Evening star., 1936-06-19
new DEAL TESTS
LANDON PUNCHES
Begin Cautiously to Break
Through Defenses of
G. 0. P. Nominee.
By CARLISLE sAKGERON.


The New Dealers are getting around
quietly to the business of unloading
the stuff they always said they had on
Gov. Landon They are peddling, and
1t is appearing with increasing fire.
quency in the newspapers, the story
Of how the Governor was party to
Governors petition to the President
late in 1888 urging him to set up an
N. r. A. for agriculture and also to
pay or the fourth Liberty Loan with
greenbacks.
These Governors, 1t is contended,
far from being worried about regi-
mentation of the farmers, wanted to
put them under a licensing system.
And the point is made that the urg-
ing of a greenback issue does not
square with Landon's gold statement,
which was read to the convention as
an addendum to the platform.
Strangely enough, it was the influ-
ence of the so-called reactionary
group that prevented the inclusion of
the gold statement in the platform
itself They argued against it on the
grounds of political expediency. Then
Landon came along with a statement
saying, in effect. that it was his
understanding that there should be a
return to the gold basis when it could
be done without injuring farm values.
Gold Change Unlikely.
Neither his statement nor similar
declaration in the platform is more
than political gesture to the East.
however, because no authority is seri-
ously advocating a return to the gold
standard at this time. It is another
one of the New Deal reforms" which
must be accepted simply because it is
something that has been accomplished,
right or wrong, and it is impossible to
get away from it.
What the New Dealers hope to do in
peddling the greenback story, how
ever. is to knock down the interpreta-
ton that Landon'& statement, after
the Platform Committee had refused
the gold plank. was courageous. And
they also want to question his sin
cerity in denouncing regimentation of
the farmers when the Governors
wanted to license them.
The Governor did not personally at
tend this famous conference. He sent
q representative authorized to act for
him. It was in October, 1888.
Ghost of Bull Moose.
The New Dealers are also going
back to the Bull Moose platform of
1912 in an effort to show how "Landon
has changed" One of the most con-
troversial points in this platform was
that providing for the overriding of
judicial decisions by referendum. The
Governor bolted the ticket to follow
Theodore Roosevelt and this platform
He was in his twenties at the time.
The handicap under which the
New Dealers are laboring with this
sort Of ammunition. however. Is that
they can't make any use of 1t ex-
cept to pass 1t out to friendly news
papers and they haven't got many of
these.
They can't make an issue of it be-
cause the only point they make is that
"Landon is as progressive as Roose-
velt." One of the most uncomfortable
figures Is Harry Hopkins. He would
like to tell how it was his Federal
funds that made it possible for
Landon to balance the budget. Lam
don, however, has never said this
was not the case. Indeed, he has
never boasted about the budget being
balanced. His ballyhooers have. Un-
der the circumstances for Harry to
be shouting that he was responsible
for the budget balancing would only
serve to emphasize that it Is balanced
He wouldn't get any argument from
the Governor.
Voters Tired Of Past.
There are indications, in fact, that
the New Dealers are running into
the same attitude that confronted
the Republicans 50 long. That is. the
people don't want to hear any more
about the past. They are asking
where they go from here. That some
thing Is wrong in Washington is
rather generally assumed.
There was criticism Of the conven-
ton speeches Of Senator Steiwer and
Representative Smell on the ground
that they were not constructive"
OF course, they could not have been
constructive" because they we're not
writing the platform. The criticism
reflected a mood, however. which
initiates against the efforts of the
New Dealers to knock down Landon.