Evening star., 1939-07-05
Cui Bono?


been engineered so far by New Deal
stockholders. 1t is natural that it
should be so. A boom for second
term for a President usually starts
in the same way-although it has
come to be almost a tradition that
a President shall be renominated to
succeed himself-for a second term.
Cui bono-who benefits? 1t is be-
cause officeholders may cease to
be oficeholders should new Pres
ident of the United States be elected
next year that a drive for a third
term for any Chief Executive, made
by his office e-holding followers, is re-
garded with a certain amount of
suspicion. This is entirely aside from
the fact that the Presidents subordi-
mates and supporters in Congress
may honestly believe reelection of
Mr.. Roosevelt is for the best interests
of the country.
Foremost in the present drive for
a Roosevelt third term are Secretary
of the Interior Harold L. Ickes, Sena-
tor Joseph F. Guffey of Pennsylvania,
Senator George w. Norris of Nebras-
ka, and Solicitor General Robert
Jackson. Try as you may, it is
difficult to describe these gentlemen
as a cross section of the Democratic
party-though they may very we'll fit
into the picture as a cross section of
the New Deal party. No demand for
third term nomination has come, so
far, from men of the type of Harrison
of Mississippi, Clark of Missouri,
Tydings of Maryland, or Glass and
Byrd of Virginia. These are all
names with which the Democratic
party has been identified for years
years when Ickes and Norris were
on the other side of the fence.
Despite the strong opposition in
the Democratic party to third term
nomination for the President, or for
any President, the prediction is made
on all sides that the officeholders
can win for Mr.. Roosevelt renomina-
ton next year if he is willing to take
1t. The vast army of Federal officials,
who have their being in the present
administration, are the officers of a
great political machine that extends
into every State of the Union.
Senator Guffey, the latest to fire a
broadside demanding third term
for the President, is regarded as the
Democratic boss of Pennsylvania
certainly so far as Federal patronage
goes. It is his boast that Roosevelt
instructed delegation can be had
from the keystone State without
major difficulty. Senator Guffey, in
his recent radio speech urging the
denomination of the President, de-
livered vitriolic attack upon those
Democrats who have failed to sup
port Mr.. Roosevelt'S program in it's
entirety. Because some of them were
elected or reelected while Mr.. Roose-
welt was winning for President, the
Pennsylvania Senator considers that
they are in duty bound to support his
desires when presented in legislative
form. This is strange American doc
trine; strange doctrine in a coun-
try where the legislative and execu-
tive branches of the Government are
supposed to be independent and to
act with independence.
A third term nomination for Mr..
Roosevelt may be forced. If it is,
however, unless all present signs fail,
there will follow split in the Demo-
cratic party before which the old
Cleveland-Bryan days OF 1896 will
pale into insignificance. More than
personalities will be involved. Demo-
cratic party principles of more than
hundred years standing will be at
issue, not to mention the tradition
established by Washington and car
ried along by Jefferson and Andrew
Iockcoy,