Evening star., 1938-07-17

ton and his desire
to punish those
who opposed these
policies.
ce.r,.. Nicholson. The reactionary
press, and the re-
dictionary spokesnhen generally, speak
of the process as purge" borrow
ing the phrase used to indicate the
ghastly doings in Russia and in Ger
many by which these totalitarian
governments rid themselves OF re-
bellious leaders. They have even in
vented an elimination commission" I"
which Is supposed to be going around
and organizing the campaigns against
anti-New Deal Senators. Never In
any of these attacks is there any ad-
mission of the possibility that the
President, conducting the battle be-
tween the forces of liberalism and the
forces Of reaction, may be actuated
by simple purpose Of having elected
or returned to Congress people friend
ly to his policies rather than those
who have indicated hostility toward
the legislation he deems necessary Tor
the welfare Of the country.
In the Presidents fireside talk,
made just before he started on his
journey, he made his position per-
fectly clear. He said: DO not mis-
understand me- I certainly would not
indicate a preference in State pri-
mary merely because q candidate,
otherwise liberal in outlook. had con-
scientiously differed from me on any
single issue" And he added I'VE
all know that progress may be blocked
by outspoken reactionaries and also
by those who say yes to a progressive
objective, but who always find some
reason to oppose any specific proposal
to gain that objective. I call that
type Of candidate q Yes, but fellow"
Past Presidential Preferences.
The Presidents manifestation Of
approval OF particular candidates is
gravely criticized by the Republican
and affiliated organs Of publicity rs
something unprecedented in American
history, whereas there probably has
never been a President Of the United
States who has not followed the same
procedure. We need go no further
back than the episode of Calvin Cool
idge's sending Lodge and the rest Of
the Old Guard to the rear at the
Cleveland convention. We might 60
back to the other Roosevelt and note
his cheerfully voiced attacks on
Foraker. Platt and Depew. 1t would
be a strange kind of President, In
deed, who did not wish for the sue
cess of those who tried to aid him in
what he was doing and prefer them
to those who persistently throw OBJ
stacles in his way. It is strange
habit Of thought to assume that the
President OF the United States is the
only person debarred from interest
in the nominees Of his own party.
Inevitably, his enemies hail the VIC
tory Of New Deal candidate as evi-
dence OF some nefarious interference
by the President, and just as inev-
itably they will attribute the election
of an anti-New Dealer to a party
revolution against the President. The
first of these incidents was the re-
nomination of Senator Pepper in
Florida. They tried to make an ex-
ample Of the second course suggested,
in the Iowa primary, where Senator
Gillette prevailed over Representative
Wearin. although in Iowa the only
thing they could adduce to indicate
the presidential preference was to cite
the circumstance that Harry Hopkins,
who was born and went to school
there, said that if he voted in Iowa
he would vote for the Representative.
Incidentally, both candidates pro-
claimed their loyalty to the Roosevelt
policies and the record of their votes
in Congress for and against New Deal
measures was just about even. In
Kentucky, the President did anything
but disguise the circumstance that
he favored Barley, the majority
leader in the Senate, over Chandler,
the Governor of Kentucky. Was any
body surprised at this? Was anybody
in doubt, even before the President
made his speech at Covington, where
the Presidents sympathies lay?
Local Considerations Govern.
At this writing, Indiana is higher
up on the political horizon than any
other State because Senator Van
Nuys, after being repudiated by the
local State Democratic organization,
has been invited back into the fold.
I don't think anybody has ever heard
President Roosevelt express an opinion
about Van Nuys, who voted against
the administration on certain meas
ures and with it on others. The Van
Nuys affair started long before the
Supreme Court fight. 1t was not
surprising that the anti-Van Nuys
faction brought the question of loyalty
to the President into their own pri-
vate feud. Apparently, however, some
things expedient to State politics de-
veloped and the Senator was REIN
stated. Nevertheless, notice by the
newspaper headlines that this was
crushing blow to the administra-
ton, etc. !
We will get headlines Of the same
sort, or with the reverse application
depending on how the primaries come
out-in the States in which the Presi-
dent is still to make speeches and in
which New Dealers are contesting for
nomination. We will also probably
be able to note that If q middle-road
incumbent of the senatorial ONCE Is
reelected he will be described as an
old dealer, even though he may have,
as most of them have, expressed his
loyalty to the President though he did
not 60 along with him on every
measure.
1t Is not merely in senatorial con-
tests that VIA hava fhaA> 6r> >~h;tI