Evening star., 1939-08-15

pected of po-
litical conven- David Lawrence.
ton of old deal days.
Only the political reckleSsness OF
youth, for example, can explain the
publicity flowing out of the Pitts
burgh convention condemnlng the
Hatch law, when the head OF the
party, the President who was lauded
in the resolutions adopted, actually
said when signing the measure that
1t was "at least step in the right
direction"
It is not often that political
strategists miscue. For, while the
President may not have liked the
Hatch bill a bit more than do the
Young Democrats, he publicly gave
the impression of great enthusiasm
and went to the length OF pointing
out that the genesis of this great
reform was to be found in para
graph in his message to Congress
January 5, 1899.
Shows Eagerness for Power.
But the Young Democrats made
another mistake They permitted
the biggest third -term-for- Roosevelt
publicity TO emanate from Mayor
Kelly of Chicago of the far-famed
Kelly-Nash machine. If there is
one psychological virtue supposed to
attach to these Young Democratic"
and Young Republican" move
ments. it is that rejuvenated party
members presumably have nothing
In common with old deals and old
machine politics. To broadcast
speeches and statements, therefore,
suggesting that Federal offlceholderS
should not have been prohibited
by law from participating actively
In politics and urging coincidentally
a third term for Roosevelt ideals,
will stamp the Young Democratic
movement as just as eager for polit-
ical power at any cost as the fol-
lowers of the newly christened
school of "evil old men," otherwise
known as elder statesmen, are sup
posed to be.
Speaking of 'evil old men"
among whom John Lewis sought to
classify Vice President Garner, it is
significant that the majority leader
of the House of Representatives,
Samuel Rayburn of Texas, the man
who has been fighting the battles
of the administration this last ses-
sion, mas come out publicly for Mr..
Garner for the presidency in 1910.
Representative Rayburn took cog
nizance Of the John Lewis effort to
make Mr.. Garner seem a reaction
AIRY and pronounced the Vice Presi-
dent instead great liberal" If
Mr.. Rayburn, majority leader of the
House, considers Mr.. Garner a lib
eral can the Young Democrats or
any other Democrats characterize
the Vice President effectively as
"reactionary" conservative?
Definition in Order.
The Democratic plot plainly
thickens and very soon it will be
necessary to call for definition
again of what Is liberal and what
is a conservative If Vice Presi-
dent Garner could be persuaded to
talk, he probably would begin by
defining reactionary as some one
who stands or sits pat, for that mat
ter, and he might say that advo-
Gates of the Shutdown" strike are
by no means liberals but trespassers
and squatters.
If one omits Vice President Gar
ner's opposition to the sit-down
strike, you find him far away from
the conservative side of the argu-
ment. To denounce the sit-down
strike is perhaps after all not a
matter of liberalism or conservatism
but of asking for obedience to law
and order.
Mr.. Garner has been a supporter
of most all New Deal measures. He
quietly helped pass the public util-
ity holding company bill. He was
behind every New Deal reform ex-
cept the Supreme Court bill and he
has been an opponent of increased
spending. All this is not enough,
however, from a New Deal view
point.
Labor Act Acid Test.
The acid test of liberalism, it will
have to be conceded, is the one ap-
piled by the New Deal itself, and
that is whether the Wagner Labor
Act is to be sabotaged or amended
IN only minor particulars. Despite
all the camouflage about other is
sues, the Wagner labor relations
law is the, key to the first over con-
servative and liberal candidates
That's why, while there are many
New Dealers who would have pre-
ferred some other method of attack,
the outburst of Mr.. Lewis now ap-
pears on reflection not at all as q
spur of -the-moment affair, but q
premeditated broadside against the
foes of the sit-down strike by the c.
l.. O., principal ally of the New Deal
So far as sit-down strikes are
concerned, it is an open question
whether the Democratic party s
"evil old men" or young" hopefuls
are going to relish handling a de-
mand for a denunciation of sit-down
strikes to be inserted in the next ma
tional platform as the acid test OF
whether the Democratic party is yet
freed from domination by the c. l.
O.-and it may be this will be one
piece of Garner strategy that will
come to the fore at the next ma
tional convention as means of
fighting the Lewis influence.
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