Evening star., 1935-05-30
PLATFORMS IN Sc
WRITTEN BY COURT
N. r. A. Notification Puts
Scene of Campaign Well
to Right.
By WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE.

1.-THE Supreme Court decision
nullifying President Roosevelt's N. r.
A. has written the platforms of Amer
lean political parties III the campaign
of SO Curiously, the platforms ere
on the unwound scroll of events.
No one today can even guess what
the platforms will be. Obviously and
specifically, the court decision lays
the battle ground well to the right.
Apparently the President has been
checked in his steady leftwsrd swing.
Conservative Republicans are hoping.
Conservative Democrats are chortling
This is their dsv to howl.
Middle ground left -wingers, who
spurn and more or less scorn a3sOcia =
ton with Long. Coughlin, Townsend,
Hearst and Sinclair, are looking for
landing place. Heretofore. this
group. for 20 years under the leader
ship OF Norris, Borah, the cider La
Toilette. the Jage Senator Walsh,
Bryan in the second decade OF his
power, Capper. Hiram johnson, Ickes,
before Roosevelt annexed him: Sena =
tors Nye, McNary and COstigan, have
led in their varloIs States dominant
majorities which nave made gov
ernine minority VI the United States
Senate.
Ofien Swung Elections.
They have often swung congress
slonal elections. In 80. their fol-
lowing piled up the Roosevelt ma
laS Eo1I l-s.-
since 80 obviously, but in the main.
nave helped him. To-Day this group
and its followers are the < in a
national equation. They are .ledged
about for the first time in a genera :
uon by a more radical grouD, the
ong-C3uPhlin crowd, as Roosevelt is
circlImscribed nv the decision of the
Supreme Court, which will tend 10
pull him 10 the right
Bur, however the conservative Re-
publicans rejoice snd the conservat tive
Democrats chOrtle, each Of them
knows that neither conservative fac.
tion cal win on its own in the election
OF 1896. Certainly. If the Democrats
reject the Roosevelt leadership. they
w SohN II Tic
cans throw over entirely the middle
ground liberal crowd, they are sunk
Roosevelt. With the middle ground
ProgreSSiVes, could defeat any one who
has been suggested as a conservative
Republican leader. The President does
not grip his personal following with
the verve. fit and glamour that
brought il together three years ego,
cut. II the multitude has lost some
faith in him as miracle worker, the
millions have not lost hope that he is
The only wizard who promises TO pull
rabbits out Of the hat. he still has
their attention.
Problem Grows Serious.
But his problem is beginning to BE-
deadly serious. Until the Supreme
Court decision DESTROYED the N. R. A.
as it. stands he could easily pnk one
Trick after another out of the presti-
olertators plug hat without revealing
lis ultimate purpose, his final goal
Possibly no one, not even his smartest
brain trusters. knew exactly where
President Roosevelt is leading Amer
lea. He has promised a gold pot st
the foot Of some rainbow. But which
rainbow? What road will he take?
What is his ultimate purpose and
desire? Heretofore, q smile and the
charm of warm. friendly radio voice
we're sufficient answer. He could saw:
Trust me. l have the courts with
ne. We will zig-zag to the millen-
mum. Be not afraid"
The zig gzag davs are over. He must
fish or cut bait; shoot or give I'D the
gun; Law his cards on the table OF
lose his ante The time he's come
when he must saw how he is going
10 reach his utopia. What Is the curve
of his zig-zsg plan?
His enemies have said from the
start that he has no plan, that ne is
an oppOrtunist, that the semblance of
action by which he has attracted the
multitude is not movement horizontal
but vertical--mere jumping up and
down, getting nowhere. His friends
have maintained that each bit of leg
islation is part Of a jigssw puzzle and
that. when enough pieces are sawed
out some foe morning, he will fit the
pattern together, call attention 10 the
few holes. put in an order for the final
bits and reveal his Messianic designs.
Jissaw Puzzle or Board.
Now, the Supreme Court has de-
clared in effect that Franklin Roose-
velt is not Messiah, that he must be
circumscribed by the constitutional
limits of the presidency His iigss W
puzzle is off the board. He must sub
NIT blueprints. specifications. esti-
mates of cost and at least the front
elevation Of his ultimate fortifics tion
against injustice.
There will come the test of his
leadership. Good times seem TO be
returning. He can no longer hide be-
hind emergency legislation. The
Court has not ruled against any par
tiCular RooSeveltian goal The court
is still a. liberal court. 1t will still
protect any President who moves
through the ordinary evolutionary pro-
cesses of parliamentary government
to aims and plans far to the left of our
present status.
The court did not deny TO President
Roosevelt the validity of his vision.
The court merely declared that it
could not be realized by Houdini
methods. cross-cuts. subterfuges, film
fam or emergency legislation. Which
means. in plain language, that the
President must put bis cards on the
table, produce his platform, chart his
course and submit it to the American
people at the next election.
Faces Loss Of Liberals.
If he does so. he may write both plat
forms If he hesits tes, fumbles, trusts
to his popularity and tries to smile
himself into a millennium, then the
middle course liberals, leaving him,
may chart their own course They will
not join Townsend, Long, Hearst and
Coughlin, but they may cut loose, form
their own group. with no hope of sue
cess in 1886; fix their eyes on 40 and
trust to the Republican party TO go
the way of the Wings while the Demo-
cratic party again divides itself among
the Tammanies of the great cities and
the Bourbons of the South, with the