The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1935-03-14
NATIONAL AFFAIRS
By FRANK P. LITsCHERT

already great deal of discussion and
prophesy as to what the issues will
be and what strategy will be adopted
1t is already being conceded that
there has been a great political
change since November, 1884. AT
that time the President gained an in
dorsement in the election of an over
whelming Democratic Congress. In
this biennial election the administra-
ton received the benefit of sentiment
growing out of the public works pro-
jects and of federal relief The cam
paign also was very skillfully handled
by the Democratic national organiza-
ton so that full benefit was received
from these political assets. But what
is fully as important is the fact that
Mr.. Roosevelt except in a very few
instances received the solid support
of the so-called liberal forces in the
country.
Now, however, the picture has
changed. The radicals or liberals,
call them what you please, are no
longer presenting a solid front in sup
port of the administration. 1t is re-
ported, for instance, that Senator
Norris of Nebraska, while personally
loyal to the President, by no means
indorses the entire administration
and all of its acts. Several other
liberal senators are more or less mild
ly critical of the administration. Sena-
tor Huey Long, of course, is on the
war path, which was to be expected,
as he loves war paths. Some criti-
criticism on the part of the cleft" has
been inspired by the belief that the
administration may be turning to the
fright" This belief is strengthened
by some Of the recent developments
in the AAA program.
%**
All of which has led some political
prophets to predict that the Presi-
dents real political danger in 1886
will come fom the cleft" where he at
first received the most enthusiastic
support. Many of them believe that
there may be third party, made up
of liberal opponents. Since the Presi-
dent, last year, received practically
the solid support of the liberals, if a
new liberal party is formed or a
liberal movement developed the votes
will have to come from the present
Democratic Party. They cannot
easily come from the Republican be-
cause in 1882 and 1884 the Republi-
cans received few "liberal votes. For
example, the millions of voters who
supported the Republican candidates
last year when they knew they faced
certain defeat will be inclined to vote
their ticket under any circumstances.
Not many of them can be counted to
stray away into a liberal movement.
These deductions have led some OBJ
servers to believe that what third
party made up of liberals, Demo
cratic leaders may assert the Presi-
dent is the last hope of the conserva-
tives, mild and otherwise, and call on
them to support him to save the
country from socialism. In this way
they might hope to attract many
Republican votes.
Whether or not this would work
remains doubtful at this time. The
Republicans are going to have a
candidate and it will take a pretty
bad scare to turn rock-ribbed voters
of the G. o. P. away from it. The
plan might work two ways. There
would of course be no law against the
Republican candidates calling on con-
sentative Democrats to support him
in order to save the country from
socialism. Just what will really hap
pen nobody ought to dare predict at
this time. This is one Of those oc-
casions when it is safe to say that
anything may develop. A great deal,
of course, depends on how much of
his personal popularity the Presi-
dent has retained by the time the 1886
campaign rolls around.