt. Indeed, it is their
contention that the league desires to
be helpful to the President and will be
in position to be helpful. Up to the
present time, President Roosevelt has
not indicated that he desires or needs
the help of the American Liberty
League. In fact, he has cast asper-
sion on the league, suggesting that it
is careful of property" rights and
forgetful Of human" rights.
Other New Dealers, following the
lead of the President, have attempted
to show that the American Liberty
League is representative of one class
the class of wealth-and is opposed
to the interests Of worker and farmer.
Mrs. Sabin seeks to allay such a sug-
gestion. She says frankly that the
league will welcome all persons who
desire to see American liberties pre-
served. She herself supported Presi-
dent Roosevelt in the 1882 presidential
campaign. She has split finally with
the Republican party, in which she
was once an important figure. Nor
should the league be considered class
movement. There are none in the
whole length and breadth of the land
more interested in the retention OF
American liberties than the American
worker and the American farmer. The
American Government was set up with
the idea there should be no classes.
Any movement designed to place
any class in supreme command
is false to the whole plan of American
freedom. Opportunity for all falls
to the ground under such conditions.
The Liberty League proposes to work
merely for and against legislation,
much in the way that the Anti-Saloon
League and the American Federation
of Labor have worked. 1t proposes to
indorse or to fight the election or re-
election of members OF Congress. 1t
plans to become, in reality, a real
political force, although not a political
party. There is no purpose to stay
Government relief as long as it is
needed to care for the destitute and
unemployed. Mrs. Sabin makes it
clear that she supports the idea of
relief, and that she would favor in
creased taxes if needed to make these
relief payments.
The league is already supplied with
men Of tried leadership. The addition
Of the women to the organization is
calculated to make it more powerful.
This has been true in every move
ment and every national organization
of recent yearS