Evening star., 1935-12-19
THE POLITICAL
MILL
BY G.. Could Lincoln.

ments. They know the power of organ
lied minorities. Why shouldn't theyP
They have seen the Anti-Saloon League
at work. They have some firSt-hand in
formation about the power of veterans
organizations. They have watched farm
organizations and labor organizations and
their efforts in politics. 1t is quite sure,
therefore, that very considerable num-
ber of the members of the present Con-
greSS who come up for reelection are
giving the Townsend old-age pension
organization more than a passing
thought. The fact that the Townsendites
helped to nominate and elect Werner w.
Main as Representative in the third
Michigan congressional district probably
will alarm some of these candidates for
re-election-perhaps a lot of them.
The Townsendites have developed a
propaganda technique that is reminiscent
of the heyday of the Anti-Saloon League.
There is certain emotional appeal to
the movement-aS there was and is in
the prohibition movement. Do some
thing for the old people. 1t does not
depend. such an appeal, on the practical
side. So far as the election in the third
1tAASAlASoAA oCAAII ID IllC 1OWb-
Sendites were clever enough to pick the
Republican candidate. OF course, If the
Democratic nominee, Cavanaugh, had
also subscribed to their cause. they could
not have lost. But he did not Cava-
naugh was beaten before he started in
that particular district, which is strongly
Republican and would have gone against
him Townsend plan or no Townsend
nlan RlIt Main the Ppnnhlican did
fall in with the plans of the Town
sendites 1t was easy going for them
in that district thereafter.
The Townsend people have sought TO
tie their plan around the neck of one
of the most prominently mentioned Re
publican presidential possibilities, Sen
ator William E. Borah of Idaho The
Senator has not committed himself to
the $200-a-month pension plan for all
persons go years of age or over. The
ToWnSendites, however, seem to be per-
fectly willing to commit themselves to
Senator Borah if he becomes candidate.
He attended one of their meetings out
in Idaho and they broadcast it from
one end of the country to the other.
Borah has a great following among the
people all over the country. He is in a
position to win the G.. o. P. nomination,
many persons believe. 1t does not seem
credible, however, that he will actually
become a booster for the Townsend
plan. A lot of his admirers would be
glad to see him come out fatty against
this Utopian scheme which would hang
$20000000.000 expenditure annually
around the necks of the American peo-
pie, an expenditure which would be for
the benefit of per cent of the people
at the cost Of the earnings of the other
80 per cent.
One of the Republicans named most
frequently as a probable presidential
nominee has taken the bull by the horns
and denounced the Townsend plan as
unWorkable and ruinous if put into
effect-Senator Arthur Vandenberg of
Michigan. If the Michigan Senator has
his way, the issue will be brought into
the open and all men in public life be
put on record one way or another. In
his opinion. members of the Senate and
House have been temporiZing with the
matter, while the propaganda Of the
Townsendnites has been spread through
out the land. The time has come for
showdown. He seems to be quite cor
rect in his attitude. 1t is time for the
opponents Of the plan to begin cam
paign of education of their own. If the
great majority of the people are made
to understand what the plan is all about,
he is quite confident they will wash their
hands of the whole thing.
Vandenberg has declared again and
again that he is not a candidate for
the presidential nomination. He is max
ing no effort whatever to put himself in
the race. But notwithstanding that,
many of his friends believe that in the
end the Republican party will turn to
him as their standard bearer next year.
During the recent confab of the Re-
publican National Committee here, his
name was on the lips of many of the
committeeman and committeewomen as
a real presidential possibility. That
this should be the case, when he has
held himself absolutely aloof from the
scramble which is now under way for
the nomination, should be encouraging
to the Vandenberg supporters.
The decision of the Republican Ma
tional Committee to take the G. o. P
National ConI ention to Cleveland was
not entirely surprise, despite the Gtrong
bid which Chicago made for the conven-
ton. In the first place, Ohio is regarded
as one of the great States which the Re
publicanS must carry next year. In the
second, it has already shown many signs
of returning to the Republican fold which
it left in 1882. It was in Cleveland that the
late President Calvin Coolidge was nom
mated in 1924 At that time the nom
ination for Vice President was offered to
Senator Borah by friends of Coolidge, If
not by Coolidge himself Borah could
have had it beyond doubt. He declined,
however, preferring to remain in the
Senate. And now, dozen years after
wasd, Cleveland may well be the scene
of the nomination of Borah for Presi-
dent-provided he does not now, as he
did in 1924, choose to remain in the
Senate.
Charles D. Hilles, Republican ma
tional committeeman from New York and
a vice chairman of the committee, has
been a powerful figure in the committee
for years. It is not often that he has
had a check when he seriously advanced
a proposition before the committee. But
at the recent meeting he ran into a
real fight and lost. He sought to have
the committee disregard the rules laid
down by the convention and give bonus
of three additional delegates at large
to the national convention to all the
States which had such bonus in the
1882 convention. The rules OF the con-