Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-10-05
Western Republicans.

The Republicans of eleven Western
States opened yesterday a three-day
convention in Oakland, Calf. The meet
ing has been arranged by the younger
Republicans-the men and women who
must carry on in the future. 1t is staged
in State which a year ago rose against
the Sinclairs, the TownSends and the
rest Of the radicals who sought to con-
troll the government there. Upton Sim
clair had won for himself the Democratic
nomination for Governor. The situa-
ton presented problem for the Roose-
welt administration. To indorSe or not
to indorse the Utopian Upton, with his
E.P.I. C. plan, was the question. Before
the campaign was over the adminiStra-
ton had been charged both with taking
Sinclair to its bosom and with rebuflng
him. In the election Sinclair was de-
feated and the Republican candidate,
Governor Merriam, elected.
President Roosevelt in his Los An
geles address on Tuesday appealed to
all progressives and liberals to unite.
The union, of course. is for the cam
paign of next year. The Presidents
appeal may be regarded as a pat on the
back for the radicals. At the same time
the Chief Executive was undeniably
seeking the support of the radicals for
the New Deal. Many of the young Re-
publicans of the Western States attend
ing the convention in Oakland are pro-
gressives. In fact, the progressives OF
the West have sprung in the main from
the Republican party. There is, how
ever, a wide difference between pro-
gressivism and the radicalism of the
Sinclairs and the Townsends, between
greater freedom Of action and Of OPP
portunity for the little man and gov
ernmental RECOMMENDATION of the people
under an arbitrary bureaucracy to which
the Roosevelt New Deal is inexorably
leading.
The progressives of the West must
make up their minds whether they pre-
fer to 60 ahead with the demand for
Government control of business and
agriculture under the New Deal. 1t has
been sugar-coated for the farmer with
Government funds, collected from the
great consuming public. The issue
should be made plain for all this great
Western territory during the Repub-
lican convention. The trail is clear
enough. Whether the Republicans will
have the courage to attack the in
sidious program of the New Deal, down
to the point where it pays the farmers
for net producing crops, is question.
This is an issue which the G. o. P.
has been inclined to dodge in the agri-
cultural States.
Sooner or later, the farmers themselves
will find the bitter kernel of this sugary
nut, the A. A. A. Under it their markets,
like their production. are becoming more
and more restricted. Under it, importa-
tons of foreign wheat, hogs, cattle, corn,
pork and other grains have jumped
enormously. The figures for the first
six months of 1885 show that importa-
lions of wheat have been 12,178654
bushels, as compared to 5,605, 523 bushels
in similar period of 1884. They show
that 44,099, 721 pounds of beef have been
imported, as COMPARED to 16,211,131 in
the earlier period, and that more than
100000 head Of cattle have come into
this country from abroad, as compared
to 81 900 in the first six months of 1884.
Notice to the world that America was
curtailing its crops has been an invi-
tation to the farmers of other nations to
produce more. They are doing so. The
consequence is that foreign markets for
American exports from the farms are
becoming more and more restricted, and
the American market for foreign i'm
portations is growing greater. 1t is not
a nice situation for the American farmer
to contemplate. It is one to which the
Republicans Of the West, as well as those
OF the East. may call attention, even in
the face of the Government checks for
not producing crops.