Evening star., 1936-04-23
THE POLITICAL
MILL
By C.. Gould Lincoln.


ton. They hope, of course, that they
will be able to defeat President Roosevelt.
But they believe confidently that they
will regain large number of House
seats now held by the Democrats So far
as the Senate Is concerned, nearly all Of
the Senators who come up for re election
this year are from hidebound Demo-
cratic States of the South and from the
border States.
The majority Of the Democrats in the
present House is enormous. In January
there were 318 Democrats, 104 Repub-
licans Progressives and Farmer
Laborites in the House, and three seats
were vacant. Several more vacancies
now exist. The Republicans figure that
II they can bring the Democratic ma
Jority down to some rs seats, for example,
they will have done real job; that the
Republican minority so swollen, acting
with more conservative and anti-New
Deal Democrats, will be able to check
mate the New Dealers and prevent rad
ical legislation. If such were the case,
even if President Roosevelt had the
opportunity of appointing several new
justices of the Supreme Court, New Deal
legislative proposals now deemed uncon-
stitutional would never reach the court
for the simple reason they would not be
enacted into law.
The Republicans, however, do not in
tend to limit their efforts merely to cut
ting down the Democratic majority in
the House. They are out to win control
of the House if they can. They we're
greatly encouraged last August when an
election in Rhode Island to fill a vacancy
in the House showed a tremendous swing
back to the Republican party and away
from the Democratic standard. Such
elections in isolated congressional dis
tricts have often in the past been fore
runners of sweeping political changes.
The victory of the Democrats in the
Springfield, Mass, district in February,
1880, to fill a vacancy, gave an early
indication Of what was to come in the
Fall of 1882, when the Democrats upset
the big Republican majority in the
House, elected in the Hoover landslide Of
1928.
The defeatist talk among the Repub-
licans themselves in recent weeks, when
the presidential race is under discussion,
has been rather remarkable. However,
the race has not really gotten under way
yet. The Republicans have plenty of
time to get into action after the conven-
tions They are storing up ammunition.
They do not mean to let go unchallenged
such statements, for example, as that
made by the President in his Baltimore
speech recently when he said that pro-
duction in this country was about back
to the high point before depression"
although little over 80 per cent as many
workers are engaged in turning out the
production. They are confident the fig
ures on production and employment will
show vastly different situation.
Next Tuesday Pennsylvania holds its
presidential preference primary and
elects its delegates to the national con-
ventions. On the Democratic side Presi-
dent Roosevelt and Col. Henry Breckin-
ridge are entered in the presidential pri-
mary. Senator Borah of Idaho is the
sole Republican in the presidential pri-
mary there Pennsylvania is the second
most populous State in the Union. How
many Democratic and how many Re-
publican votes will be cast in the pri-
maries? And how many antiRoosevelt
Democratic votes? And how many votes
will be cast for Borah, who is opposed by
the Republican organization? All OF
these questions will crop up, and from
the returns many deductions will be
made. The Democrats are predicting they
will carry Pennsylvania for President
Roosevelt next November, although the
State was one of six which stood by
Herbert Hoover in 1882. And by the
same token. some of the Republican
leaders in the State are shaking their
heads over the situation. 1t is natural to
suppose, therefore, that the Democrats
will make the most of it. if the party rolls
up big vote in the primaries.
Senator Borah is not gong into Penn
sylvania to do any campaigning. He has
not the time, he says, for he must con-
centrate on Ohio, where his friends have
put up slate of delegates, covering many
of the congressional districts. But the
vote cast for him in Pennsylvania will
be particularly interesting. He is an
athena to the regular Republican leaders
there. But so he was to many OF the
Republican leaders in Illinois, where he
rolled up a surprisingly large vote.
The political situation down in
Maine" is decidedly interesting. Gov.
Brann. who has twice been elected by
the Democrats and who has been re-
garded as a great vote getter, has an
nounced his candidacy for the Senate
against Senator wallace White. Repub-
lican. However, there is a row among
the Democrats. Representative Moran,
who has been an ardent supporter OF the
Roosevelt New Deal. to which Brann has
been at times lukeWarm, almost immedi-
ately following the announcement OF
Gov. Branns intention to run for the
Senate, said that he would not again
stand for election to the House. Moran
and Brann have not gotten along well
together. Moran and Harry Hopkins, the
New Deal relief administrator, have
played along together, but Hopkins and
Brann have had their troubles. A State
administrator, whom Hopkins attributes
to Brann, got into peck of trouble and
was indicted. However, Chairman James
A. Farley, the political generalissimo for
President Roosevelt, decided that the
best bet in Maine was Gov. Brann. 1t Is
with the Farley blessing that Brann has
gone into the Senate race.
Senator White is popular in Maine. He
lives in Lewiston, regarded as Demo-
cratic stronghold, and has always been
able to pick up lot of Democratic votes
there It happens, however, that Brann
also is resident of Lewiston and gets a
big vote there. The swing in Maine, the
Republicans say, has been away from the
New Deal. They hope to carry the State
in September and to elect a Governor
and re-elect White and capture the
House delegation, now composed Of two
Democrats and one Republican.
The PaSSamaQuoddy project for har-