Evening star., 1936-09-20
By MARK SULLIVAN.

dued buzz in the headquarters
Of both parties in every cam
paign is kind Of family
frankness. It includes, as in the inner
intimacies Of families, a certain
amount Of mutual reproach. Things
are not going as well as might be,
and the reason is thus and so; or the
person responsible for dereliction Is
A, or B, or c.
These matters, in party headquar-
ters, as in family circles. are, as often
as not, the reflection of temporary
mood, a mood which can evaporate
through single event. In the Repub-
lican inner circle early in September
there was a feeling that something
was lacking in the spirit and momen-
tum of the campaign. 1t was said the
campaign lacked belligerence, lacked
punch" 1t was said that Gov. Lam
don was not hitting hard enough.
Soon afterward, Gov. Landon made
his speech in Maine. Thereupon the
mood Of the Republican inner circle
changed. They felt that Gov. Landon
was now hitting out and that the cam
paign had entered a new phase. The
inner circle did not know why, dur
ing the earlier period, Gov. Landon
seemed to lack belligerency. But, with
. little reflection, the cause can be
recognized.
If preceding the Maine speech Gov.
Landon's campaign seemed to lack
aggressiveness the reason was that
his opponent had set the atmosphere
of the campaign and had tuned it to
a key which made hard hitting seem
like most inappropriate discord. BY
a most astute adroitness and by per-
fectly legitimate maneuver President
Roosevelt had created an atmosphere
In which strong words by his opponent
seemed almost as out of place as in a
church.
Des Moines Conference.
When President Roosevelt called the
Des Moines conference of Midwest
ern Governors to consider the drought,
1t was surmised by critics and OBJ
servers, shrewdly enough, that the
President might have had a political
purpose in addition to whatever pur-
pose of non-political usefulness the
conference might possess. The polit-
ical part of Mr.. Roosevelt's purpose,
observers said, was to cause the coun-
try to see the two candidates together
and compare their personalities. In
such comparison, a comparison con-
fined to manner, appearance and the
outer surface Of personality-in such
q comparison Mr.. Roosevelt was GER
tain to have the advantage. He had
popular appeal. political "it";; he
smiles attractively and readily, he has
instantaneous responsiveness to the
crowd, he has natural sense of the
dramatic, he Is q superb Snowman
and stage manager. Beside him, Gov.
Landon would seem prosaic.
But that Des Moines meeting had
deeper political effect. Here was a
President in Office and here was a con-
tender against him. The contender,
Gov. Landon, was declaring in effect,
by the very fact Of his candidacy, that
the President in office ought no longer
to be in it. The principal point of
Gov Landon's making his fight rests
in the assumption that Mr.. Roosevelt
is doing something seriously wrong
with the office he holds. In the minds
of those most strongly opposed to Mr..
Roosevelt, the major reason for termi-
mating his presidency is the charge
that he is using the Office to take
America through a change, a change
which, in its completed form. would
amount to a new order of society and
the altered form of government which
the new order must entail. This is the
sort of charge that, If true, should Or
dinarily lead, not merely to defeat for
reelection; the charge, If true, would
justify impeachment before the end
of his term.
Attitude on Landon.
That considerable numbers Of voters
believe this charge is, to Mr.. Roosevelt,
material, but not necessarily deadly.