The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1934-07-20
National Topics Interpreted

Ing u DC n luOuLu VI uno, WAlSu
is so often the cases
Campaign in the National Cap
Issues Dravn ital, 1t has turned
out to be one of the
busiest, politically, in recent years.
A result Of 1t is that, fully six weeks
earlier than usually, the campaign Is
sues for the fall elections are drawn
squarely on President Roosevelt and
the New Deal. With the initial blasts
already In the record, 1t is quite APP
parent that the campaign will be pred
icated on the claim Of the Republicans
that the New Deal has not been what
1t was cracked up to be, and defense
by the Democratic spokesman that we
are all better off because Of 1t.
But there is a third element to be
considered in the coming campaign.
It Is the personality, influence and ora
tory Of Senator Borah Of Idaho. His
sudden decision to do battle as ''lone
wolf" has injected an issue in itself,
and my information is that the Idaho
senator's participation in the campaign
is not to be minimized. He has q great
following; he is an orator than which
the country has produced few who are
greater, and he has finality about
his decisions and methods Of express
ing them that Is pretty hard to beat
down.
President Roosevelt put his case be-
fore the people before he went on his
vacation in his usually simple and d.
rect style. No one deprecates his abil-
ity to do that, and 1 think, generally
speaking, Washington observers are
agreed that his proudest effort was
made when he spoke to his millions of
radio listeners late in June. l have
heard much praise for the President
as a result Of his direct question to
those millions: "Are you better off
than you were year ago?" Every one
could understand 1t, and every one
could analyze his own condition for
himself. OF course, many of the Roose-
welt opposition are criticizing the
speech for Saying nothing" and for
other reasons, yet I believe unbiased
observers are agreed that Mr.. Roose-
welt opened the fall campaign Of his
party in a very clever manner from
political standpoint.
Respecting the effort of Chairman
Henry P. Fletcher Of the Republican
national committee, in his opening
blast, there seems to be little disagree
ment that he has taken decidedly
bold stand. If the Republicans are to
get anywhere, it is obvious that it
must be through Mr.. Fletcher's lead
ership. When he went against the ad-
vice of some of his timid advisers,
therefore, and made the President and
his New Deal policies the issue, he
displayed courage of a kind that is
regarded around Washington as being
little unusual for a minority party
chief. am told that good many Re-
publicans wanted to peck away at
various items of the New Deal and at
various subordinates Of the admins
tration to gain favor. Mr.. Fletcher APP
parently chose to fly straight into the
fight, marking Mr.. Roosevelt as the
adversary and holding him personally
and directly responsible for whatever
shortcomings can be unearthed as
result of year and half of I'M
precedented, breath-taking activity by
the New Dealers.
Mr.. Fletcher's program will not be
easy to execute. For example, Senator
Barley of Kentucky, who was the
1AN Mt thn ian
which accorded Mr.. Roosevelt the
Democratic nomination, already has
been on the air waves with an an
gered answer. The Kentucky senator
did not pull his punches, either.
How the Roosevelt forces will COM
bat Senator Borah's argument is not
yet apparent. They
Boroh's have two diffic u |
PIu.e problems In connec-
ton with the Borah
attacks. In the first case, the Idaho
senator really disarmed the Democrats
to q certain extent when, in his mi
tial blast, he turned one barrel on the
Democrats and the other on the Re-
publicans. He did not mince words
and the Democrats cannot say with
respect to Senator Borah that he spoke
in generalities. So in fighting back at
him, the Democrats are confronted,
first, with his disclaimer that he is
fighting Republican battle and, Sec
ondly, that he avoided direct charges.
Nothing could be more direct than the
charge that the New Dealers have
built up a bureaucracy in washington
that destroys initiative and eats up
taxes.
The Republicans can get away with
out paying any particular attention to
the Borah bombardment. Whatever
criticism he levels at the Roosevelt
forces naturally rebounds to Repub-
lican benefit, and when Senator Borah
says the Republicans are not fighting
off monopoly, their natural answer is
that they are not in control of the
Government machinery which has done