Evening star., 1938-06-25

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views as to what
constitutes presidential interference
In a party primary and merely the
ADVICE of the Executive on the ques-
tion of principles.
Mostly there will be, however. wide.
spread interest, if not appreciation. as
to Mr.. Roosevelts definition of who
is a liberal" and who is a CON
servative" and who is a wild man"
calling himself liberal The Presi-
dent is to be congratulated for having
publicly given such definition
because it will tend perhaps to still
the irresponsible voices of those who
call everybody who disagrees with them
Tory" or a "reactionary" or a
spokesman for economic royalists."
Hardly Conservatives.
Mr.. Roosevelts explanation will be
incalculable value in the party pri-
maries because if it is examined care
fully it will be found that men like
Senator Van Nuys of Indiana and
Senator Gillette of Iowa can hardly
be called conservatives" Indeed
under Mr.. Roosevelt's new definition,
this correspondent can hardly be
classed as a conservative" but must
naturally be ranked with the school
of liberal" thought.
The President says. for instance:
THE liberal school of thought
recognizes that the new conditions
throughout the world call for new
remedies. These new remedies
can be adopted and successfully main
tatned in this country under our pres
ent form of government if We use
government as an instrument of CO.
operation to provide these remedies $
The opposing or conservative
school of thought, as a general propo-
sltlon. does not recognize the need
for the Government itself to step in
and take action to meet these new
problems. It believes that individual
Initiative and private philanthropy
will solve them-that we ought to
repeal many of the things we have
done and go back, for instance, to
the gold standard, or stop all this
business of old age pensions and un-
employment insurance, or repeal the
Securities and Exchange Act, or let
monopolies thrive unchecked-return,
in effect, to the kind of government
We had in the twenties."
Do They Deserve 1t?
Would Mr.. Roosevelt say Senator
Van Nuys or Senator George of Geor-
gia or Senator Gillette of Iowa de-
serve the attack leveled against them
by the Federal Office holders in view
of that definition? Doesn't Mr.. Roose-
welt know that not one of these Sena-
tors marked for slaughter in the pri-
maries favors the repeal of the major
pieces of New Deal legislation? To
Offset criticism that it was really the
Supreme Court issue which caused
him to acquiese in such attacks as
were made by Harry Hopkins on Sena-
tor Gillette, the President naively
remarks:
Il certainly would not indicate a
preference in a State primary merely
because a candidate, otherwise liberal
in outlook, had conscientiously diff
fered with me on any single issue" :"
Yet in most instances it is a single
issue-the Supreme Court packing bill
which aroused pro-Roosevelt Office
holders to seek and obtain from the
White House the benevolent smile
which started them on their opposi-
ton to incumbents in the party pri-
maries.
Objectives Not Reached.
This correspondent would qualify
under Mr.. Roosevelt's definition of a
'liberal" because I certainly have
never favored the repeal of any major
legislation and have insisted that the
laws be amended to make them truly
reach the objectives which the New
Deal has thus far failed to attain
except in its own pardonably benefi-
cent opinion. But the definition Of
liberal" leaves out too much and iso-
lates those of us who do not think
the present administration has really
used government as an instrument of
cooperation" or that it has used
democratic processes in its attempts
to solve national problems.
What we have witnessed unfortu-
nately is the activity of gang of poll
ticians who have put their hands on
the public treasury and dSbursed
funds and jobs through political
mechanisms and at the same time have
been so unmindful of public morals as
to refuse to write into the law Of the
land specific prohibition against
dishonest and corrupt use of Govern
ment funds in congressional elections.
Nor can the professions of virtue now
made erase the record of the last Con-
gress in handling the fiscal affairs of
the people. The deficits have been
piling up year after year. Light
hearted commitments to spend billions
are still being made without regard
to how the money is to be paid back.
Not q single dollar of reduction of ac-
tual debt has been accomplished in