Evening star., 1936-07-05
BY MARK SULLIVAN.

II SHCCC1l, dLLdCk COIlScINd-
= tives, should move farther toward
the left. It was inevitable because
only from the left can Mr.. Roosevelt
recapture any part Of the two groups
Of voters who once were for him but
have now left him. The conserva-
tives are gone and gone for good. Il
speak, of course, mainly Of the Demo-
cratic conservatives in the North }
The most elementary sense of political
strategy knows that nothing Mr..
Roosevelt could now do would bring
the conservatives back to him. Them
he must abandon. His campaign
must be devoted to holding as many
as he can Of the radicals.
We can picture Mr.. Roosevelt s
situation: His right wing, the con-
servative Democrats, symbolized by ex-
Gov. Smith. Col Henry Breckenridge,
Lewis Douglas, ex-Gov. Ely of Mas
sachusetts-Democrats of this type,
leaders and voters, have gone from
him
On the left, there is likewise a de-
fection, but one from which Mr..
Roosevelt can salvage something. The
extreme left-wingers are forming a
new party, with Congressman Lemke
Of North Dakota as its presidential
candidate and Father Coughlin its
best known leader. That this party
will take much from Mr.. Roosevelt
gees without saying. But Mr.. Roose-
welt, by his conduct of the campaign,
can determine. to some extent, just
how much of his radical following he
must lose. The radicals as an entire
group range from mild to extreme.
The mild ones Mr.. Roosevelt can hold
he could hold many of them by
conducting just an ordinary middle
of-the-road campaign. The extreme
radicals he cannot bring back by any
device. But between the mild radicals
and the extreme ones is a large body
Of so to speak, medium radicals. This
group will be fair game for both Mr..
Roosevelt and Mr.. Lemke. Mr.
Roosevelt, by being himself more and
more radical, can salvage most of
them.
Campaign to Grow More Radical.
This constitutes the ordained pat
tern Of the Presidents campaign. 1t
will begin fairly radical-it has already
begun so in MIR. RooSevelt's acceptance
speech. AS it goes on it will be more
and more radical, because more and
more Mr.. Roosevelt will be obliged
to reach farther and farther for the
radicals
In proportion as Mr. Roosevelt
reaches out farther and farther for
the "lefts," so will he more and more
ALLEVIATE the rights" If temptation,
indeed necessity, leads him to carry
his leftward appeal far enough he will
lose even those moderate conserva-
tives who are stil with him. He may
even lose many of the Democrats in
the South, where the great body of
voters is conservative, but up to the
present have remained with Mr..
Roosevelt through tradition and
habit blinking their eyes SO far to
the New Deal, simply because Mr..
Roosevelt, formally and officially,
runs as the nominee of the Demo-
cratic party.
Up to the Democratic convention
there was no reason to suppose any
Southern State would cast its elec-
toral vote against Mr.. Roosevelt in
November. May be this condition will
remain until the election But by
the platform the Democrats adopted
at Philadelphia and by other events
that emerged a large part OF the
Southern electorate, including much
of its best leadership, has become
aware that the New Deal is not the
that the New Deal is in most respects
the antithesis of Democratic tradi-
tions and principles, especially of pre-
ciSely those principles and traditions
that have most endeared the Demo-
cratic party to the South.
For several months perturbance
about the New Deal has sinmered in
the editorial Offices of the South and
in other quarters that provide the
Soutt's leadership. Southern Demo-
Gratis in the Senate and House have
been loyal to the New Deal, even
though they we're appalled, by it. But
they are aware of an increasing ques-
tioning from their Southern friends
and constituents. Among others, Vice
President Garner has been made
aware of it-and this is the reason
for the extraordinary sentence with
which Mr.. Garner began his accept
ance of denomination: Il am SOL
dier and my duty is to follow where
the commander leads"
Would Follow Chief to Hades.
That has been Mr.. Garner's answer
to friends who had questioned him;
the phrase has been on his lips for
months. A variation of it that he
uttered publicly few weeks ago is
IF the Presidents course should take
him to a political Hades, will be at
his elbow, inhaling the sulphurous
fumes with him" To Texas friend
who wrote him a letter of reproach,
he replied: You can't do everything
YOU want to do and I can't do half
what I would like to do; you don't
control everybody you would like to.
and I am in a similar fix"
The reproaches to Mr.. Garner have
been increasingly forceful. A few
weeks ago he received letter from a
Democratic friend saying: You are
the one man in this country who can
save it today. This crisis is far
beyond the success or fortune Of any
party. Our form of government
is at stake. If you will come out and
say that you do not believe in the
New Deal and not run on New Deal
platform or lie to the American peo-
pie, you will go down in history as
one Of the greatest men this country
ever produced"
In the same "fix' that Mr.. Garner
says he is in, are Democratic Senators
like Messrs. Glass and Byrd of Vir-
ginia, and Mr.. Bailey of North Caro-
lima. These three Southern Senators
have in the past given public utterance
to their dissent from the New Deal.
Other Southern Senators, wheelhorses
of the Democratic party, are believed