Evening star., 1937-03-15


But most of the
prophets have been wrong in just
how such realignment would oe
brought about-that is, what method
would be used and what would be
the provocation.
The coming of a realignment Is
much clearer today than it has been
for two decades but the formula is
sven less clear.
To put all the conservatives into
the Republican party, for example,
and all the non-conServatives into
another party does not happen 70
meet the political specifications of the
day.
The last campaign demonstrated
conclusively that Democrats Of con-
Servative leaningS will not join the
Republican party in any great num-
bers. For one thing, the latter party
showed at Cleveland that it did not
understand the Importance of coali-
ton. Throughout the campaign the
Cleveland platform was a distinct
handicap toward the acquisition Of
Democratic votes except on few
issues.
Some See G. o. P. Gain.
Conversely, the name Republican
means a great deal to lots of con-
aervatives, many of whom think that
eventually the Nation will turn away
from the New Deal Party and embrace
the alternative party even if it con-
tinues to be called the Republican
party.
Such conjectures, however, relate
TO some hypothetical election in which
the misdeeds and misdemeanors of
the Democratic party are to become
crystal clear to the electorate. Any
such appraisal of the future fails
to take into account that the I'M
mediate situation precipitated by the
Supreme Court controversy, for in
stance, cannot be solved that way.
The Democrats who sre Staunchlv
opposing the Presidents plan 70
pack" the supreme Court oid not
six weeks ago, before the plan Was
revealed, have any sympathy for the
Republican party platform and they
do not have any more sympathy today
for Republicanism just because they
are opposed to Mr.. Roosevelt's court
proposal.
AS a matter of fact the question
isn't going to be decided by mere
anticipation of some future cam
paign in which the errors of the
New Deal will supposedly have ac-
cumulated enough opposition 20
swing an election for the Republicans.
What will decide the fate of the
American political parties is the i'm
mediate situation growing out of the
fact that when 30 or 40 Senators
elected as Democrats and supporting
Mr.. Roosevelt in the regular election
last November come up for renomina-
tion or reelection in the Spring of
1938-about II months hence-they
will meet head-on the political Ven-
Reance of the New Deal.
G. o. P. Must Map Policy.
What kind Of sacrifices are the con-
servatives of the Republican party will
ing to make for the Democrats who
will have sacrificed themselves on the
altar of devotion to the American
system of government? VIII the Re-
publicans adopt a militant attitude of
support for these Democrats, or will
they be swayed by local factional
squabbles and the desire of some for
mer Republican Office holders to run
for office?
Out West inside the various States
where one party or the other in the
last quarter of century has become
dominant almost to the extinction of
the opposition party, situations COM
parable to what is ahead today have
been solved in the primaries of the
dominant party. In North Dakota,
Democrats who wanted voice in State
sffairs entered the Republican pri-
maries. Likewise, Republicans and
Democrats have gone over in large
numbers from time to time to the
Farmer-Labor party in Minnesota. In
many Western States former Repub-
Dcans have gone in and voted in the
Democratic party primaries.
This is not only true of the rank
and file but it is also true of the So
called local leaders here and there.
Thus in the present-day Democratic
organization in the city of Phila-
delphia, for instance, will be found
many a local precinct leader who
used to hold forth in the good old
days" under the Penrose and Ware
auspices of Republican landslides.
Fight Hinges on Future Action.
If the Democrats who are opposing
the Presidents plan to pack the Su-
preme Court were to be sure that Re-
publican conservatives would vote in
Democratic primaries and assure their
denomination and then would stick to
these Democratic nominees in the
party election, there would be no doubt
of the outcome of the present fight.
This is because many of the Demo-
cratic Senators who are marked "non-
committal' are Wavering toward the
court plan because they do not dare
risk their political future by breaking
with the New Deal.
II the Democrats in the Senate were
to feel politically justified in voting
their convictions, not only would
the Presidents plan be beaten, but
many other measures that are con-
sidered to be unsound from an eco
nonlic standpoint would also be de-
feated.
Republican conservatives, however,
would have to show a willingness to
go further than they have indicated
heretofore. They cannot have their
cake and eat it. They will be COM
PEELED to recognize that, in a nutshell,
President Roosevelt's broad purposes
are right, but his methods are wrong.
Will the Republicans accept the
Roosevelt purposes-to make Nation
better nourished, better clad and bet
ter housed? Will they agree that
better definition of interstate COM
merce is needed even if constitu-
tional amendment is the only way to
get it? Will they furnish progress