The Waterbury Democrat., 1936-06-06
Out of the Shambles

Barely in time for the convention in Cleveland, the overworked National Re- publican Club, the Women's National Republican Club, the New York Young Republican Club and other g. o. p. organizations, finally unveiled in the Metropolis "a proposed national plat form" that might have astonished even the most ardent admirers of President Roosevelt. For aside from the generali- ties without which no Old Guard pro- 1iouncenent would be recognizable, the document is no less than pale reflection of the New Deal itself.
 It approved flatfootedly unemployment insurance and old age pensions with Fed eral aid to the States; a Federal State program for youth; labor's right to col lective bargaining; the establishment of minimum wages, maximum hours, aboll- ton of sweatshops and child labor; con- servation program to combat floods and soil erosion; housing program; cooper Rtion with other nations to revive world trade and, believe it or not, a system whereby business organizations would set up codes of employment and competition.
 Of course each and every one of the foregoing has already been put on the statute books by MT. Roosevelt'S admin IStration, as have also been enacted laws covering every subject touched upon less wildly in this long deferred declaration. And no details are divulged as to how the 2. o. D. would go about the exceedingly tedious process of revamping or admin lStering the respective measures. In fact, all that has been done during the three years of the Roosevelt administration is haughtily ignored, except for the broad indictment that it's activities have vio- lated the American system" But while there is no definition of methods, the draft as submitted to the delegates to the Cleveland convention and their sponsors does contain some interesting side lights.
 For example, in reaching after so many decades recognition of the right of workers to engage in collective bargain. ing, which, of course, President Roose- welt put into effect through the MIRA and through the Labor Relations Act after MIRA was knocked out, this Charles D. Hilles model stipulates that such collec- tive bargaining is to be permitted only if there is "no interference from any source"
 As befits the occasion, this draft is silent on the subject of holding com UanieS, but it vigorously demands less government regulation of business. It calls for return to the Hoover system of "farm relief" by government buying of surplus farm commodities, thus tossing that problem into former Governor Frank o. Lowden's lap. It boldly, even arro- gantly, takes the federal government out of relief, with the resultant starvation of several million persons each year. It placidly paves the way for higher income taxes in the lower brackets and is heartily in favor of more jobs, without indicating how they are to be got or given.
 It, therefore, winds up as the g. o. p. once more and so ceases to be incongru- ous. But it is clearly defined eXempli- fication of fact that for some time has been evident to observant people, namely, that no major political party can longer ignore the necessity for liberal reforms in this country, such as even the Conser- vative die-hards of England indorsed at the turn of the century. And while even implied imitation may still be the sincerest form of flattery, this is no year for flattery in any form.