Evening star., 1935-11-03
1896 ELECTIONS MARKED
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Choice of Republicans for Presidential
Nominee in Doubt, With Democrats
STRUGGLING With New Deal Problem.
BY MARK SULLIVAN.


Wv ing those in the East, have
met recently, they have
said to each other, Il guess it'll be
Landon,' meaning that there is
kind OF tacit and tentative sentiment
among them to the effect that Gov.
Landon of Kansas is likely to be the
Republican nominee for the presi-
dency This may last until the NOM
mating convention next June, or it
may be passing phase.
A few weeks ago the same condi-
tion existed about Publisher Frank
Knox of the Chicago Daily News The
waning of sentiment for Col. Knox
and the substitution of Gov. Landon
in his place was due largely to a
feeling. held more by political leaders
than by others, that Gov. Landon is
preferable because he has had more
political experience. Politicians at all
times, in both parties, feel it is de-
sirable. other things being equal. that
a candidate for the presidency and
President in the White House should
have had experience in dealing with
legislative body. such as Mr.. Landon
has acquired through being Governor
of Kansas. Between a President and
Congress there is a special atmOS-
phere and technique. A President
and the leaders of his party in Con-
gress must deal with each other more
or less as equals. The process in
wolves an understanding and a spirit
of give-and-take to which Gov. Lam
Il IL,
Col. Knox, as one whose experience
has all been in business and publish
ing, might not.
Building Up" Landon.
For this present tentative assent
to Gov. Landon there is a special
reason for such general assent about
any presidential possibility at time
eight months in advance of the con-
vention. The reason is that the Re-
publican leaders want to agree upon
somebody in order to be able to build
him up" get publicity for him, get
him favorably known to the country.
The Republican leaders, surveying the
whole field of possibilities, feel that
be a comparatively unknown man.
The only thoroughly well known men
In the field are eX-President Hoover
and Senator Borah. The Republican
leaders feel vaguely that neither of
these will be the nominee. Since they
think the nominee is to be compare
lively unknown, they would like to
have informal agreement upon him
now so as to use the intervening
months to make the public familiar
with his personality.
Yet the present elevation of Gov.
Gandon may be only a passing
phase. If his personality does not
happen to take hold on the public
imagination, he may recede again into
the background. 1t is conceivable
Col. Knox might emerge again. 1t
is quite possible several others may,
in the political phrase be given a
run to see whether the public likes
them. While the two men now or
recently to the front are Gov. Lam
don and Col. Knox, there are at
least half dozen other possibilities.
A. A. A. Position Sought.
About Gov Landon one thing
will need to be settled before he can
get the Republican nomination. The
Republican leaders and the country
will have to know his position about
A. A. A. Perhaps 1 should say the
Republican leaders themselves will be
obliged to know their own position
on A. A. A.
President Roosevelt, by his aggres-
sive Endorsement of A. A. A. after his
speech at Fremont. Nebr., before, has
sggressively put his stamp and the
New Deal stamp upon A. A. A. With
out doubt Mr. Roosevelt intends to
run next year with A. A. A. as per-
haps the principal plank in his plat
form; without doubt he and his
advisers have laid out plan of cam
paign which contemplates carrying
the farming Midwest through his
close identity with A. A. A.
In this condition, what are the Re
publicans going to do? Will they, too,
support A. A. A.? And if the Repub-
licans do support A. A. A., can they
hope thereby to carry the Midwest
farming States? Will the farmers
assuming they like A. A. A., as appar-
emily many of them do-vote for Mr.
Roosevelt as the man who first gave
them A. A. A. and now supports its
continuance? Or will they vote for
the Republicans party that, so to
speak, seconds the motion on A. A.
A. or gives tacit assent to it? To give
the answer to that question should
not require great political experience.
A. A. A. Becoming Known.
BY the time the Republican nomi-
mating convention comes around next
to the public All of it will be known.
At present only small parts of it are
known, each part to the persons it af-
fects. The Midwest farmers know
only the wheat and corn-and-hog
contracts, and the checks that come
with them. In the East the public
knows hardly anything of A. A. A.
BY next year it will be known that
A. A. A. is four-flfthS Of the whole
New Deal; that A. A. A. is the heart
and the motor and the mechanism of
the New Ueal, tnat "A. A. A., through
the enormous and intricate powers it
possesses, can control not only agri-
culture but every industry and occu-
patton and practically every person in
the United States When all this is
known, A. A. A. will seem very diff
ferent thing. Also, when it is known
that A. A. A. Is a growing thing, that
81 fhof-11rlpcc r.
rested-it must go on and control
every crop, fruit or vegetable grown
on a farm, and substantially every
industry in the country-when that is
known the country as a whole will
have an intelligent opinion about
A. A. A.
When that time comes it is likely
that the Republicans must set their
faces against A. A. A. They can
hardly do otherwise. For the Repub-