The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1938-05-20
The z official decision to launch

Inc OHlGlAl u6ClSiOli w AdlHfGH'
! a thifd party aifed the Ma
tionaI T;ogg91sive Party, and
headed byi Governor Philip. La
Toilette of WiscOnsin-is Of MAJ
jor political importance. The chief
significance of the move lies III
its possible effect on the existing
parties, and on future elections.
The history of third party
movements in this country has
been generally a history of prac-
tically complete failure, so far
as the parties themselves were
concerned. Today who remem-
bers the Locofocos, the Free
Sellers, the North Americans, the
Blue Light Federalists, the Anti
Masons-all important third party
movements in their time? The
last third party drive that got
anywhere at all was that of 1924,
when the senior La Toilette ran
for president with Senator Wheel
er as his team-mate and polled
total of 100000 votes out of 3d.
900, 900 cast. But the ticket re-
eglEed the electoral w6te only
one state, Wisconsin.
= Occasionally, ghoweYeM axthird
party bolt has been tA decisive
factor in national election, and
has so made an important con-
tribution to the course of gov
eminent. This was the case in
1912, when Theodore Roosevelt,
having split with Taft and the
regular Republicans, led the Bull
Moose" revolt. The Rough Rider
did not get elected, in spite of
the advantage that he had been
President, and enjoyed an inn
mense popularity-but he took
enough of the Republican vote to
elect Wilson, and to leave Taft
the worst beaten incumbent in
American history. And the
wounds that the split caused in
the Republican ranks took a long
time to heal, and are generally
believed to have been a major
factor in the reelection of Will
son in 1916, when he beat Hughes
by the narrowest of margins.
The potential Importance of
the National Progressive Party
thus lies in the possibility that it
may have some such effect as
this on the current political set
up. And the stage is certainly set
for a political upheaval, and the
realignment of political groups.
The. party in power, the Demo-
cratic, has its most dependable
support in the South. 1t was this
solid South following which kept
it going during its bad years af-
ter the war, when many COM
mentators forecast its imminent
demise. But, as everyone knows,
the South is largely conservative
The principal Southern Senators
byrd, Harrison, Glass, Bailey,
etc.--incline toward the right
The New Deal on the other hand,
is leftish. It's most consistent
congressional supporters are
Northern Democrats, from states
which in former times were often
or usually counted in the Repub-
lican neutrality-suspicious., New
York, the New England group,
the corn-belt, and the far West
1t is the industrial East and Mid
die West, rather than the agrarian
South, which is most enthusiast
tic for the Roosevelt policies.
At the same time, there arc
many followers o., the New Deal,
including a sizaHe bloc in the
House, which believed that the
President has not gone ar enough
left. These men are emi-radi-
scais--they do not 60 Us far as
do the extreme left-wingers. who
vote for minority tickets such as
the Communist. And it is to this
left group, and to the left SYM
pathizing constituents who elect
ed them, that Governor La Fol-
lette's new party viii offer its
principal appeal. Furthermore.
the party starts with one state
apparently lin the bag"-Wiscon-
sin has always supported the La
Follettes with hardly deviation.
and there is no indication that
sentiment among Wisconsin vot-
ers has changed.
To sum up, the la Toilette
movement IS for the first time
offering these seEni-radicals o.
party headed, BY men with ma
tional politieaf reputas lions who
viii sponsor platforInN that are
lag ! IN eskord WITH LEFT wing
AIf8A4k1kalt4d same tire, tperels
a growing movement b foot for
G. coalikioM BAtSHeen Hpufslst2lis
ana axshadoS nemncE = loE the
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