Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1936-11-15

political frenzy belongs in. the second
stage Of a campaign, and not at the
beginning. Ahead Of 1t lies the task
Of building up the machinery.
The only effect of Mr.. Hamilton's
| oratorical foray was to force us to
begin our active campaign month
ahead of time. That cost both ma
tional committees at least $500, 900,
and to that extent might have been
to the Republicans temporary advan-
tage. They could afford it; we could
not.
Now look at the picture from our
side of the fence:
The Democratic forces were intact.
Farley remained at his desk In New
York, perfecting his organizations,
while the unromantic work of raising
money, creating and manning the va
rious departments of the national
committee. and arranging for their
budgets proceeded. Thanks to his
numerous journeys, and his uncanny
faculty of never forgetting a name or
a face, he was on perfect terms with
everybody of political Importance from
Maine to California. He knew the
strong ones and the weak ones, and
made his plans for each State accord
ingly. His fixture in New York not
only enabled him to keep his finger
on every point, but-what was per-
haps of greater importance-to keep
out of the intra-party feuds that were
burning In various States.
Democratic Differences.
Davey and anti-Davey Democrats in
Ohio, Horner and Kelly partisans in
Illinois, Curley and anti-Curley folks
in Massachusetts,, for example, were
left to the full enjoyment Of their
vendettaS, without its affecting their
values as Roosevelt assets.
The stability of the Democratic
local bodies had two bases. First was
the circumstance that, since the first
Roosevelt landslide. we had most OF
! the State governments. which is a
great factor in a national election.
Second, the keeping alive and active
of national headquarters, so there was
| no breaking of contacts.
| 1t is curious to recall that the toun-
dation of all this was due to a man
who. in the campaign just closed, was
| the inveterate enemy Of Franklin D.
Roosevelt and all he stood for. John
| Raskob, then national chairman, rea-
soning as hard headed business man,
learned in the 1928 campaign that 1t
was absurd to think that such vast
enterprise as electing a President
could be done competently in the few
months between a national convention
and the first Tuesday after the first
Monday in the following November.
The defeat of Al Smith ranked in
his bosom. primarily. perhaps, because
of his devotion to the Brown Derby
Man. but not far behind was the
blow to his pride; the fact that this
venture had been a failure in life
of unbroken successes. So he estab-
lished and financed the project of re-
habilitating the Democratic party.
The Democratic situation then was
much like the Republican situation
today. Possibly the recent announce
ment of the permanence OF the
Liberty League presages an attempt
on the part of Mr.. Raskob to do again
in the other camp what he did in ours.
Praise for Raskob.
It involved no great sacrifice for
him, early in 1929, when Jouett Shouse
dawned in Washington as chairman
of the executive committee Of the
Democratic National Committee and
began the work of rebuilding
/ Democracy. 1t was different when
the crash came in late October and
Raskob lost uncounted millions. But
say this to the credit of the old chair
mamie never whimpered. but met
the payrolls and expenses of the thing
he had inaugurated.
There never was any executive
committee. but the hullabaloo of the
/ headquarters and the constant
I presentation of the mistakes of Presi-
dent Hoover did the trick. The Demo-
cratic party rose from its stunned
inertia. The congressional elections
of 1880 gave it big boost, and made
the 1882 landslide possible.
1t is, therefore, quite valid to say
that John Raskob was the architect
of the Roosevelt rise to the presidency.
True, he tried to hamper the Roosevelt
progress by constantly dunning the
new national committee for the
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