The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1936-12-29
HISTORIANS MAY VIEW YEAR AS
0NE HOLDING GREAT POLITICAL
DISTURBANCE FOR COUNTRY

Editorial Research report break
down of the 18th congress. Dem.
ocrats. who won 3l3 seats or ~
per cent Of the house membership
! in 1892 increased their represen.
tatives to- 334 seats or N per CENT
last November. Republican repre-
sentation fell in that period. from
III seats and 26.9 per cent to 30
seats and 20.3 per cents
SENATE HAS rs DEMOCRATS
Senate Democrats have increas,
cd in number from GO to Is and
from 62.5 to 1871 per cent since
1882. Republicans have ,,slumped
from 35 to II seats and from
36.5 to III per cent in the sen,
ate. Other seats in the house and
senate are held by Progressives,
Farmer-Laborites and, in the case
of Senator George w. Norris, OF
Nebraska, by an Independents.
The foregoing represents the
nominal political divisions in the
18th congress but all political OBJ.
servers realize that real political
differences are not properly re-
Elected by party labels as current
" worn. A Democratic break
away from Mr.. Roosevelt has be-
gun and its continuance is newt,
able. The campaign produced
spectacular evidence of the un-
happiness of Democrats Hwhe, I'M
ill Mr.. Roosevelt took. the party
over, were nationally recognized
leaders. Notable among them were
Alfred Z. Smith, former Senator
James A. Reed, Of Missouri, and
former Governor Joseph b.. Ely,
of Massachusetts,. Thev bOlted Mr..
Roosevelt's reelection candidacy
but only one top flight Democrat
ic office holder found courage IN
1886 to declaim against the
Roosevelt-Garner ticket. That boil
ter was young Senator Rush d..
Holt, of West Virginia
TRUCE SPANS CAMPAIGN
Other prominent offiee-holding
Democrats who have .berated the
New Deal and opposed Mr.. Roose-
volt In congress bound themselves
to a. truce during the campaign
period. Among them, were ,Sena-
tors Carter Glass and Harry r..
Byrd, of Virginia, Ellison ID:
Smith, of South Carolina, and
Senator Willard E. Tydings OF
Maryland, -
The campaign truce is over
now, and the tremendously !conser-
vatiye tradition of the Democrat
ic party in the south will be one
of the wedges most likely to
strain the New Deal-DemOcratic
party fabric in the next few years.
II is difficult for Washington to
understand how Mr.. Roosevelt
can succeed in drafting set Of
political PRINCIPLES which will, on
one hand, keep such men as
Glass, Byrd, Smith and Tydings
loyal, while, on the other, meeting
the minds of such newly emerged
New Deal-Democfats Us John l..
Lewis, of the United Mine work
.ers, David Dubinsky, q former So
cialist leader Of garment work
ers, and the body Of labor, gen.
orally, which whoc""d 1T up for
the New Deal in 1895.
OLD PROBLEM ARISES
The conservative craftsmanship
of the south and the radical To-
borite craftsmanship of the in.
dustrial regions are on extreme
and opposite wings of the party
now led by Mr.. Roosevelt. Politi-
cal miracles scarcely would suf-
fee to keep both elements in line.
Mr.. Roosevelt is confronted now
with the political problem which
harried the Harding. Coolidge and
Hoover administrations - tn e
leadership of a, party composed
not only of u main body but OF
active and opposing left and right
wings. ..s go
There is similar divisions among
Republicans. The 1912 Bull Moos-
ers and the 1924 Progressives
failed to capture COP. .machin:
cry from the regulars. But in 1928
Norris led the way by boiling Her
bert C. Hoover's presidential can.
didacy. Norris supported AL
Smith. In 1882 he and Senator's
Hiram w. Johnson, of California,
Robert NJ. LaFollette, Of Wiscon-
sin, and Bronson Cutting, of New
Mexico, backed Mr.. Roosevelt
u,uuuuus-