Evening star., 1935-03-31

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a wish to hold the radicals in line for
Mr.. Roosevelt next year, was the cir
culation of suggestion that the can
didate for Vice President running
with Mr. Roosevelt in 1896 should be
Senator Robert M. La Toilette. But
Senator La Toilette is far too wise a
political bird to let Mr.. Roosevelt
throw salt on his tail. Mr.. Roosevelt
has tried it before When Mr.. Roose-
velt went into Wisconsin last August
and made speech pleasing to the
La Toilette type of voter, it can hardly
be doubted that part of his purpose
was to take the La Toilette brothers
and their party into his own camp.
He did not get them in and he
won't. The two La Follettes are
young and they are in politics as
career. They must safeguard their
identity, their brand, so to speak.
Once they go into the camp of Mr..
Roosevelt or of anybody else they are
sunk. They must continue to have
a separate existence, clearly distin-
guished in the public eye from other
parties and other leaders.
This same reason is likely to COM
pei the La Follettes to have a candi-
date for the presidency next year,
either one of themselves or another.
They already have a party of their
own, formally designated as the
Progressive party" If they are
going to keep this party going con-
cern-and most certainly they are
fhnU PQnnnt oHnrI 70 in, &C
the big circus next year. If they do,
they and their party will be forgotten
in the polite swirl of the year.
Longs Situation.
The same reasoning applies to Sem
ator Huey Long He is in politics as
career. He has not quite gone the
length of having formally organized
third party, though he seems in proc
ess of creating one. If he really sets
up third party he will be obliged to
have it run candidate in the presi-
dental election. and the candidate
can hardly be any other than him.
self.
If by any chance Huey Long should
think it wise not to run for the presi-
dency next year he still has time, per-
haps. to avoid doing so. He could,
maybe, get by" by supporting the
candidate of the La Toilette party or
some other third party. Yet the
Louisiana Senator has gone pretty
far. What he has already done is
going to make it certainly very desir-
able, and almost imperative, for him
to run as third candidate next year.
Probably he will watch things de-
velop and make his decision later.
One thing is perfectly certain, he
cannot support Mr.. Roosevelt next
year. Whether he has a third party
of his own or not, he is obliged to
throw his support to some third
party.
All developments mean that, on the
So-to-speak negative side, things are
shaping up very well for the con-
servatives. Their opponents are split
ting up into factions and the New
Deal is going badly. Yet the con-
servatives can hardly afford to merely
"Sit pretty" and hope to let their op-
ponentS present them with a victory
in 1886. 1t is highly desirable for the
conservatives to stand before the pub
lie with something more definite in
the way of a symbol, and perhaps a
personality, than they have so far
done.
Fundamentally-and speaking very
broadly-here is what is going on:
Many voters, very many, who sup
ported Mr.. Roosevelt in 1882, are be-
coming disillusioned with the New
Deal and are turning away from it..
AS they turn away from the New Deal
they instinctively look about for an
other anchorage. The mass of men
are so constituted politically that they
like to think of themselves as anchored
to a leader. In the past they have
liked to be Cleveland men," or NC
Kinley men," or Roosevelt men"-I
mean Theodore Roosevelt.
Having this instructive longing for
anchorage to leader, those who now
turn away from President Roosevelt
and the New Deal look about for one
to anchor to. Many of them, of
course, are finding their anchorage
and their source of inspiration, in
Huey Long or Father Coughlin. But
many of the voters now turning away
from President Roosevelt are semi
conservatives. For these the conserv-
atives supply no leader or symbol, or
point of anchorage.
Need Not Be Candidate.
This is something for the conserva-
tives to think about, seriously. Not
merely the Republicans but all con-
servatives. The personality they lack
and ought to have need not neces-
sarily be a candidate for the presi-
dency, nor even a man in politics.
Why is it that no one has arisen to
be to the conservatives what Father
Coughlin is to the radicals?-a spokes-
man who speaks their thoughts and
gives them new thoughts and leader
ship?
I suspect Gen. Hugh Johnson may
have had some such role in mind when
he denounced Father Coughlin and
Huey Long But Gen. johnson is
fatally disqualified for conservative
leadership by his association with the
New Deal The question remains
Where is the material for conserVa-
tive spokesman and the equivalent of
Father Coughlin and the antidote to
him?