Evening star., 1935-09-19
THE POLITICAL
MILL
BY G.. Could Lincoln.

Constitutional revision received set
back in the second most populous State
in the Union Tuesday. Pennsylvania,
in the primary election turned down the
plea of Gov. Earle and Senator Guffey
for a constitutional convention to redraft
the States basic law along New Deal
lines The issue in Pennsylvania ceased
to be merely State affair, in the light
of the campaign made by Gov. Earle
and Senator Guffey, the head and fore
front of the Democratic organization.
Had there been victory for the conSti-
tutional reViSioniStS, it would have been
hailed throughout the country as indi-
eating willingness on the part of the
people to revise the Constitution Of the
United States to conform with the New
Deal ideas of President Roosevelt. 1t
is quite natural, therefore, that the de-
feat of the proposal by very substantial
vote is cheered by the opponents of the
Roosevelt New Deal and supporters of
| the Federal Constitution as it now
| stands.
The vote on the constitutional con-
vention proposal of Gov. Earle has been
| slow in the counting. 1t showed, however,
| that with returns in from 5,463 of the
States 1867 election districts, 754,654
| votes had been cast against revision and
578,O07 votes for it. The anti-revision-
lists, therefore, had a lead of 176,647.
| When all the votes are in, 1t has been
| estimated in some quarters, the proposal
will have been defeated by 250,000 votes
Gov. Earle in his campaign for revi-
sion referred to the 61-year-old consti-
| tuition of Pennsylvania as a relic of the
| horse and buggy days" adopting
phrase of President Roosevelt when the
latter was discussing the Federal Con-
| Stitution as interpreted by the Supreme
| Court in it's decision holding the N. r. A.
unconstitutional While the campaign
| for constitutional revision started as
non-partiSan proposal, it soon became
| violent contest between the Roosevelt
New Dealers and the Republicans, with
the Republican organization leaders
| opposing revision strongly. Gov. Earle
| constantly told the voters that he wished,
| through revision of the State conStitu-
! tion, to bring them 'the more abundant
! life" another Roosevelt term. In SEEK
! ing to revise the constitution the Gov
| ernor proposed the enactment of social
! security laws in line with the Federal
program, and also laws to increase the
| States borrowing power. to impose in
! heritance, gift and income taxes The
/ State constitution limits to 81 900 900 the
emergency borrowing power OF the State.
| Opponents of revision contended that the
| Governor sought to lift the borrowing
| power so that he could raise unlimited
sums of money to use where he thought
| it would help him politically.
Republican State Chairman NJ Harvey
| Taylor, in Philadelphia. predicted that
Pennsylvania would return to the Re
| publican column in 1886. AS a matter
of fact Pennsylvania was one of the six
States which voted for former President
| Hoover in 1882, but in 1884 elected a
! Democratic Governor and Democratic
Senator for the first time in many years.
The defeat of New Dealism on Tuesdays
primary, Taylor argued, was a clear in
dication that the State would vote for
the Republican ticket and against Roose-
welt in 1886.
THE decisive manner in which the
voters of Pennsylvania defeated the
Democratic proposal for revision of the
State Constitution" the Republican
chairman said, indicates that Pennsyl-
vania stands strongly opposed to the
New Deal and experimentation in Gov
ernment. 1t is noteworthy fact that
in many counties woman voters, whose
household expenses have been sharply
increased by New Deal policies, led the
van of opposition. Evidently, they felt
that revision is not feasible at this time.
THE results in this State indicate
that the trend against New Dealism first
registered in Rhode Island is national
in its character.
&c yinf
tional government. 1t is triumph for
Republican principles and a vindication
of Republican policies in the Legislature.
1t is a repudiation of extravaganza and
the spoils system in State government.
1t paveS the way for Republican majori-
ties the coming November and the re-
turn of Pennsylvania to the Republican
column in 1895.
Gov. Earle and his associates based
their whole program for future action
on the constitutional issue Three times
since last January the Governor has
| gone to the voters for approval, and
| each time, by ever rising majoritieS,
they have repudiated him and all he
stands for"
In Philadelphia. which in the past has
been a Republican stronghold, the revi-
sion proposal received majority of the
votes cast in 1885 out of 1926 voting
precincts, though a narrow one. The
vote stood: For revision, 1873 229, and
against revision, 177,546. The Republi-
cans attempt to explain this away by
saying that the hot fights over the
mayoralty and other nominations in
their party in Philadelphia drew away
the attention of the Republican voters
from the proposal for a constitutional
convention and they failed to vote on it.
x X x
John B. Kelly, former Olympic oars
man, who in the last three or four years
has come forward as dominant DEM
ocratic leader in Philadelphia, was NOM
mated for mayor by his party practically
without opposition. He polled 163,084
votes, while his Republican opponent,
City Controller S. Davis Wilson, polled
l68,l06, and his nearest opponent in the
Republican primary, City Treasurer Will
B. Hadley, received 145,205. There were
10 candidates for the Republican NOM
ination. If the Republicans are able
to unite their strength, it would look as
though the Democrats did not have
much chance in the city election which
is to come. They have been pretty we'll
shot to- pieces from an organization
point Of view in the last year or two