Montana labor news., 1936-09-24
REPUBLICAN HOPES FADE PRIVATELY ADMIT
LITTLE CHANCE nF ELE(TING LAND0N
By HENRY C. FLEISH1
Federated Press 8

NEW YORK-(FP)-Re1 ans
are talking big and betting >
That is the impression G ed in
New York and Washing y S the
1886 edition of the quadI i nat
ional election campaign IS into
its more decisive stage d pre-
pares for the big dash will car
ry the major parties through till ell
ection day.
But, though the Republicans pre-
dict dire results if - and when -
Roosevelt is reelected, an item buri-
ed in the financial pages of The New
York Times gives a different picture
of the situation. "An increasing
number of members of the financial
community is showing Indifference
concerning the outcome of the cleo
tion," the paper says. ''The feeling
appears to be growing that which
ever party wins, the upward move
ment of business will continue, and
that the stock market will reject this
improvement"
From many sources comes word
that the G. o. P, for all its fine talk
expects to see Gov. Landon in sec
ond place when the ballots are coun-
ted on the night of Nov. 3. Labor,
for one thing, is quite solidly lined
up behind the president, despite the
fact that two international union
heads have landed jobs with the Re-
publican campaign committee, and
despite the fact that groups hostile
to labor are seeking to take advan-
tage of the dispute in labor's ranks
to accuse the president Of siding with
John L. Lewis Committee for In
dustrial Organization.
Farmers, regardless of a certain
affection held by many Of them for
Cong. William Lemke, are expected
to vote Roosevelt in large numbers.
The drouth whatever its serious ma
ture may be, has proved a boon to
the Democrats. f. d. R. lost little
time in rushing to completion a wide
spread relief program which, al
though it has serious shortcomings,
will At least serve to keep thousands
of farmers from actual starvation
this fall and winter. Then, too, sew
eral hundred thousand WPA work
ers can be counted on to vote for
Roosevelt. Though they have no
jobs in private industry, they can
still read English and Republic
cans budget-balancing campaign
speeches spell misery for millions in
capital letters.
Most of New England will go to
Landon, political observers feel. So
will isolated states throughout the
midwest. But Pennsylvania, strong
hold of the United Mine Workers of
America, has a $3.50 chance of wax
ing up Nov. 4 to find itself in the
Democratic column. The presence
of Gov. Lehman at the head of the
state ticket in New York, coupled
with the formation of the American
Labor Party to steer many votes to
Lehman and Roosevelt from those
who don't like to consider themsel-
YES Democrats, makes it dollars to
doughnuts that the Empire State will
turn thumbs down on ALT. Sen.
Norris decision to run once more in
Nebraska will make itself felt in the
midwest farm country, where the OPP
inions of Norris, an insurgent-R epu-
blican supporter of F. D. r., carries
considerable weight. Primary bal
loting reports from Texas, Mississ-
ippi and South Carolina all reveal
what the politicians please to call q
ground swell toward the New Deal
A few months ago the G. 0. P. en-
visaged a wide shift of votes to the
big white elephant. But Joseph Ely
of Massachusetts,, Col. Breckenridge
cambridge Colby, Al Smith and g
dozen others nominally calling them
selves Democrats have crossed the
{ Rubicon to outright Republican,
without creating more than a furry
on the editorial pages of rabid Re.
publican papers.
The fact is that America remem,
bers the American Liberty League
dinner, attended by IL duPonts, anc
the Unhappy Warriors" harangue
against all liberalism; recalls decis.
ion after decision by the U. S. Sup.
ceme Court betting into oblivion
even the most minor attempts tC
change the economic status quo; pic.
lures the shadow of William Randol-
phi Hearst in the White House; anc
above all, wildly remembers the
good old days of Hoover when al
the banks were going bust and breac
lines grew in length each week.
Little wonder, then, that the lib.
eral New York Post, reports from
Buffalo, N. Y, scene of a Landor
speech: ''The Landon myth has start
ed to fade and New York state Re
publican leaders have begun to fee
that only a political miracle can saw,
their hopes As one of the Re
publican bosses put it: He's a mic,
fellow, but he just doesn't go owe.
strong enough"