Evening star., 1936-06-21
Boomerang Wisecracks
In the Campaign
BY OVEN L. SCOTT.

First blood of this years presidential
fight is drawn by the Prairie State anna
teurs. They have pretty badly mussed
up two of the Democrats leading prima
donnas-"Big Jim" Farley and much
publicized Charlie Nicholson.
When the Postmaster General, chair
man of the Democratic National Com
mittee and chairman of the State Demo-
cratic Central Committee of New York,
speaks in public the voice is the voice
of Farley, but the words and technique
are the words and technique of Nicholson.
For seven years the party has paid
Charlie Nicholson $4,000 year to think
up devastating things for others to say
about the Republicans.
The verbal bombs he fashioned seemed
to carry political death during the last
years of the administration of Herbert
Hoover, when the country was irritable
and restless under the apparently never
ending defiation. They functioned
equally we'll in dealing with the Liberty
League. which paraded a billion-dollar
front and offered shining target at
time when people were not too sold on
the altruistic motives Of concentrated
wealth. AL Smith went down under a
Nicholson fashioned shot fired by Sen
ator Joe Robinson. q
In recent months the Democratic pub
licity chief has been taxing his brain
to create a whole battery of bombs for
the versatile Mr.. Farley and other party
big-wigs to toss into Republican ranks.
The same technique that worked against
Mr.. Hoover and against the Liberty
League would now be applied in another
presidential election.
Charlie Nicholson thought he had put
dynamite in the first bomb tossed by
Farley at Gov. Landon. This gentle
man, the Democratic chairman informed
an expectant Nation, was nothing but
Governor Of a typical prairie State
in other words, a probable "hick" or
"hayseed"
Middle Westerners never have taken
kindly to gratuitous comments by New
Workers about their part OF the country.
They didn't thrill this time to the tag
applied by Mr.. Nicholson and Mr.. Far
ley. The backflre amply impressed its
authors that not only Kansas, but IL
linois, Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, the
Dakotas, and even Michigan and Ohio
incline to rate themselves as prairie
States.
After one slip the Democrats thought
their spokesmen had learned lesson.
But Chairman Farley jumped right
back after Gov. Landon had been named
as Republican nominee for the presidency
with his profound conclusion that the
Kansan was a synthetic candidate and
that his nomination was laughable.
fa@
by the Democratic ghostwriter, brought
an angry roar from party workers and
officials out in the country. They re-
ported that voters were showing unmis-
taxable signs of being fed up with name
calling and smart sayings of the former
boxing commissioner of New York State.
John Hamilton. new chairman of the
Republican National Committee, let loose
a blast in return. So did the New York
Times in a blistering editorial. So did
several important Democratic officials
in Washington who have their fingers
on the pulse of the Middle West.
Figuratively speaking. Mr.. Farley and
Mr. Nicholson had their ears knocked
back-and showed it. The Democratic
ghost writer became extremely irritable
and the Democratic campaign manager
lost some of his verve. The prospect
was that several months of intensive
mental effort devoted to coming snappy
names to use in attacking the enemy
might turn out to be wasted.
Politicians now are wondering If the
public is firing of the name-calling
technique.
If so, both parties are to be put to it
to change their tactics.
Chairman Farley, in that case. will
have to tend more closely to his knitting
as organizer and political manipulation
instead of appearing as symbol OF civic
virtue. Nominee Landon will need to
make known his exact views rather than
depending on name-calling campaign
| of his own.
Rather than showing satisfaction with
| glittering generalities. people show signs
| of deep interest in answers that candl-
| dates can make to specific questions.
Exactly what kind of care is proposed
| for the unemployed? What specifically
| is offered in the way of old-age and un-
| employment insurance? What method
will be used to bring Federal finances
under control? If new taxes are to be
needed, what form will they take? What
| would the Federal Government do If
| the business machine should get out OF
kilter again in the next two or three
years? Should the present State lines
be broken by constitutional amendment
| that would allow the Government in
| Washington to deal with national eco
nomic problems?
Candidates will find plenty Of oppor-
| tunities to join issues in the sort of
debate that could give the public lib
eral education. Mr. Roosevelt will have
| a chance to let people know about what
he has in mind for the future. Mr.. Lam
don will be able to demonstrate whether
or not he really has grasp of national
| problems.
In any sort of battle, however, unusual
difficulties confront the Republicans this
year.
They are up against the fact that Or
ganization counts heavily in determin-
ing the outcome of any election, and the
Democrats have the organization.
y X
| John Hamilton, as new chairman OF
the Republican National Committee, is
having to build from scratch. In all OF
the country there are relatively few Re-
| publican office holders to serve as the
nucleus for an effective party machine
The party is without Federal machine
| 1t controls the governments of only eight
out of the forty-eight States, and those
eight are not especially important
| IL efr