Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1936-11-15
WHATPRESIDENT WILL DO
ANSWERED BY CITIZENS
Vote Almost Wholly Tribute to Man in
Gratitude and Admiration, and Not
Protest on Issues or Rival.

pcISOilal2Vy IA tAiCA 4CApeioAAo W1eAi GILL;
ployers.
One group that voted largely for
Mr. Roosevelt, because of economic
benefits either received or expected,
was the farmers-especially the ten
ant farmers. OF all the farmers in
the United States something more
than 40 per cent are tenants who do
not own the acres that they pillow. 1t
cannot be said, as q sweeping gen.
eralization applicable to all the coun-
try that the tenant farmer Is q de-
pressed group. Between the tenant
farmer in the South and Southwest,
and the tenant farmer in States like
Iowa, there Is vast difference. The
tenant farmer in the Midwest Is q
man Of property. with a fair economic
status, for, without owning the land,
he owns the plant, the cattle, the i'm
PIGMENTS. the horses and the crops.
To tenant farmers everywhere Mr..
Roosevelt had held out q promise of
greater access to ownership of the
land.
The proportion of farm owners who
voted for Mr.. Roosevelt was less. Yet
many Of them had received direct cash
benefits from the administration
Others had received amelioration of
their mortgages or Of the rates Of in
terest they had to pay.
For nearly IS years, ever since the
bursting Of the wartime boom in
prices Of farm crops, farming had been
a depressed occupation, relative to
other industries. For IL of those years,
during which the Republican party
had been in power. farm spokesman
had clamored for relief and had been
turned away by Republican Con-
crosses. Mr.. Roosevelt listened to
them. To some farmers the Roosevelt
administration gave one form Of
largesse. to others another. To prac-
tically the whole Of the farming in
dustry he had given something. Most
of them felt grateful and voted their
gratitude.
In the sum Of those who made up
Mr.. Roosevelt's vote there were other
groups. There were debtors who found
their obligations easier to pay, either
through increase in prices that took
ton, or through the lowered interest
rates and increased business activity
that came about. Here, again, much Of
this would have happened under any
President, for much Of it was normal
incident Of the inevitable rebound
not the cause Of recovery, was the
symbol of it. And to fail to distinguish
between cause and symbol. and to pay
difference to the symbol, Is one of the
most familiar Of human traits. There
was recovery-and there was Mr..
Roosevelt in the White House. Ergo,
the one was the cause Of the other. It
was the reverse Of the equally illogical
association of Mr.. Hoover with depres-
sion.
Sentimental Expression.
Another group of the Roosevelt
voters consisted of those who. without
having received direct personal bene-
fit from Mr.. Roosevelt's administra-
ton, nevertheless saw Mr.. Roosevelt
as a humanitarian and voted for him
sentimentally.
What elected Mr.. Roosevelt was the
sum Of various gratitudes. 1t was
wholly gratitude toward Mr.. Roose-
welt. 1t was not, to any serious degree,
hate toward any element Of the coun-
try's social structure. Mr.. Roosevelt
at various times tried to stir up hate,
did so blatantly. 1t was quite unneces-
sary, for the attainment Of his objec-
tives did not depend upon creating
hate toward any group. There was no
condition that called for the hate
provoking epithets and speeches which
Mr.. Roosevelt occasionally emitted.
One can only assume that the egging
of Mr. Roosevelt to this sort OF thing
came from advisers close to him who
had an objective more extreme than
his own, an objective Of bringing about
a real class struggle in America, and
out of that a revolution to the Ameri-
can form of society and government.
Mr.. Roosevelt's vote was almost
wholly a vote for him as President
and as man. To a very slight extent
was 1t a vote against any person or
against any institution or idea. It
was not a vote against the Constitu-
ton. 1t was not a vote against the
Supreme Court. 1t was not to a meas
Irable extent a vote of angry DrOtest
in behalf of New Deal measures which
the Supreme Court had invalidated.
Had the ballots in this November cleo
ton contained the question, do you
wish N. r. A. re-enacted?" probably
most of the voters would have ignored
the question or voted no. And prob
ably the same as to Triple-A.
(Copyrisht, 1896. by the New York Tribune,
Inc.)