Evening star., 1936-04-30
THE POLITICAL
MILL
By G.. Could Lincoln.

Massachusetts, primary on Tuesday was
Of such proportions that some of the
members of the Bay State delegation to
the Republican National Convention
frankly said today they did not see how
they could ignore it. If that is the gen.
eral feeling among the Massachusetts,
delegates, although they go "unin-
Structed" to the convention, the delega-
| ton is likely to be found voting for the
Kansas Governor on the first ballot 1t
is true that considerable work had been
done for Landon in Massachusetts, before
the primary, although Landon was not
formally entered there, and that may
have been in part responsible for the
showing he made over Borah, Hoover,
Vandenberg and Knox, for whom no work
was done. Nevertheless, the Landon
sentiment seems to be on the gain in
New England, as it is elsewhere.
| The anti-Landon, pro-Borah, pro-
Knox etc, people are saying that the
Landon boom has been manufactured by
clever publicity work; that there is Moth
ing to it beyond this publicity, and that
the boom can be debated as quickly as
it was inflated. Gov Landon, they con-
tinue, has made no speeches. except one
in Topeka and one in Lincoln, Nebr..
weeks ago. He has been entirely general
in his discussion of issues and has not
stated his position on many important
subjects. He is not planning to 60 out
side of Kansas during the next six weeks
| and he is not planning to go to the ma
| tional convention in Cleveland. In other
words, the Republican opponents of
Landon say that the Kansan is hoping
| 70 ko tnl Iy,a
posed of 1,001 delegates from all parts
| of the country, not one in twenty of whom
has ever seen or heard Gov. Landon, and
| none know his ideas on the principal
issues Of the day
| Xxx
| The Landon boom undoubtedly has
been built up the more easily because it
has been decreed the Republican NOM
inee this year must come from the West,
| and Landon was one of the few Repub-
lican Governors elected in 1882 and again
in 1884 Geographically he is considered
right" Also the field of presidential
| possibilities has been rather narrow.
Borah, while he made his appeal to the
West, has been opposed in the East;
Knox is newcomer in national politics
and was not widely known, and Vanden-
| berg declined to make move in the pre-
convention campaign. Supporters of
Dickinson have been working quietly, but
| their candidate is not calculated to stir
| wild enthusiasm So the Landon move
| ment got under way with comparatively
| little difficulty.
Landon has big hurdle ahead of him
next Tuesday-the California primary. If
| he wins there. it looks as though moth
ing on earth can prevent his nomination
| unless it were some foolish move on his
own part or that of his campaign man.
ayers. If he loses. he may still be NOM
mated, but he may have a tougher time
| of it. Certainly the stop Landon" move
ment would be greatly encouraged by a
victory of the "uninStructed" slate of
| delegates over the Landon slate.
There are anti-Roosevelt Democrats
! That seems to have been pretty conclu-
sively proved in the Pennsylvania presi-
Dental preference primary. Futher-
more, the number of anti-Roosevelt
Democrats is not neglible. The votes cast
for Col. Henry Breckenridge in the
| Democratic primary in the Keystone
State were all cast against Roosevelt
| not for any love of Breckenridge. There
| were thirty odd thousand such votes cast,
| and all by registered Democrats. 1t is
reasonable to believe that if there are
| anti-Roosevelt Democrats in Pennsyl-
vania, there are anti-RooSevelt Demo-
Gratis in every State of the Union. Prob
ably they did not all vote in the primary
| in Pennsylvania. either Not all of the
| pro-Roosevelt Democrats took the trouble
| to go into the primary. The anti
Roosevelt Democrats are to have another
| shot at the President on Monday. this
time in Maryland. There Breckenridge is
entered in the presidential primary
| against the President. If an appreciable
| Democratic vote is rolled up against
Roosevelt in that State it will look ex-
tremely bad for the Presidents chances
there next November as well as in Penn
| sylvania Many of these anti-Roosevelt
Democrats will be found voting the Re-
publican ticket. There seems no slightest
doubt about that.
How many Democratic votes can
| Roosevelt lose in November and win?
| It's a nice point. Chairman James A.
| Farley of the Democratic National Com
| mittee insists that the Breckenridge can
| didacy is a Joke" But it was rather a
Roosevelt point of view. If it proves an
even sorrier joke in Maryland, when the
| primary returns are all III, the Roosevelt
| opposition will be greatly encouraged
| The defeatist talk which has been going
on in Republican ranks for several weeks
may be dropped and the Republican
presidency again seem to be worth some
| thing.
|
The defeat of John Richardson, Repub-
! lican national committeeman, in the
| thirteenth Massachusetts, congressional
| district where he was running as cam
| didate for delegate to the Republican
| National Committee. seems to have elm
| mated him as member of the national
committee after the coming Republican
| National Convention. Richardson was
| one of the original Hoover men in Mas
SachusettS and worked hard for the
| former President in 1928 and 1882. He
| was strongly in favor of an uninstructed
delegation to the Republican National
Convention this year-a position taken
by Mr.. Hoover also. Richardson was
defeated by delegate favorable to the
nomination of Gov. Landon for President.
Representative Joseph w. Martin, jr,
of Massachusetts, one of the delegates at
large to the Republican National Con-
vention, is slated, it is said, to take Rich
ardson's place as national committeeman
There had been talk of putting him as
national committeeman before this The
defeat 0f Richardson in his own district