Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1936-02-06
LbertyLeague
Steps Out

Liberty League put on long pants
Steps Out in the fed Of pol
tiles. Although
comparatively new Is group
and promoted consistently as nom
partisan. the league can now be said
10 have plunged headlong into the Do
htiezl warfare II It's first big rally can
stand as q criterion. its influence Is
due TO be felt in an important way in
the forthcoming national elections.
This rally that really marked the
leagues campaign debut was a pic-
turesque thing Il was picturesque
hrst because OF the time and the place
and the very nature of the thing and
the manner OF approach to the voters
OF the country but 1t was more pic
turesque and more important as wen
because the headline speaker was Al
fred E Smith, one time Democratic can
didate for the Presidency, and By all
odds the most cOIOrful and pungent
speaker OF the present day. II was a
dinner Of more than 1900 persons
from every state in the Union-and II
was held in exactly the same rooms Of
the Mayf0wer hotel here where two
weeks earlier President Roosevelt had
addressed about the same number of
persons at the Jackson day S50-a-plate
dinner. As further note OF interest.
attention might be called 10 the fact
that the meeting was presided over BY
Borden Burr. lifelong Alabama Dem
ocrat, and the other speakers were DR..
Neal CarOthers. a Southern Democrat,
long head of the economics depart
ment OF Lehigh university in Pennsyi-
Tania, and former Federal Judge
Charles !. Dawson Of Louisville, Ky,
q Republican.
referred above to Mr.. Smith as be-
ing a eolorful speaker, and from all
Of the comments hare heard. it seems
10 be the consensus that never has he
justified the description better than in
his league speech He was introduced
By Mr.. Burr as al Smith of Amer
ica,' and proceeded to assure his audi
ence that included millions listening
By radio that he placed patriotism
above party. that he was a candidate
for no Office under the sun. that he
had no AZ TO grind and that such
critical shots as he might take were
without personal animOSity for any
one. But he did not pull his punches
when he pilloried the New Deal and
he showed no mercy when he drew
the deadly parallel between the Demo
cratic platform of 1892 and the policies
which Mr.. Roosevelt had carried
through. ! believe It may be said that
he reached the peak of his speech
when he laid on the speakers stand
copies Of the Democratic platform Of
1892 and the Socialist platform Of the
same year and in his best East side
twang he challenged anyone TO deny
that Mr. Roosevelt had been elected
on Democratic ticket and had car
ried out the Socialist promises.
The Presidents breathing spell" ut
terance, his message to congress on
the state of the Union, his staff of adj
visers, his monetary policies formed
other meaty subjects which the former
governor Of New York picked to pieces
in his own inimitable way. He begged
congress to assert itself again and
quoted from the Bible in his plea II
should return to the fathers house
and be again one Of the three branches
OF the federal government He said II
took courage for lifelong Democrat
to say the things he was saying, but
there is no gainsaying he displayed
what It took.
Through the speech was Mr. Smiths
chosen theme that a great danger lies
ahead. a danger that the New Deal
win destroy everything which he held
had made America the outstanding ma
ton that it is He accused the Presi-
dent of having arrayed class against
class and asserted that what the na-
ton faces is the most gigantic tax bur-
den ever known. To this he added
that 1t viii not be the rich who will
pay. nor the poor. but shat vast army
Of individuals with incomes from a
hundred dollars a month to FIVE thou
sand dollars a year"
Finally, in conclusion, Mr.. Smith
said:
Let me give this solemn warning:
There can be only one capital, Wash
ington or Moscow.
There can be only one atmosphere
OF government, the clear. pure fresh
air Of free America, or the foul breath
OF eommunistic Russia. There can be
only one flag. the Star and Stripes, or
the flag Of the goddess union Of the
SoyietS There can be only one na-
tional anthem, The Star-Spangled
Banner or The Internationale.'
there eSn be only one victor. II our
Constitution wins, we win. But IL
the Constitution-stop, stop there-the
Constitution cannot lose"
But what Of the significance Of the
league dinner and the Smith speech1
Prior to the din
The Smith ner. the leagues ex-
Wolkouf ecutive council met
in secret Whether
II committed the league to a definite
stand was not formally announced, yet