Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1939-11-10
Gov. Stark Defends
Political Truce in
Critical Times
Missouri's Executive
= Contends G. O. P. Lacks
Both Man and Issue

Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK, Nov. l0-A sturdy |
defense Of President Roosevelt for |
avoiding partisan party politics at a
time when the Nation confronts a
serious foreign situation was made
by Gov. Lloyd G. Stark of Missouri |
at the annual dinner of the New
York Southern Society last night.
Il have not asked President |
Roosevelt his sentiments about serv-
ing his party and his Nation for an
other term" he said II doubt if any
man here tonight would have the
temerity to ask him such question
at this time. BY what right, then, !
does the Republican, opposition
raise the question?
I'm times of troubled statecraft
IN the world, President of the
United States weakens his power to
serve the people when he permits
himself to be drawn into purely
political strife. There Is no candi-
date to succeed Mr.. Roosevelt be-
fore the public at the present time
and 1t is far too early to think of
that succession. There is hardly a
need yet for the President to involve
himself in dispute over the possible
action of national convention
whose delegates have not yet been
chosen.
Every Reason" for Avoidance.
ION the other hand, there is every
reason why the President function
with the full support of all the peo-
pie in his elected role of national
leader, untroubled by internal poll
tics and free to act for a Nation
that wants no European adventures.
1T cannot be justly said that Mr..
Roosevelt personally has ever raised
the third-term issue On the con-
trary. he has exhibited impatience
with those who have complicated his
exacting and difficult task by inject
ing party politics into it.
Gov Stark praised the New Deal
administration of the President and
contrasted the situation in this
country with that which existed
when Mr. Roosevelt took over the
IeiIlS OF government.
Next year America will be at
war again. We will be at war
in our own characteristic fash
ion and it will be war in the air.
Two great political parties will be
locked in an epic struggle over the
presidency and they will be lombard
ing the ears of all Of U.s. Personally,
I welcome it. It is a healthy thing
to have our minds diverted from the
weighing of foreign ideologies;
meaningless all of them when trans
lated into terms of the American
pattern of living.
Guarantee Against Totalitarianism.
II have no fears for the Demo-
cratic party on that day of &C
counting. We need our opponents
to keep us at our best. In the two
party system lies our best guaran-
tee that this shall never be a totali-
tartan state.
But there is nothing in the Amer
lea of today which demands Re-
publican mandate to govern. The
Republican party has become the
party of irrelevant issues. It stands
for nothing today, and thus far has
exhibited nothing for 1910.
Lacking man or an issue, our
friendly enemies of 1910 seek to
divide and conquer-or drop their
propaganda leaflets and hope for
internal decay. With crocodile tears,
the Grand Old Party will weep for
the Democrats and fight the New
Dealers. Well, it won't work. When
it comes down to brass tacks, we will
remember why 1882 saw the birth of |
that term New Deal That term is
not the name Of a political party.
It was born out Of WEAKNESS with
an old deal of economic stagnation,
Government impotence, soup kitch-
ems, panic and closed banks"
Praises Foreign Policy.
Gov. Stark praised the firm"
foreign and domestic policy of the
Roosevelt administration. He added:
"Too many camp followers who
could not defeat us have joined us
and We are charged with their sins.
Obviously there will always be men
who hold personal gain above party;
greed above the serving Of an ideal.
In my State we had one of the most
corrupt political machines in the
United States masking as a unit of
the Democratic party. I consider it
no reflection on the party that this
machine existed under its borrowed
label"
Gov. Stars address was followed
by a tribute from Assistant Secre-
tary Of War Louis johnson to the
peaceful relations among neigh
bors of the Western Hemisphere.
Mr.. johnson attributed friend
illness among the 81 American re-
publics to the spirit of cooperation
which followed the theory of Co
operative peace" evolved by Simon
Bolivar, liberator of South America
from European domination.
Cooperative peace was strength
ened, he said, through the Monroe
Doctrine, the success of the United
States in relieving herself of i'm
perialistic tendencies, President
Roosevelt's "good-neighbor" policy
and pan-American peace confer
ences of recent years, the latest
being the Panama Neutrality Con-
ference.
Mr.. johnson, referring to the
United States freeing Cuba from
Spanish domination, said it was
ITO be noted that a Russian min
lister Of foreign affairs Foreign
Minister MolotofD who undertook
to advise us the other day had
: not yet discovered the fact that
Cuba not only is not now a colony
! OF the United States, but never has
been, throughout its history"
*Plon Turkey Shoots
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