Evening star., 1938-10-30
By NC. r.

IN 0ef me8a0ne fe0oln9, mas nOuCeQ
the occurrence Of Q most disturbing
word. It u found In . piece by Mr..
Raymond Clapper in the October
Current History and again in one by
Mr.. Harold Lord Varney In the Novem-
Der American Mercury. Mr.. Clapper's
article Is called Roosevelt Tries
the Primaries" and Mr.. Varney's Is
called Roosevelt Does Not Want Re-
covery." And the word Is purge"
Do you like the sound Of 1t - applied
to American politics?
To be sure. it 10 used only incl
dentally in both pieces. Only in pass
ing, as 1t were. Mr.. Clapper refers
to the Presidents recent activities
In the primaries as conforming to .
certain kind Of purge list" and then
goes on to . discussion Of the phe-
nomenon Of the presidential interven-
ton. Mr.. Varney says, in his opening
paragraph, that while the President
might well be doing something for
business. he has turned to party
purges"; after which, Mr.. Varney
writes Of business conditions. Neither
author, the reviewer would make
clear, is writing about purges as such.
The word has simply come out Of
their thoughts as q natural name for
Mr.. Rooseyelt's recent primary cam
paigning.
But 1t Is this very casualness toward
what the word implies which has
impressed the reviewer. She has
been used to seeing purge" in print,
and that with unhappy frequency,
as has every regular reader Of maga-
zines. But until recently 1t was used
with . European reference. Purges
meant arbitrary activities of European
dictators against those who differed
with them. Purges meant the con-
fining Of dicator's political opponents
in concentration camps. discriminatory
measures against Jews, executions of
political dissenters after mock trials.
mass killings without any trials and
other horrors which every one will, Of
course, remember. They were Euro
pean horrors. Americans did not
speak Of them without q self-congratu-
latory sensation. Could 1t happen
here? Most certainly it could not
Well, Mr.. Roosevelt's action in tax
ing the stump for his chosen candi-
dates would seem to be, certainly. a
very mild version Of the European
practice. It may be that the word
is wrongly applied. AS far ps the
reviewer has noted, Mr. Roosevelt's
critics in the matter have chiefly
questioned the taste and propriety of
his action; they have felt it a degra-
dation Of presidential dignity and have
resented 1t as such. But whether the
fault lies with him or with the writer's.
there can be few Americans who will
be pleased at the setting Of any kind
Of precedent in our high political
circles which conforms, In any degree,
to the connotation back Of the word
purge" II purging Is 10 be done in
our country most Of us will feel that
it is the right Of the vueer to do 1t.
The question Of the Presidents pos
sible third term. which has been COM
ing up intermittently now for over
year. Is again foremost In the
November Commentator. It Is con-
sidered in that periodical In Q leading
article written by Mr.. James Truslow
Adams. Mr.. Adams. being . historian.
treats the subject historically. giving
in turn the attitude toward indefinite
reelection Of various founders. Coming
to the present he retains his historical
viewpoint. and quotes US George
Washington. who sa3dS when a
people have become McaDahle of
governing themselves and At for =
master, it is OF little consequence
from what quarter he comes"
Thereafter, Mr.. Adams Bays, with
eloquent brevity, Germany had 4
constitution and now has her Hitler"
His own opinion can be judged
from the following quotation:
80 personally would consider
the election of Roosevelt for a third
term danger Of the first magnitude.
On the other hand. I am disinclined
to tie the hands Of the people so that
they could never. under any circum-
stances. elect a President for a term
of more than four or six years.
If q constitutional tradition Of q
century and half, and the sound
sense of the voters cannot keep us
from dictatorship, it is at least an
open question whether an added clause
to the Constitution would do so."
Dictatorship? We are well used to
seeing that word used in reference to
our own country now. 1t should, Of
, course. be more shocking to an Ameri-
can than purge" since it is out Of
relationships that the purging habit
comes. But, somehow, the reviewer.
from the viewpoint Of some years Of
steady magazine reading, cannot be-
leve that even the most bitter as
sailants of the President have really
feared absolutism from HMM the
sense. that Is, that absolutism exists
In Europe.
They have feared, instead, that by
allowing the concentration Of power
in one once the people would be
brought to an even worse condition
than that Of the citizenry Of the for
eign dictatorships-a condition OF
muddling disorder In which the free
enterprise Of individuals would be
repressed without even the dubious
compensation OF a strong. consist
ent central plan. For, though there
has been much talk Of planning" and
"co-ordination" by the present ad-
ministration, the reviewer has not
come on any piece Of authoritative
writing which admits that any real
plan, genuinely co-ordinated, has been
brought forth. Instead, the concensus
Of political observers opinion seems
to be that 30 far the Roosevelt regime
has consisted Of q series Of false starts.
each one designed to act as q red
herring across the trail of . preced-
ing failure.
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