Evening star., 1935-12-23
THE POLITICAL
MILL
BY C. Could Lincoln.

speak at the dinner of the American
Liberty League here on Janury rs. In
the first place, Smiths voice is still re-
garded as among the most potent in the
country-although he has withdrawn
from public life. That it will be raised
in denunciation of the New Deal at the
Liberty League dinner is taken for
granted. That organization is dedicated
to defeat of New Deal legislation and
experiments. Whether it, Smiths voice,
will be raised also in criticism of PreSi-
dent Franklin D. Roosevelt, with direct
attack on the Chief Executive, remains
to be seen. The polite fiction engaged
in by many of the Democrats who do
not like New Deal measures, but who
cling to President Roosevelt, that the
President and the New Deal can be
separated, has nearly been wiped out.
Before the coming campaign is over
the opponents of the Roosevelt admin
istration will endeavor to make it per-
fectly clear to the country that Roosevelt
and the New Deal are one and the
same thing.
The dinner of the American Liberty
League is timed to follow the Jackson
day dinner of the Democrats which falls
on January 8. President Roosevelt is
expected to be the chief speaker at
the principal Jackson day dinner in
WaShington-a dinner at which the
guests are expected to pay $50 plate.
Mr.. Smith will have an opportunity, If
he sees fit, to take the speech of the
President apart. When AL Smith be-
comes cauStic and when he examines
"the record" he is quite effective.
Not for some time has the voice or pen
of the former Democratic standard
bearer been raised against the New Deal.
One of his comments before the last
congressional election-Which the Demo-
Gratis won overwhelmingly, was that you
can't shoot Santa Claus" His reference
was to the huge Federal expenditures
made by the Roosevelt administration.
Mr.. Smith has bided his time. With the
rising tide of criticism of the Roosevelt
New Deal and of the President himself,
the coming attack is expected to be all
the more effective.
Smith fell out with President Roose-
welt before the Democratic National
Convention of 1882. He was bitter in
the extreme following the nomination
of the President. Before the presidential
campaign closed, however, Smith was
heard in New York, Massachusetts and
Rhode Island in support Of the RooSe-
welt ticket, and there was every evidence
of joy on the part of the Roosevelt cam
paign managers. How far the former
New York Governor will go in the COM
ing presidential campaign has not been
disclosed. Whether he will take the
stump or make any speeches against
Roosevelt is not announced. A campaign
by Smith against the reelection of
President Roosevelt is not suggestion
that will give any joy to Chairman
James A. Farley of the Democratic Ma
tional Committee.
Not long after the Liberty League din
ner the "Jeffersonian Democrats" of the
South, largely under the leadership of
Gov. Talmadge of Georgia, another Bit
ter critic of the Roosevelt administra-
ton, are to meet in Atlanta to make
plans for resisting the denomination of
Roosevelt by the Democratic National
Convention-and perhaps eventually for
putting an independent Democratic
ticket for President in the field. Smith
is not expected to attend that meeting,
which is to be confined largely to South
ern Democrats coming from sixteen
y \
The barrage which the opposition to
the New Deal is laying down is becoming
heavier and heavier as time goes on.
All seems to be playing into the hands
of the Republican party. That party,
however, is still widely torn apart, with
its conservative and progressive wings
trying to go in different directions. Sem
ator Borah, whose candidacy for the
presidential nomination is disliked by
many of the Eastern Republicans has
dragged the contest into the open by his
announcement he is ready to go into any
State for delegates to the Republican
National Convention if the liberals in
the party believe it is to their interest.
In the end it is believed likely that the
G. o. P. will accede to the nomination
of a candidate with liberal tendencies,
either Borah or another. That Borah
has big following in many parts of the
country is undoubtedly true. He can
have the delegates from a considerable
number of States, particularly in the
West. But how many he can win in the
more populouS States of the East is still
to be demonstrated.
y **
What will happen in Cleveland still is
on the lap of the gods. If Borah, Col.
Frank Knox of Illinois and Gov. Landon
of Kansas all enter the coming Repub-
lican National Convention with big
blocks of delegates committed to them,
situation not unlike that which arose
in the Republican National Convention
in 1920 may develop Hiram johnson Of
California, former Gov. Lowden of Illi-
nois and the late Gen. Leonard Wood,
who hailed from Kansas and New Hamp
shire. were the big three presidential
possibilities in that day. None of them
was nominated. The late President
Harding was the choice of the leaders
in the convention. following the dead
lock of the convention in the balloting.
It is very doubtful, however. that the
conservative leadership in the Repub-
lican party today could force candidate
on the next convention. If 1t did there
might be party split not unlike that of
1912 and the Bull Moose affair. But it
is easily conceivable that, in the event
of deadlock, the convention might give
its nomination to man like Senator
Arthur H .Vandenberg of Michigan, who
has never been an old guardsman, but
who has opposed the New Deal much
more frequently than some of his Re-
publican colleagues in the Senate, in
cluding both Borah and Senator McNary
of oregon, the Republican leader of the