Evening star., 1935-11-21
PURGE
HELD TAKING FORM
Voters Of Party, DistrustfuI
of Old Methods, Seek
Able Candidate.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

Df1WAD 4If1 w nGNSLs
What's happening nowadays III the
Republican party may seem unspec-
tacular or undemonstrative, but it may
best be described as an incipient revo-
luton.
Throughout the country the revolt
against the old-line chieftains is be-
ginning to take form. The older heads
do not seem much concerned because
they believe the party machinery can
not be taken away from them. Agents
for various presidential candidates are
around getting delegates, and, in some
respects, the delegate-getting is just
the same old game in the same old
way.
Many leading citizens of various i'm
portant communities, however. from
coast to coast, who have been Repub-
licans in the past, are not taking kindly
to these tactics and are looking on in
more or less bewildered skepticism.
wondering if the choice of candidates,
for instance, is to be limited to those
already mentioned and whether there
will be an opportunity to pick some
outstanding citizen of administrative
capacity without political background
to make the presidential race against
Mr.. Roosevelt.
Ability Held Above Prestige.
The veterans say only a political
leader can be selected, that only a man
who has held public office and knows
the political game, and, hence, a Sem
ator or Governor or one who has been
active in politics in his own State
must be chosen. But there Is beginning
to develop a sentiment for the selection
of the ablest man that can be found.
irrespective of whether he happens TO
meet the political specifications. A
man with an honest mind and capac-
ity for administrative efficiency can
make good President whether or not
he has been in politics.
After all, the chief criticism which
the Republicans are making of Mr..
Roosevelt's administration is that it
has been tainted with the spoils sys-
tenn or that the President has picked
many who are inefficient in an ad-
ministrative way and unsound in their
economics. The country is not par
ticularly happy about the spoils Sys-
TEN or Farleyism, but the supporters
of Mr.. Roosevelt, like Senator Norris,
tolerate it only because they think the
President feels, for reasons of ex-
pediency, that he must follow that
path.
The growth Of feeling against po-
litical government and especially
political manipulation. such as was
witnessed in the last Congress, when
votes were swung on the promises of
patronage made by administration
SpokeSmen, cannot but result ultimate
ly in just as intense a demand for a
purge as was witnessed in 1882, when
the business and financial men of the
Nation were under fire because a few
IN their ranks had overstepped the
bounds Of ethics and common honesty.
Both Parties May Be Hit.
The waste Of public funds and tax
payers money already has in it the
ingredients of a widespread reaction,
which, when visited against the New
Deal politicians, IS bound to include
all Republican politicians as well.
The presidency is a Superhuman
task. Mr.. RooSevelt's mistakes are
for the most part due to bad advice
as well as the multiplicity of detail
that goes with government in a critical
period like the present. This means
that the cabinet or the emergency
council or whatever group surrounds
President must be composed of able
citizens. To inspire confidence, the
Republican nominee must not only be
the antithesis Of Mr.. Roosevelt, name
ly. an administrative genius, if pos
sible, but he must be able to surround
himself with men capable of eXtricat-
ing the Government from the many
tangles in which it has become en-
meshed under the New Deal.
1t is by no means choice between
Old Deal and New Deal policies. Only
the old guard Republicans want to go
back to the old deal methods. Both
young Republicans and the old Repub-
licans Of the non-political school are
eager to have Government modernized
to keep up with the changing economic
conditions, and they realize that, when
all the negative criticism Of the Roose-
velt administration has been registered
and large groups of voters agree with
the attack, there still remains the
major question of what the new group
or party or President is going to do to
solve the social-economic questions
that have sprung up during the de-
preston, and which, like the Euro
pean War, will leave residue of chal-
longing issues.
Copyright. 1e35)