Evening star., 1939-02-15

lection of their -
n d " idual n.-.,
achievements. DA''o Lawrence
Now the custom is to use the BIRTH
days as a vehicle for mutual attack
by the major parties.
What is particularly ABSENT in
these party gatherings is a con-
structive note. The Jackson day
dinners were occupied, to be sure.
with a call to harmony inside the
Democratic party, but the principal
TRADES were against the Republi-
cans. Similarly, this week. the Re-
publlcans answer back with all the
barrages of which their orators are
capable.
AS for the innocent bystanders-
the public-Who have little interest
In politics as game or the devices
used to arouse followers to party
banners, there is disappointment
over the failure of either major
party to develop a program of hope
and encouragement in these days
of national and international dol
drums
Whether it is the Democratic
criticism that the Republicans have
no sense of social responsibility or
the Republican counterattack that
an unbalanced budget is creating
economic stagnation, the average
observer does not see on the horizon
any craftsmanship which is bold
enough to throw overheard the
party recrimjnations and point the
way to national progress.
Possibly it is good party strategy
to rally the morale of the party
workers by these dinners, which help
to overcome party deficits, but so far
as giving the morale of the Nation
any inspiration they are valueless.
No Real Solution.
There are, of course, those in both
political parties who think that if
only the Government will merely
take hands off its strong regulatory
drive and stop spending" the Ma
ton will soon recover it's economic
prosperity. Strangely enough, this
is not the real view of majority
of both houses of Congress, nor
would it be that of a majority of
the Republicans If they actually had
to vote on such an issue.
The truth is that, for political
purposes, it is considered desirable
to attack deficit financing" taxa
ton and excessive regulation by the
Government, but even if all these
three things were eliminated as ar
guments through revised policies by
the administration, there are few
here in either party who would then
venture to underwrite the Nations
prosperity and guarantee the impe-
diate restoration of 100000 per-
sons In jobs.
Even the relatively simple problem
of finding jobs for the 100000 on
w. P. A. has brought no plan from
anybody inside or outside the Gov
ernment. The belief that these
100000 human beings can be turned
out of the relief rolls, and that they
will somehow find jobs, is held by
some legislators, to be sure, but no
body with knowledge of economic
trends is ready to predict that any
such number of workers caa be alb
sorbed in the next six months, or
even year or two.
This has nothing to do, of course,
with the desirable logic of starting
q cut-down so as to cause some of
the w. P. A. workers to take Jobs
that may be offered them, and with
other remedial influences which
would flow from start in the direc-
ton of real economy. But it has
everything to do with the fact that
neither the Republicans nor the
Democrats have thought through
the major problems involved in
the economic disturbances through
which America is now passing.
Points of View Change.
1t is significant that political cir
cumstances alter points of view.
Former President Hoover knows
world economics about as we'll as
anybody in public life. His thesis
in 1882 was that a world wide up
heaval had upset American economic
stability. He was right then, in the
view of many of us. But today his
principal grievances are leveled
against the Roosevelt administra-
ton as such, and he does not point
out those policies which will help to
restore the worldwide trade and
the other factors which used to con-
tribute to American prosperity. His
speech at the Lincoln day dinner
gave the impression that he was
joining, in spirit at least, the isola-
ZIONIST groups in America who be-
heve in elf-sufficiency, high tariffs
and concentration by America on
her own domestic economy irrespec-
tive of the fact that world markets
are needed and that a capital flow
outward to Central and South
America would help restore orders
for American manufacturers and
producers.
So another series of political de-
pates goes on, with the realities side
tracked and the personalities of the
pohtlcal scene held up to criticism
AAUAu -