Evening star., 1937-07-25
BY MARK SULLIVAN.
TITO SPEAK of what is happening
/ in America in terms of Demo-

~ II is some
thlng broader and deeper than that.
something that can only be expressed
correctly IN a terminology which most
OF America does not know. But we
must be patient with this condition
1t will take time for America to learn.
1t is not easy for our people to
understand that they are face to face
With deciding whether they shall keep
ther old form of government and
society or accept the authoritarian
conception which attempt is being
mace to impose upon them Gradually
our people are learning it. Most of the
better informed writer's, especially
those familiar with what has gone on
IN Europe during the last severa,
years, know what the situation is in
America and write about it accurately
In Congress the more thoughtful men
are beginning to learn. Representative
Hatton w. Summers, of Texas. chair
man OF the House Judiciary Com
mlttee. IN his speech against the
Presidents court measure. a speech
remarkable for its breadth and calm
ness. showed that he knows what the
real question is.
Government Disappointing.
When we look about us at the
nations OF the earth today, We know
that free government, popular gov
ernment on earth, relatively speak
Ing. is disappearing. For anybody
with our governmental traditions to
lace that situation and know that
the very Identical things which are
a11lctlng the other nations are also
eH1lctlng this nation, must be serious,
DO not let anybody fool himself about
That. People do not have dictators
. merely because they choose to have
olctators. They have dictators when
their problems exceed the govern
mental capacity of their people. =
We think these things cannot come
10 us. We are deceived by perfectly
fldlculouS egotiSm. = We hold the
Key position in the world today for
1ree government as against autocracv "
Gradually we shall all learn this
but l hope we shall learn it soon
enough. 1t would be tragic if We found
ourselves with an alien form of govern
ment and an alien form of society
imposed upon us merely because We
1alied to realize what is being done
Whlle that is the real question
whether we shall pass into "totaH-
tarlan form of government or keep
the form we have-nevertheless. the
merchanism through which We shall
night the question out will probably
be the familiar American party organ
lzatlons. Democrat and Republican.
together with probably one or two
additional parties in 1910. We will
hardly be given the opportunity to
vote directly and with clear KNOWLEDGE
upon the specific question, Shall
America keep its present form of
government or adopt a totalitarian
one II 1t were put before us that
way there could be little doubt what
the answer of the American people
would be. But dictators do not
announce their coming. They do not
run Tor election as dictators. They
creep up on the peoples; they take
advantage of conditions and thev
create conditions to which dictatorship
Is adapted, and then they seize control.
Party Names to Stand.
Not only for this reason. but for
another, will the question, in its
opening phase at least, be fought out
within the mechanisms bearing the
1amlllar American party names. DEM
ocrat and Republican, with perhaps
one or Two new parties arising later.
The terms Democratic" and Re
publican are SO deeply embedded in
american tradition and even in the
statutes in some States, that it is
olmcult TO change party names. It is
olmcult, also, though not impossible
OF course, to organize new parties on a
NaVlon-Wlde scale. In many States
the same statutes which tend to give
permanence to the terms "Democratic,
ana. Republican" tend also to make
the starting of new parties difficult.
IN the statutes of many States if is
only Tor the two old parties that
primaries are provided and only for
them that election officials and cleo
ton machinery are set up.
10 organize new party on a
Nationwide basis is an almost SUPER
human task. 1t can be done and has
been done-the elder Senator La
Follette had a fairly formidable third
party in 1924, and Theodore Roosevelt
had one in 1912. The latter was the
most ambitious and thorough going
attempt to organize a new party in
one year that has taken place in
American history But. although
theodore Roosevelt got 27 per cent of
the total vote and might therefore
nave felt justified in preserving his
new party, the fact is he knew the dav
a1ter the election that his new party
was not permanent, but was really
an irregular "rump'' movement of one
campaign While Theodore Roosevelt
as the presidential candidate of the
new party received a much larger
vote than the Republican party. and
while his party seemed therefore to
stand with the Democratic party as
the Nations two great parties, he
knew that his new party was doomed
He knew it because he observed that
his new party had elected hardly
any Governors, hardly any Senators,
hardly any Representatives to the House
and hardly any officials to local minor
Offices.
1t is these that compose the flesh
and bones Of every party; and it is
the little local county and precinct
rganizations-there are probably
$4,000 of them throughout the country
that keep the party living organi-
ration from year to year. A presi-
Dental candidate alone cannot make
party Even great new cause can
not make party except in time-there
must be time for the little local organi-
zations which are the living cells of a
party to crystalline, take root and grow
up.
New Parties Possible,