Evening star., 1936-07-17

age, 10LO SOAK tQe TlCLl. 1ue SO6k
the rich" tax proposal encountered
many misadventures, too detailed to
recite here, which impaired Mr.. RooSe-
velt's prestige. In the end 1t was plain
that the bill did not accomplish any
material sharing Of the wealth.
Same Tactics Now Unwise.
Just because this strategy Of Mr..
Roosevelt did not work well in 1885,
and because Senator Long and his fol-
lowers felt outraged by the stealing Of
Longs thunder-for these very reasons
Mr.. Roosevelt will now ind it imprac.
ticable to lure back many Of the leftists
by again using some of the lefts' own
thunder. This present detection Of
leftists from Mr.. Roosevelt is deter
mined and implacable.
The present leftist detection includes
an element Of personal animus. One
of the leaders Of it, Rev. Smith, was
the devoted lieutenant Of Senator
Long. Many think, indeed, that Rev.
Smith provided some Of Longs astute-
ness and that he has greater rabble-
rousing ability. He has inherited all
Longs hatred Of Mr.. Roosevelt and
adds some Of his own. Persons who
have talked with Rev. Smith think he
is conscious Of his power, that he has
waited until now to show it, and that
during the campaign he will do as
much against Mr.. Roosevelt as Huey
Long himself could have done. Mr..
Smiths speech at the Townsend con-
vetnion was, Of its kind, an extraor-
dinary performance. Even the expert
enced and skeptical Henry l.. Mencken
had kind Of grudging admiration for
the art Of 1t. His speech was q
magnificent amalgam Of each and
every American species Of rabble -rous-
ing .. It's theme was not the virtues
Of the Townsend plan, but the vii
lainies Of the New Deal. He had not
been going two minutes before the
Roosevelt men in the hall, SO saucy
last night, began to look as If they
had been robbing hen-roosts. He &C
cused Jim Farley and the Young pro-
fessors Of every infamy conceivable
to the human Imagination He Is
Q rabble-rouser of the highest voltage
i. In the campaign he unquestion-
ably will draw buckets Of blood"
Coughlin Feels Betrayed.
In addition to Rev. Smith will be
Father Coughlin. Father Coughl1n,
like the Rev. Smith and Huey Long,
has a personal animus against Mr..
Roosevelt. Rightly or wrongly. he
feels, as Huey Long did, that Mr..
Roosevelt first cajoled him and then
betrayed him. Plainly Mr.. Roosevelt
has not much chance of Turing back
a leftward detection that is led by
these men and also by DR.. Townsend.
And If Mr.. Roosevelt cannot sue
cessfully appeal to the left. what then
will his strategy be? Will he abandon
the left and turn to the right In the
hope Of getting from the conserva-
tives some equivalent Of his leftist de-
serters? That can hardly work. Try
TO imagine how far Mr.. Roosevelt
would now be obliged to go TO the
right to get back Democrats OF the
type Of ex-Gov. Smith Of New York
and ex-senator Reed of Missouri, and
| Col. Henry Breckenridge. If Mr..
Roosevelt were now to swear on 20
Bibles-as at his Inauguration he
swore on one--to support the Consti-
tuition, he could hardly win back his
departed right wing Of conservative
Democrats.
In sum Mr.. Roosevelt finds himself
with both his left wing and his right
wing gone. Whether a leader thus
bereft can win battles is a thing which
doubtless political and military strate-
gists can tell us about.
Copyright, I936b