Evening star., 1936-07-21

Is CnaC WORKERS D,sY
who wish to sup
port the New Deal can 90 so and yet
retain a party identity which will be
important in future elections.
The Roosevelt administration Is
eager to accept aid wherever it can.
Yet the voters who will mark the
labor ballot will be starting serious
detection from the ranks of the regu-
lar Democratic party. For surely the
votes to be cast for the labor ticket
will not have come from the Repub-
lican party, but from the Democratic
vote in the cities, especially New York
City This may or may not involve
the beginnings of a pro-La Guardia
movement there, but it also may drive
conservative Republicans closer to the
Tammany side of the argument in
city affairs.
Sacrifice for Victory.
But whatever the meaning may be
of the establishment of labor group
as party in the Empire State in
years to come, the purpose of the
Roosevelt administration in this years
contest is to gather into its fold as
many voters as possible who would
ordinarily vote a Socialist ticket out
of contempt for the labels Of the
two major parties. If New York State
is to be close this Autumn, a bloc
of 100000 votes taken away from the
minor party tickets is. from the New
Deal viewpoint, we'll worth any effort,
even presumably an Indifference to
the future of the Democratic party.
For if the experiment works in this
election, the formation of labor party
tickets in States like Pennsylvania.
New Jersey, Connecticut, Illinois and
Michigan would seem to be indicated
for the 1888 congressional election,
with the prospect of national labor
party in 1910, headed in all prob
ability by John L. Lewis, assuming
that his present campaign for indus
trial unions gives him in the next
two or three years commanding
hold on anywhere from 100000 to
100000 votes.
There is always the possibility that,
once the labor group has demonstrated
its political strength, it may make a
bold bid for control of the Democratic
party Encouraged already by the
New Deals willingness, as exempted
in the Guffey act, to put through legls-
lation irrespective of doubts as to con-
stitutionality, the laborites may find a
short cut to power by electing first a
group of labor Representatives and
then setting out to capture the Demo-
cratic party machinery for the nomi-
nations of 1910.
Minority Could Win.
Since the Democrats have scrapped
the two-thirds rule for future national
minority of delegates to force the
nomination of candidate has been in
creased. Thus since SO many Southern
States still vote under the unit rule at
conventions, it is possible now for a
minority of the delegates to bring about
q nomination for the presidency.
The labor party-whichever way the
situation is viewed-has, from the
standpoint Of present and future ad-
vantages, played its cards well in put
ting ticket into the field in New York
State.
Such demonstration will encourage
those elements in labor's ranks who
have always wanted ticket of their
own and will probably rid the two
major parties ultimately of those men,
bers of Congress who have usually
bowed to the pressure of labor group
in their respective districts. A distinct
~ 1ok ortyy he
far more helpful to a realignment of
parties in America than the present
camouf1age, whereby men in the Re-
publican and Democratic parties, feel
ing that they owe their election to
labor votes, support class legislation
irrespective of the effect on consumer
prices or the cost Of living generally.
A. F. Of L. Has Different Theory.
The American Federation Of Labor,
Of course, has always insisted that the
bipartisan club was better for labor
than strictly labor party in politics.
There is much to be said in approval
of the A. F. of L. theory. Its idea
certainly has proved exceptionally ef-
fective in the past, for at times the
A. F. Of L. has been able to crack the
whip and make an actual majority
OF both Houses of Congress jump
through the hoop at its bidding.
But in these days of greater and
greater lust for individual power, the
devotion merely to labor's own inter-
estS and problems Is not sufficient to
satisfy personal ambition. The oppor-
tunity for labor to elect its own Gov
ernors, its own Senators and its own
President, who would feel under no
compunction to veer as did Mr. Roose-
welt from left to right and back again,
Is something which the 1910 election
might open up If labor polls a big
enough vote on its own in the 1895
and 1888 campaigns.
DR.. Tugwell, incidentally, has en-
visioned Farmer-Labor alliance as
ruling America. There II" as yet no
sign that the combination is being
widely developed, though, to be sure,
the Farmer-Labor party in Mime
sofa has for many years now had more
strength than the Democrats. Mr..
Roosevelt's policy Of giving A. A. A.
bounties has made deep inroads on the
Republican farmer vote and the PreSi-
dents friendliness to labor legislation
also has won him labor support, so that
the New Deal itself Is built upon q
Farmer-Labor alliance for the time
being.
Clash May Be Intensified.
Should the coming election put Gov.
Landon in the White House, the clash
between local Democratic organiza-
tons and labor party elements jockey
ing for political position may become
even more pronounced.
Whenever any stable group Of