Evening star., 1935-06-02
BY MARK SULLIVAN.


"HE idea that the Republicans
and the conservative Demo-
Gratis should next year unite in
L a Joint ticket is taking deeper
hold than is realized by those
Republican leaders who are a little
shocked by it. The plan is being dis
cussed everywhere; it is cropping to-
ward action in New England, on the
Pacific Coast and in the South.
Clearly this idea has vitality.
The broad notion takes several vari-
ations. One is that the Republicans
should nominate an outstanding con-
servative Democrat as their preSiden-
tial candidate-the men mentioned in
clude Senator Garter Glass of Virginia,
Senator Harry F. Byrd of Virginia; ex-
Gov. Alfred E. Smith of New York,
Lewis Douglass, former director of the
budget in Mr.. Roosevelt's adminiStra-
ton.
Another suggestion is that the Re-
publicans should give their presidential
nomination to a Republican as usual,
but should nominate for Vice President
a conservative Democrat. The argu-
ment for the latter arrangement is
that in any combination of Republic
ans with conservative Democrats the
! former have the larger equity. The
number of Republicans voting in the
congressional election last year was
some l3,500,000. That is the big and
dependable base for opposition to the
New Deal The number of conservative
Democrats who would be likely to unite
i'm combination to defeat the New
Deal is probably not over 10000 to
3, ,000 900. Equity would suggest that in
any joint ticket the Republicans should
have the major nomination, the presi-
dental one, while the conservative
Democrats should have the minor
nomination.
Crisis for Conservatives.
Probably a good answer to that Is
that If the idea of joint action is good
at all it rises above any consideration
of equitable distribution of the two
nominations. The fundamental justlfl-
cation for the proposal is that the con-
ditions constitute crisis for all con-
servatives The very spirit OF crisis
negatives the idea of carefully allocat-
ing leadership and honors. If the
conservatives of the country, including
the Republicans, were as concerned
as they ought to be, as alarmed as the
facts justify, they would forget about
equities as among themselves.
A suggestion which departs from
the notion of joint ticket of Repub-
licans and conservative Democrats Is
that the Republicans should nom-
mate their candidate as usual, and
that the conservative Democrats
should have a separate ticket of their
own This notion comes partly from
analogy to the election Of 1896. In
that year the radicals got possession
of the Democratic party organization,
as the radicals are in possession of 1t
now. The radicals nominated Will
liam Jennings Bryan as the regular
Democratic nominee. Thereupon the
conservative Democrats-calleda at that
time the Gold Democrats" because
currency was leading iSsue-stepped
out and nominated a ticket of con-
servative Democrats. This gold Demo-
cratic ticket got only negligible vote,
131 ,529 out of a total of 1906, ,789.
The gold Democratic ticket did not
carry any State 1t was decisive in
the election of only one State, Ken
lucky In Kentucky the Republicans
won by a margin of only 281 votes
that margin of success was no doubt
due to the fact that the gold Demo-
cratic ticket in Kentucky got STA
votes
Undoubtedly, however, the gold
Democratic movement of 1896 had
weight in advertising the fact that the
regular Democratic ticket was radical.
No doubt it caused many conservative
Democrats to vote, not the gold ticket,
but the Republican one. Thus the
separate action of the conservative
Democrats contributed to the election
of the conservative Republican candi-
date, william Mckinley.
Simple Battle Advocated.
The best argument for joint ticket
OF Republicans and conservative DEM
ocrats next year is that it provides
about the only way to have an in
tellectually clear and honest election,
a simple battle between conservatives
and radicals. Certainly it is the only
way to surely get all the conservatives
into one group. whether all the
radicals will be in one group cannot
be foretold) That is the most ele-
waited argument for a joint ticket of
Republicans and conservative Demo-
Gratis. The practical appeal, to those
two groups, is that it offers the best
way. perhaps even the only way, to
defeat Mr.. Roosevelt.