Evening star., 1939-04-24

Charles G. Ross. be ready again
| to cast a protest vote against the
party IN power Various polls taken
since November are cited in sup
port OF this view.
Certainly there is far more reason
for Republican optimism than the
party has had since it's defeat of
1882. On the face of things. the
Republicans have a chance to come
back. War might wipe 1t out, a siz-
able business recovery in the sum-
mer and fall of 1910 almost cer-
tainly would, but the chance un-
questionably exists today.
The Democratic party seemed
headed for political oblivion after
1923. Hoover, who had cracked the
Solid South, was acclaimed as surely
tWo-term President, and a long
era Of Republican rule appeared to
lie ahead. The United States had
oecome, so it was widely said, vir-
tually one-party country. The
same thing was said after the DEM
ocrats scored their great victory Of
1882 and 1t was said with greater
emphasis after the Roosevelt sweep
of 1886. Now the Republicans have
proved again, through their Sue
cesses last fall. as the Democrats
proved in 1882, that the United
States remains two-party country.
One-Party System Repugnant.
The one-party system is repug-
nant to the form of democracy
which We have developed out of the
shifting of political power, at COM
paratively short intervals, from one
set of rulers to another. Buttressed
though it was by the gratitude Of
powerful interests for the high tariff
and other favors, the Republican
party crashed under the weight of
the countrys economic ills in 1923.
Today the Democratic party, around
which had been building a legend
of invincibility due to its vast ex-
penditures for relief, is threatened in
its turn with defeat. The people
may turn against Santa Claus.
All this is in accord with the po.
litical genius of the American peo-
pie. Whether or not one deplores
the seeming tendency to call halt
on reform, the threatened change iS
manifestation of the American
brand of democracy.
Contest Between Ins and Outs.
Our political fighting at times is
no more than contest between the
ins and the outs, under deceptive
labels, but fighting we shall continue
to have, with success now to one
side and now to the other, so long
as the present system of govern
ment endures We are not, nor are
we on the road to becoming, a one
party country.
So, whether you cast the horoscope
philosophically or in more practical
terms, the Republicans have a
chance to return to power. There
are two great hurdles they have got
to get over. One is the present large
adherence of the relief vote to the
Democratic party; the other is the
tieup of the colored vote of the
Northern and border States with the
Democrats.
Republican leaders say many of
those on relief-whether straight.
relief or the w. P. A-will swing
to the G. o. P. in the belief that
only through the revival of private
business can their lot be improved,
and that only through the Repub-
hcan party can revival be brought
about.
Tangible Evidence.
Bracketed with the theory Of a
shift in the relief vote is another
which has, at the moment, a greater
amount of tangible evidence to back
it up. This is the assertion that
great numbers of the colored popu-
lation who have been voting with
the New Deal will return to the Re-
publican fold. There were con-
spicuous Republican gains among
them in the last elections, notably
in Ohio, Michigan and New Jersey.
The colored voters, say the po-
Itical statisticians. hold the balance
Of power in eight Northern States in
any close election. 1t will be one Of
the prime objectives of the Repub-
lican high command to bring them
back to their old allegiance, and on
the outcome of this effort may we'll
depend the presidential election
result Of 1910.