Evening star., 1936-04-02
THE POLITICAL
MILL
By G. Could Lincoln.

1Ulitltul 6ODcip 40 VdhAiAb VA pAO-
Roosevelt tinge. Up to few weeks ago
every one was telling every one else
how the President had Slipped" The
New Deal was belted and stoned from
all sides. But with the approach Of
Spring there was a recrudescence OF
hope among the Roosevelt Democrats.
They began getting over the filters. And
now the talk is all to the effect that it
will be impossible to defeat the Presi-
dent for reelection.
Several contributing factors have
helped to change the tone of political
gossip and to convince the gossipers that
the Roosevelt candidacy is coming out
of its Midwinter slump. First, Demo-
Gratis in Congress who do not believe in
a lot of the New Deal measures and who
did not hesitate to say SO have jumped
back into the administration bandwagon.
There never was q chance, really, that
these gentlemen would not be in the
Roosevelt corner once the campaign got
under way. But their attacks on admins
tration spending, on the processing taxes
and the A. A. A. and whatnot gave dis
tinct impression that a lot Of Democrats
were OF the reservation.
n 4 II
There was talk of Glass and Byrd Of
Virginia, of Tydings of Maryland, Of
Bailey of North Carolina, and others,
who, 1t was said, might cause lot of
trouble during the election campaign.
Well, these gentlemen are not going to
cause trouble. They are going to be
found fighting shoulder to shoulder with
the most ardent New Dealers for the re-
election of the President. With these
declarations of allegiance the idea is
constantly spreading that, after all, the
Democrats will be wholly together and
will so vote next November. Senator
Walsh, up in Massachusetts,, has been
placed on the Roosevelt slate of dele
gates to the Democratic National Con-
vention. Tydings, in Maryland, since
the death of former Gov. Ritchie Is in
a way to become the dominant Demo-
cratic leader of the State. 1t is up to
he is to satisfy such an ambition.
In the second place, the antics Of the
Republicans up to date have been en-
couraging, rather than discouraging, to
the Democrats. They have not yet put
forward candidate who seems to COM
mand the support OF the various fac
tions in the party-and they may never
be able to do so. They have put forward
no program that has great appeal to
the people.
In the third place, death has played
its part in removing men who promised
to be real threats to the reelection of
the President. Huey Long of Louisiana
might have rallied lot of radicals and
liberals and turned them away from the
New Deal President. Former Gov.
Ritchie Of Maryland would have been
rallying post for conservative Democrats
who are opposed to Roosevelt. The late
Senator Bronson Cutting, one Of the
group of progressive Republicans in the
Senate, was strongly at odds with the
Roosevelt administration and might
have caused a deal of trouble.
The Supreme Court of the United
States has outlawed the N. r. A. and the
A. A. A. and removed them as issues in
the coming campaign. To that extent
the court seems to have done the admin
istration favor.
And so it goes However, there seems
no doubt that many independent Repub-
Hcans and many independent Democrats,
all of whom supported Roosevelt in 1882.
had become diSgusted with the New
Deal last Fall and Winter And, de-
spite the trend of the political gossip,
no one knows certainly that these Re-
publicans and Democrats are any more
satisfied today with the Roosevelt New
deal or with the President AS a mat
ter Of fact, until the Republican party
has nominated It's candidate for Presi-
dent and written its platform 1t will be
very difficult to estimate the probable
vote for and against President Roosevelt.
Once the opposing candidates have been
nominated and the platforms spread be-
fore the voters it will be possible to take
stock, and not until then. Polls con-
Quoted among the voters under those new
conditions will mean something.
Not all the events of later days have
been favorable to the Roosevelt cause.
The Black committee of the Senate, with
its high-handed seizure of kilograms, has
raised a great deal Of resentment and
given the opponents of the administra-
ton chance to shout terrorism" The
fact that the kilograms seized have been
those Of critics of the New Deal and the
kilograms of friends of the New Deal
have been spared does not make the
picture any better. And further fact
that a new agency, set up during the
Roosevelt administration, the Communi-
cations Commission, has been used as a
tool to seize the kilograms for the Sen
ate committee, ties the charges against
the Black committee in with the ad-
miniStration.
Congress seems in a way to become
entangled over the administration tax
and relief bills. Not long ago the Demo-
cratic leaders Of the House and Senate
were predicting this session Of Congress
would be ended by May /. But who be-
lieves now that q month will suffice to
dispose of the tax bill. which has still
to be drafted by the House Ways and
Means Committee? It will be some
thing of an achievement if the Congress
finds itself able to adjourn before the
national political conventions get under
way in June, even If the legislative pro-
gram should be confined to the tax and
relief bills.
Senator Borah's fight for delegates to
the Republican National Convention will
have its first round today-in New York,
where district delegates are elected in a
primary. The Borah people have put
Is candidates for district delegates in
the field. New York has total of 86
district delegates. In New York it is
much the same story, so far as the
Borah candidacy is concerned, as it is
in other Eastern States and in the Mid
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