Evening star., 1936-06-22
THE POLITICAL
MILL
BY G. GOULD LINCOLN.

PHILADELPHIA, June 22.-How rad
ical shall the Democratic national plat
form become? That is the question which
the Democratic high command is asking
itself. The general impression here is
that it will be more radical than ever
in the party's history. 1t may make
Democrats like Glass and Byrd of Vir-
ginia, Walsh of Massachusetts,, King of
Utah and others writhe But the Roose-
welt New Dealers-including the leader of
them all-seem to be going radical, NOV
ing more and more to the left. A con-
tributing factor to this determination to
become more radical is the new leftist
party-the Union party-launched by
Father Coughlin, with Lemke of North
Dakota and O'Brien OF Massachusetts as
its national ticket. Furthermore, the
fact that the Republicans have become
more liberal in their platform and their
presidential candidate than before, has
given the Democrats of the Roosevelt
stamp encouragement to go radical.
The Democrats plan to write into their
platform a currency plank which they
DcllCNe SLlOulu SdIlSly LlOSI vi LllOSC WllO
might be inclined to join the Union party
this year. 1t likely will declare against
return to the old gold standard, charg-
ing that such return would be to play
into the hands of the old private inter-
ests which created such havoc before
Roosevelt took control in 1888. AT the
same time. not unmindful that there are
many people in this country who dread
itNHo of hn hn MI fnrT
will declare for sound currency" and
steady purchasing power of the dollar.
The Philadelphia Record, strong pro-
Roosevelt newspaper and one OF the few
which has given the President its un-
divided support throughout his admins
tration. prints the following draft of
currency plank, which it says has been
considered in secret in Washington. The
PLANK draft is as follows:
TO return to the old free gold standard
would be to surrender control of dollar
purchasing power to the private interests
which allowed it to fiuctuate so dis
astrously as to close all banks in 1888.
To return to the old free gold standard
Is to invite monetary chaos and national
disaster.
We pledge continuance of sound cur
rency, with steady purchasing power OF
the dollars which will do justice not only
as between present debtor and creditor,
but as between all who make commit
ments for the future in terms of the
dollar"
1t is expected, too that the Democratic
plank dealing with labor will be one OF
the most satisfying to organized labor
that can be drafted. Roosevelt already
has the backing of John Lewis and the
United Mine Workers of America, and
of other labor organizations. He does not
intend to weaken this hold on the labor
unions However, if labor votes as unit
this year or anything like it, a precedent
for national elections will have been
created Labor in New England. for eX-
ample. has not been pleased with the
New Deal and its operation, holding that
it has hurt rather than helped the labor
ing man in much of that section. What
happened in a Rhode Island congress
Sional election last Summer is evidence
enough of that.
The Roosevelt New Dealers are carry
number of disgruntled Democratic
leaders who have about as much SYM
pathy for the radical tendencies OF the
New Dealers as a lion has for an un-
protected lamb. Take. for example, the
sad cases of Senators Glass of Virginia
and Byrd of Virginia. They are leaders
of their party in the Old Dominion. They
have no use for the New Deal, and have
,aI,
cized in some quarters because they do
not break away from the New Deal, and
oppose Roosevelt and all his works.
Such move on their part Sould neces-
sarily take them into open opposition to
the Democratic party and into the Re-
publican party. That. they believe, would
put an end to any political influence they
might have in Virginia. To be Repub-
lican would never go down in the eyes
of the Virginia Democrats. So they plan
to fight on in the Democratic party,
hoping to bring it back to what they
consider sanity. To do otherwise would
merely be to find themselves supplanted
by other Democrats. They saw what
happened to former Senators Simmons
of North Carolina and Heflin of Alabama
after they had run out on Al Smith, the
Democratic standard bearer in 1928. Both
of those gentlemen had been invincible
in their States prior to that time. But
at the first opportunity, the Democrats
in North Carolina and Alabama threw
Simmons and Hef1in into the discard.
The Governor of Georgia, Eugene Tall
madge, few months ago was fire.
eating anti-Roosevelt Southern Demo-
crat. He was part and parcel of the
Macon. Ga, Democratic conference at
which were launched criticisms of RooSe-
welt and his administration far more
bitter and much more scurrilouS than
anything produced by Republicans. Yet
Talmsdge has announced that he will
support the national ticket nominated
at Philadelphia. That Is tantamount to
saying that he will support Roosevelt
for reelection. He intends. of course, to
run for Office again himself, and he is
taking no chance of the Republican
blight in Georgia.
So much for the Democrats Of the
South who are following Roosevelt no
matter how much they may disagree
with him. There are other parts of the
country, however, where Democrats feel
they can turn against Roosevelt and vote
against him and let 1t be known pub
licly. The statement just issued by five
DemooratS who have heep leaders of