Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1936-07-16

100 to 140 electoral votes upon
which the Democratic nominee
could build, they ought to have
something to say about his nomina-
ton, about the type of man select
ed. The two-thirds rule gave them
veto power and they have used
it many times.
Now, unless the old line Demo-
Gratis again gain control of the par
ty, the South will no longer be able
to sit as the umpire in deciding
the type of character of the man
who will bear their party label in
campaigns.
The question may arise in many
minds as to how the rule came to
be discarded so easily. Earlier in
this report to you, mentioned that
GA per cent of the delegates to Phil
adelphia were federal Office hold
ers or party leaders selected by
the Roosevelt patronage dispens-
ers. The presence of those office
holders and party leaders who
have been bound to the Roosevelt
administration in one way or an
other constitutes the answer. There
were enough of them in the south
ern delegations to constitute bal
ance of power on close votes in
state delegation caucuses. Hence
we witnessed good many south
ern states voting to abrogate the
two-thirds rule over protests of
some of their own numbers.
There is another circumstance
about the Philadelphia convention
that believe war
Vu0te rants mention. It
Jefferson may have gone I'M
noticed generally
but just 100 years after Thomas
Jefferson drafted the Declaration
of independence, the Philadelphia
convention of the Democratic par
ty copied from the immortal Dec
laration the famous phrase: eve
hold these truths to be self-evi-
dent"
It was bold move on the part
of the New Dealers to lift that
Jeffersonian expression and to
place it among the many new the
cries and new ideals which they
advance under the banner of what
was the Jeffersonian party. Some
observers point out that this ac-
ton may invite comparison be-
tween the political ideals of Thorn
as Jefferson and Franklin D.
Roosevelt because surely there is
| much more in the Declaration of In
dependence than the simple express
sion that certain truths are self
| evident.
In these days when the world, as
well as the American nation, is
>, sorely troubled and
10lR disturbed, those
About Peace Americans who are
convinced that iso-
lation may ruin our country, can
find little satisfaction either in the
Democratic or Republican plat
forms. This may not seem inn
portant until one looks back over
the last two decades. Examination
of what has happened in that time
is sufficient to demonstrate the sig
nifcance of this isolationist trend
by both major political parties.
The Republican plank on foreign
affairs has little to say and what it
says is chiefly negative. The plank
drafted by the Roosevelt admin
stration and adopted by the Phila-
delphia convention is as nebulous
as the milky way. Each platform
talks about peace but it is de-
cidedly doubtful that either plat
form has offered a genuine way
to obtain or maintain peace.
1t was only natural that the Re
publicans should restate their OPP
position to the League of Nations.
It was likewise only natural that
the Democratic plank on foreign
affairs should be full of glittering
generalities because it is yet to be
remembered that the late Woodrow
Wilson has countless followers in
the New Deal party who hold the
conviction that the League of Ma
tons, with American support,
would solve most world problems.
1t is obvious, therefore, that the
Democrats could not commit the
party either to League adherence
or on-adherence.
Except for the party split over the
old Wilsonian policies whose ideals
stood as a ghost in the background
in the Philadelphia convention, one
might have expected more definite
declarations from the Philadelphia
conclave. For example, the Roose-
welt administration has sponsored
reciprocal trade agreements. It
has broadened American foreign
policy in many other ways but
some leader in the group that
drafted the 1885 platform was
smart enough to realize that dec
laration on internationalism that
was too strong would have brought
about a vicious outburst at Phila-
delphia. In consequence, almost
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