The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1938-04-14

i
apparently going
to be loaded with more than the
usual amount of political dynamite.
There are three or four reasons for
tins and, as viewed from the CAPT
tai, any of them is worth watching
for the color of the results.
First, / should say these Demo
cratic campaigns are due to show
just about how far President Roose-
welt can go in debating party NOM
nations and to develop reprisals
against those Democrats who pre-
fer democracy to the New Deal.
This phase of the political picture,
of course, will have a bearing on
the 1910 Democratic National con-
vention. 1t may be the beginning,
therefore, of a battle in which the
Democrats will strive to recapture
their party machinery from the
Roosevelt-New Deal wing of the
party.
Second, the campaign may posi-
bly, disclose to what extent there
can be coalition among those OPP
posed to the New Deal. The coali-
ton idea has been gaining some fol-
lowers under the leadership of Sem
ator Vandenberg, Michigan Republi-
can, but it must be said in truth
that it has long way to go. South
ern Democrats never will vote for a
Republican label and there are
many sections of the north where
the Democratic label is just as poi
sonous to the Republican voters.
Third, the bitterness that is bound
to show up in some of the fights for
the Democratic nomination should
bring forth Republican spirit, if
there be any Republican spirit, and
thus it seems possible that factional
strife among the Democrats might
result in some sort of life being in
stilled into the opposition party.
Carrying that thought bit further,
one might conjecture that this par
adox of politics will reveal whether
the Republicans have honest-to-
goodness leaders anywhere among
them.
Primaries for the nomination of
candidates for the house of repre-
sentatives will be held in all states
during the spring and summer, ex-
cepting only Connecticut, Rhode Is
land, Delaware and New Mexico.
In those four states, the nominal
tons are made in state conventions.
Senatorial nominations will be made
in primaries excepting the four
states named above and in New
York and Indiana. New York and
Indiana will have state conventions,
and in Indiana, particularly, I am
informed that rousing battle is in
sight because of President Roose-
velt's determination to get rid of
Senator Van Mugs, who has sided
away from the New Deal and has
taken his position as a Democrat.
The, fight on Senator Van Mugs
started when he fought the Presi-
dents plan to add six new judges
to the Supreme court and it has
grown in heat constantly since.
So, from now on we may expect
to see more and more of the boys
stand up and be counted, either as
out-and-out New Dealers or as out
and-out Democrats who stand with
the New Deal only when they be-
ieve the New Deal policy to be
sound. 1t has been interesting to
note the fairness with which some
if not all the Democrats treat the
New Deal antagonism. I do not
know whether it is bred of a fear
that Mr.. Roosevelt still has a ire
mendous personal following or
whether the New Deal philosophy
and the Democratic philosophy CO.
incide at many places. Suffice it
to say that in the various speeches
and announcements that have been
forthcoming, new candidates for the
Democratic nomination for house or
senate have uniformly stuck to the
promise that when Mr.. Roosevelt is
right, they will support him; when
they think him wrong, they are pre-
pared to oppose him.
One of the latest to announce a
candidacy has been Rep. Worth
Clark of Idaho. He
AS an is seeking tn e
Illustration nomination from
the Idaho Demo-
Gratis for the senate seat now held
by Sen. ]. P. Pope. Those two
men serve as an excellent illustra-
ton of the point I have tried to
make. You can distinguish between
them as a Democrat and a New
Dealer, respectively. Senator Pope
has backed up the President on ev-
erything and no questions asked ;
Mr.. Clark takes the position and
frequently has said so with a bold
ness and an independence worthy of
Sen. Bill Borah of the same state,
that he is 900 per cent for Presi-
dent Roosevelt when I believe the
Presidents policies to be sound.
When they are not sound, in my
opinion, ] shall oppose them just as
vigorously as I would oppose moss
backed reactionary plans by Repub-
leans"
Now, it may be said by some that
Mr.. Clark is RELOCATING to himself
a considerable amount of authority
the statement that when he thinks
the Presidents plans are sour, he
will oppose them. I take an en-
tirely contrary view. The people
of a state send a man to the house