Evening star., 1937-07-28


strike these spokesmen as wholly i'm
possible and the moment an opinion
Is expressed which deviates even
slightly from New Deal philosophy
the fires of hate and the buckets of
smear paint are tuned on the indi-
vidualS who have the tcmerity to
assert their independence
Gov. Earle of Pennsylvania. who
wants to succeed Mr. Roosevelt in
the White House, was among the first
to denounce Gov. Lehman and to
question his liberalism just because
the New York Governor did not agree
with the Presidents court packing
plan. Another New Deal spokesman
wrote to several of the newspapers.
The stab-in-the- back letter from
Gov. Lehman of New York to Senator
Wagner urging the latter to oppose
the Presidents Judiciary reform bill
is the work Of professional banker
and an amateur politician.
incidentally, it serves President
put his trust in the sort Of man who
thinks that an honest. businesslike
administration of the State govern
ment is the same thing as advanced
political liberalism.
Lehman Praised Last Fall.
Whatever advanced liberalism may
be, it certainly includes nowadays the
technique of attrlbuting questionable
motives to your opponents and calling
names Gov. Lehman was a great
liberal last Autumn and nobody on the
New Deal side referred to him as
one-time investment banker. but
praised his achievements in behalf of
labor and the common people" To-
day all the progressive achievements
and constructive record of the New
York Governor are, according to these
New Deal spokesmen, to be cast into
the discard because Mr.. Lehman ey-
pressed himself as a citizen in a letter
to one Of the two Senators who
represent New York State in Congress.
The incident, however, is typical of
the smear idea which has prevailed
here ever since the New Deal began.
The strategy applied to those who
differed from the New Deal was ALWAYS
to attack them personally, to imply
that they could not possibly be honest
but must be a tool of some sinister
interests. Part of the game is to get
people to write letters to the press
accusing everybody who differs with
the New Deal of somehow being an
economic royalist" or q product OF
wealth and luxury
1t never seems to have occurred TO
these critics that they must find some
other name than economic royalists"
for at least 100000 of the 1900. 900
who voted last Fall against the New
Deal. For the latest available figures
IN income taxes showed that only ap-
proximately 10000 persons earned
enough money to pay income taxes.
Certainly the 100000 are persons
who toll for living and doubtless had
some apprehension that the New Deal
might have designs on our American
system OF constitutional government
The smear campaign is usually
handled by the Democratic National
committee, which believes that politics
permits it to violate all rules of fair
ness and yet that its own misadyen-
lures in circumventing the Federal
corrupt practices act are somehow
blameless. Mr.. Roosevelt is to some
extent culpable for permitting the
smear method to be used, for he him
self has occasionally used epithets
attrlbuting improper methods to those
VINO oppose him on public questions.
But the disciples of the New Deal have
learned the technique so we'll that
they employ it against anybody no
matter what his previous record. Thus
Senator Wheeler, liberal of liberals
mas lately been the subject of bitter
abuse by the so-called liberal spokes-
men.
Wheeler Object of Scorn.
The chief objection is that he hap
pened to use his judgment independ-
entity OF the New Dealers. It seems
that person who disagrees with the
New Deal may do so privately, but to
make public his dissent is a high
crime and misdemeanor in the code
OF so-called liberals.
Gov. Lehman's misdeed, it seems,
was that he let the public know how
he felt about the Supreme Court plan
and that he released his letter at the
wrong time. Just why one who fights
Tor cause must conform to some rule
laid down by persons on the other side
when he wants his own contention to
prevail is something of mystery.