Evening star., 1936-06-01
THE POLITICAL
MILL
BY G. GOULD LINCOLN.

KanSan advice. First, former Gov. Gif-
ford Pinchot of Pennsylvania, progress
sive Republican and a member Of the
tennis cabinet of the late Theodore
Roosevelt visited Landon at Topeka.
And now Amos Pinchot, New York law
yer and also progressive, has sent the
Governor a lengthy letter urging him
to stay away from the Republican Old
Guard and the gold standard. Mr.. Pin
chot was much exercised because OF q
Washington dispatch by Charles r..
Michael of the New York Times, in which
Michael reported that Landon's man.
ayers said the Kansas Governor favored
return to q gold standard backed by
bullion. Indeed, according to Michael,
this assurance Of the favor in which
Landon holds the gold standard had
satisfied the Eastern leaders controlling
many Of the "uninstructed" delegates to
the Republican National Convention,
and they were now ready to support him
for the presidential nomination.
|. Mr.. Pinchot demanded that Gov. Lam
don state clearly his position In this
matter Of the gold standard. And he
warned the Governor that If he is to be
G. o. P. nominee and stands for a re-
turn to the fixed gold standard for the
American dollar, the chances of beating
Franklin D. Roosevelt next November
are nil. The American farmers, said
Pinchot. would never stand for It, They
demand, he added, "a simple. definite
and sensible monetary program" of which
the two cardinal planks are % man.
aged currency and 90 no return to the
gold standard. Such a program. he
said, had been adopted by Great Britain
and the 81 sterling area nations who fol-
low her lead, in 1882, and have brought
improved conditions, especially for the
farmers. America, on the other hand,
under the Roosevelt administration,
which he said had turned to the Brit
ish program in 1888 had Abandoned
it in 1884, can boast up to the present
moment, only spotty, rich mans re-
covery." The bulk of the American peo-
pie, he insisted, are still lin the ditch Of
depression"
Mr.. Pinchot said that one of the most
powerful Of the farm leaders" proclaimed
in recent radio address that agriculture
demands money constant in purchasing
and debt paying power as distinguished
from money stable in gold content. To
the layman 1t looks as though this meant
the farmers were insisting that the value
OF services and goods be kept at the
same value by the simple process of
changing the value Of money, when re-
quired. In other words. that no matter
how much wheat or how many potatoes
were on hand. the value in money Of
these articles should be the same. 1t
sounds like a pretty large order.
The Republican Old Guard and the
gold standard are inextricably inter-
twined in the mind of Mr.. Pinchot. He
wants Landon to throw both overheard
before it is too late. He said that he was
deeply interested in having the brain
trust thrown out on its neck" This
can only be accomplished, in his opinion,
by purging the Republican party "of
the stupidity and the blind reactionary
leadership of the Old Guard, and by
going into the campaign with none
tary policy that will bring back the
great farm vote that deserted to Roose-
velt in 1882"
1t looks as though Gov. Landon, II he
be the party nominee, might have a
tough time steering course that will
be acceptable to Mr.. Pinchot and the
farmers and to many Of the people of
the East.
One thing. however, seems increasingly
likely to happen-the elimination of the
so-called Old Guard from the control of
the Republican party. Senator Borah Of
Idaho. although he may not succeed in
becoming the presidential nominee Of
the party, has had good deal to do
with greasing the way out for the Old
Guard. He has campaigned for weeks
and months now against the domination
of the Old Guard. He has distinct feel
ing, too, about the monetary program.
But he has laid more stress on attacking
monopoly and corporate interests which
he insists have controlled the Old Guard
and through it the Republican party.
The growth of the Young Republican
Clubs and their opposition to the Old
Guard have also helped to focus atten-
ton on this demand for sidetracking
some of the old leaders. 1t looks as
though Gov. Landon would have q new
set-up, once the campaign gets under
way, always provided he is the nominee.
Charles Nicholson, the resourceful di-
rector of publicity for the Democratic
National Committee, says: "The time is
rapidly approaching when the minority
party will have to make up its mind whom
1t is going to nominate, and what plat
form he will have to stand on. Probably
the first presents lesser problem than
the second. The making OF the Repub-
ican platform will be interesting, not on
account of the contents Of the weighty
declaration so much as the maneuvering
and shuffiing that 60 into the making
of it. 1t is going to take lot of wrig-
Cling to arrive at a concrete statement
that means nothing, but must be made
to sound important, If not thrilling"
Perhaps Nicholson had in mind, among
other things, what the Republicans were
going to do about the currency problem
in their platform.
The director of Democratic publicity
complains that "one Of the interesting
things Of such a period as the present
is the freedom with which all sorts and
conditions of men feel competent to
handle all the problems of government.
A person devoid of medical training
would hardly assume to take over the
functions of q physician; few laymen
would undertake to manage the
conduct of complicated legal contro-
versy, with no training in the law, and
1t would be o bold person who had never
been to sea who would boldly volunteer
oither m faka fha hridpa Of an nraan