Evening star., 1939-06-23

- ~ PCidIc, pCIIldpS
an epochal
Charles G. Ross. struggle to con-
troll the party. Issues vastly more
significant than the personal for
tunes OF any candidate are in
volved.
The lines are clearly drawn. On
the one side, to use convenient
term, are the Garnerites-those who
would hold the party, approximately,
to its traditional course. On the
other side are the Rooseveltians
those who would make the party
permanently into the image of the
President. The cleavage between
the two groups is deep, and on any
logical basis it is wholly irrecon-
cilable. Any compromise must be
thing of shreds and patches;
it could only be made to hang to-
gether by a common hunger for
the bread-and-butte spoils of
office. Sooner or later any COM
promise must fall apart and the
battle be fought over again.
Deeper Than Party Row.
The fight is different from the
ordinary factional row among the
Democrats. 1t is different, for
example, from the fight in 1882
when Farley and Roosevelt wrested
control of the party from Raskob
| and Shouse. That was a battle
along customary lines for the con-
| troll of the party machinery. There
were economic differences, it is true,
between the leaders of the con-
tending factions, but they were not
fundamental; they could be COM
promised. For Mr.. Roosevelt at that
time, it should not be forgotten, was
an orthodox Democrat; there was
nothing either in his record as Gov
ernor OF New York or in the plat
form on which he was nominated
or his acceptance speech to keep
any orthodox Democrat from vot-
lngfor him. The votes by which he
finally procured the nomination
were turned to him by none other
than the man who is now the head
and front-in the popular estima-
ton If not in his own-of the move
ment to destroy the Roosevelt domi-
nation of the party.
The situation offers curious
parallels to that which split the
Republican party in 1912 and
brought about the election of Wood
row Wilson. Then as now a Roose-
welt was the central figure of the
drama. Then as now the battle
was waged over deep-cutting issues.
Then as noW-though with the diff
ference that the first Roosevelt
sought a third term after the lapse
of four years-there was the oues-
ton whether the presidential tenure
should be limited to two terms.
The Republican Old Guard in that
turbulent party gathering at Chicago
In 1912 brought "steamroller" into
the political patter of the day.
Roosevelt, as the election was to
show, was by far the stronger candi-
date with the people, but the Taft
crowd owned the party machinery,
and they used it with a ruthless
efficiency that has rarely, if ever,
been matched in a party convention.
Nor has the bitterness of the fight
between the Stalwarts and the
Roosevelt partisans been often
equalled; some of the epithets that
were tossed back and forth make
the name-calling of today tame by
comparison.
Owned the Wreckage.
The Old Guard had one supreme
motive in that historic contest-to
retain their control of the party:
the fortunes Of Mr.. Taft were
minor matter. You are wrecking
the Republican party" someone, the
/ story goes, said to Boies Penrose.
Penrose replied: Yes, but we shall
own the wreakage' The Old Guard
held control; Roosevelt, heading the
Bull Moose party, stood at Arma-
| geddon and battled for the Lord;
and the Democrats walked through
the Republican breach into the
White House. Eight years later the
proprietors of the wreckage came
into their own.
How far will history carry the
parallel between the Republican
split of 1912 and that which marks
the Democratic party today?
Mr.. Garner sees himself as the
anointed Conservator of the pre-
Roosevelt traditions of the Demo-
cratic party. His friends say that
he is more interested In check
mating the designs of "the Roose-
velts and the Corcorans and the
Cohens' than in getting the nomi-
nation for himself He hopes to
have a veto power over anybody the
New Dealers may put up. On the
other side the New Dealers will use
every effort to prevent the nomina-
ton Of any one of the Garner way
Of thinking. They see themselves as
standing at a new Armageddon and
battling for the Lord. In the pres
tige Of Mr.. Roosevelt they have a
weapon Of great power.
Showdown Is Certain.
The issue, to repeat, has tremead-
GUS significance: it Is whether the
economic philosophy Of Mr.. Roose-
velt or the philosophy of Mr.. Garner
| (using him again as q symboD shall
shape the future course of the Dem
ocratic party. So fundamental is
this issue that 1t is by no means
fantastic to suggest, as Mr.. Ickes has
suggested, that If the convention
names a conservative Democrat,
there may be walkout of Roose-
veltians similar to the bolt on be-
half OF another Roosevelt in 1912.
The conservatives may reckon, as
did the Taft faction then, that they
will be the ones to pick up the party
wreckage. Or, If Mr.. Roosevelt or
some other complete New Dealer is
nominated (and it's hard to see how
any complete New Dealer except Mr..
Roosevelt can be nominated). there
may be split-off on the conversa-
tive side. There remains, of course,
the possibility Of a compromise, but
That would be only to postpone the
| ~ox, nf xnrJn~t~.