Evening star., 1937-11-23
THE POLITICAL
MILL
BY G. GOULD LINCOLN.

Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg of
Michigan, Republican, and cambridge
Colby. Democrat and Secretary of
State in the Wilson administration.
speaking last night at widely separated
places, suggested that the time has
come for partisan" action to de-
feat the New Dealers. The Michigan
Senator was speaking over a national
radio network and Mr. Colby was ad
dressing-strange as it may seem-the
Union League of Philadelphia, a hotbed
of Republicanism for many years. The
Union League, to be sure, was celebrat-
ing its 18th anniversary.
X X
Mr.. Colby recalled the fact that in it's
earliest days-When the league was Or
ganized to support the Union and Con-
acknowledgements had been members
of the league. Today, he insisted, there
is the same call of duty. Partisan diff
ferences and party cries have a remote
and hollow sound in our ears" he said,
adding: There are countless Democrats
throughout the country yearning to see
the effective union of all true and loyal
men. There are no impediments to such
patriotic union which intelligence and
sincerity cannot resolve
Senator Vandenberg, who gave his
grievances against the New Deal admin
istration seriatim, was equally emphatic
in his willingness to submerge partisan
feeling and join with the Democrats II
discuss the subject Where Do We Go
from Here, he said, from an unparti-
san dpoint-although obviously I
cannot detach myself from classification
with opposition to the present adminis-
tration. But I am prepared to 60 for
ward with any party-old, new or fused
which promises liberalism with< sanity"
These speeches are just two more
samples of sentiment that has been
running more strongly through both
Republican and Democratic circles,
although many of the leaders insist that
it would be impossible to organize effect
ually fusion and a fusion ticket to
enter the lists against the Roosevelt
New Deal in the congressional elections
next year and in the 1910 presidential
election.
If by any chance President Roosevelt
is persuaded to seek third term, the
result may be fusion Of Republicans
and antl-RooseVelt Democrats. Intimates
of the President insist he will not permit
himself to be named for the presidency,
but there is the usual crop of SkeptcS.
1t President Roosevelt does not run to
succeed himself, then the question Of
fusion Will reVolVe around the kind of
nominee the Democrats put forward.
The anti-Roosevelt Democrats, in the
party's national convention, will do their
best TO obtain the nomination of a candi-
date they like. If they succeed there
would be no use, in their opinion, Of
joining with the Republicans. Depend
ing on how far the recession goes,
and whether it is checked and better
times return, the President and his fol-
lowers may be expected to dominate the
next Democratic National Convention
and name the candidates. Incidently,
there is no longer the tWo-thirds rule
for Democratic presidential nomination,
so frequently check in the past. A ma
jority of the next convention will ncml-
nate.
When John P. Higgins, representative
for the llth congressional district of
Massachusetts, stepped out OF that office
to become chief justice of the Massachu-
settS Superior Court. he started some
thing. There is wild scramble for the
Democratic nomination in this strongly
Democratic district. Eighteen or pos
slbly nineteen Democrats are in the race.
The primary will take place November
30 and the election on December a..
Notwithstanding the fact that the Re-
publlcanS seem to have little chance. il
any, to carry this district, there are six
contestants for the G. 0. P. nomination.
| In recent "by-election" in another con-
gressional district of Massachusetts
| also Democratic diStrict-RepreSenta
| tive Connery. Democrat and brother
| of the late Representative William Con-
| merry. won by large margin over his
| Republican opponent. The Bay State is
| not showing many signs of returning to
| its old allegiance to the G. o. P. Yet
strangely enough Massachusetts has 10
| Republican members of the national
House and only five Democratic members.
The death last month of Col Lafayette
| B. Gleason, secretary of the Republican
State Committee of New York since 1906
| and secretary for the last seven Repub-
| lican National Conventions, removed
| from the political field in New York a
| stalWart worker for the G. O. P Col
| Gleason was never colonel" except as
| term of endearment The political
| reporters made him colonel in the
| State campaign of 1898. In that year
| Col. Theodore Roosevelt was running for
| Governor; Col. George w. Dunn was
| chairman of the State committee, and
| several other colonies were heads of
bureaus or departments in the campaign
| headquarters. So the newspaper men
bestowed the title of colonel" also on
Mr.. Gleason, who had not yet become a
secretary of the State committee, but was
| chairman of the committees speakers
| bureau, and he was "Colonel' Gleason
| ever after.
| The administration crop control bill,
| although not entirely in the shape desired
| by the President and Secretary Wallace,
has been rushed into the Senate despite
| the fact that members of the Committee
on Agriculture have insisted that this
must be no hurry up legislation. The
Senate committee considered the meas
| ure for a week and then reported its bill
Two excuses are given for the haste, one
that by reporting the farm bill it was
| possible to turn back for the time being
at least the anti-lynching bill. Southern
Senators have f1libustered for a week
against that bill. The chairman of the
Agriculture Committee is Senator Smith
of South Carolina. The other reason for
haste was to get the Presidents legisla-
tive program underway in Congress-
where 1t has stalled.