Evening star., 1936-01-29
REACTION AWAITED
TO ROBINSON TALK
Senator Charges Al Smith
Changed Front to Join
Enemy.
3y the Associated Press.

~ the Associated Press.
Political quarters awaited reaction
today to the New Deal contention that
Alfred z. Smith had advocated and
championed its every basic principle
but now had joined the enemy.
Senator Robinson of Arkansas took
the of1cial leadership against him by
radio last night.
Lets look at the record" he said,
and called on the Smith words of
previous years in testimony against
him today.
Regarding failure to fulfill the 1882
platform promise of IS per cent re-
duction in Government costs, the
Senator spoke Of relief needs and said
Smith himself was urging emergency
appropriations at the time the plank
was drafted.
Words Of 1888 Recalled.
The former New York Governor
had advocated tactics of war" in
1888, he recalled, including power for
the President to "cut, slash. dig into
and run through all the red tape and
through all the statutory restrictions. :"
Robinson belittled the Smith charges
Of socialism and communism He re-
minded that Smith himself had been
attacked for socialism" when advanc-
ing social policies.
He disputed the assertion that the
Constitution was being f1outed by the
administration. In that connection
the Senator read news dispatch of
early 1888 in which Smith-discussing
the depression emergency-WaS quoted:
Let us look back few years to
1917 and 1918. What did we do then?
Why, we took the Constitution and
wrapped it up and put it on the shelf"
Shift Seen to Liberty League.
New Deal principles. Robinson con-
cluded. constituted tn platform of the
Happy Warrior" of 1928, but the poll
cies of the Liberty League have become
the platform of the unhappy warrior" I"
The Capital watched to see what
effect the attitude of the administra-
tion would have on Smith, who threat
ened to take walk" unless the Phil
adelphia convention repudiate. Roose-
welt policies.
To Smiths charge that the New Deal
has tossed aside the party platform
and become socialistic, Robinson re-
piled that Smith was warning against
his own people and against the men
and women with whom he fought
shoulder to shoulder in the past"
Days of 1928 Recalled.
The Senator, who was Smiths run
ming mate in the 1928 presidential
campaign, said:
ALFRED E. Smith sought the presi-
dency in 1928 when a man who raised
his voice on behalf of the great causes
OF social justice and democratic prin-
ciples was regarded by the stock
ticker patriots with SNUG liberation or
as potential enemy of his country
Nov we are on the threshold of
another national campaign with the
same two armies facing each ether
The preliminary skirmishing is under
way, and what is our amazement to
find Gov. Smith enthroned in the
camp of the enemy.
"The brown derby has been dis
carded for the high hat"
Thinks Smith Speech Sterile.
Declaring Smiths "harangue" was
"barren and sterile" Robinson chal-
lenged his statement that there has
been no progress He contended the
country has come a long way since
the days of 1888 when hungry people
were searching the garbage pals"
and American farmers were halting
court foreclosures by physical force"
As for Smiths charge that the plat
form was violated, Robinson said;
Smith started to read the Demo-
cratic platform, but never finished it.
! wonder why? Was there something
further along. condemning stock mar
ket manipulations. that he didn't like
to read before his wealthy friends?"
Robinson reiterated the statements
OF other administration men that
Smith leveled the same charges of
socialism against the New Deal that
Herbert Hoover hurled at the New
Yorker in 1928
Declaring the New Deal had carried
out the very policies advocated by
Smith, Robinson said:
Il am sure Mr.. Hoover was with you
in spirit, his cherubic face agleam and
his chubby hands applauding ecstati-
cally, as you repeated against Mr..
Roosevelt the very speech which he
himself delivered against you in 1928"