Evening star., 1939-12-24
|ckes and La Guardia
FeeIer for liberals
Strikes Sour Note
Some Democrats Here
Feur Forecast of
Presidents Speech
By G, GOULD LINCOLN.

Presidents Speech
BY G. GOULD LINCOLN.
The Ickes-La Guardia suggestion
that the liberals" in the country
present united front in opposition
to both Democratic and Republican
presidential nominees if neither
measures up to New Deal standards
has struck sour note among many
Democrats in Washington.
Some of them yesterday professed
to be exercised over the possibility
that the statements of the Secretary
Of the Interior and the Mayor of
New York might reflect what Presi-
dent Roosevelt will say in his Jack
son Day address, to be delivered two
weeks hence.
The proposal of Mr.. Ickes that a
conference or convention of lib
erals" be held either in advance or
after the national conventions of the
Democratic and Republican parties
was regarded with suspicion. If
Such conference is held before the
Democratic convention, its aim
would be the Endorsement of Mr.
Roosevelt for third term, according
to the belief of some Democratic
critics OF the plan. If it is held after
the Democratic convention, its pur-
pose presumably would be to scuttle
the Democratic national ticket,
either by setting up a third-party
ticket or by giving some comfort to
the Republican enemy.
Might Be Trying to Stop Garner.
There was another theory ad.
vanced-that the proposal was de-
signed to lessen enthusiasm for the
Garner-for-President drive which is
now going strong. Vice President
Garner, who used to be considered a
liberal and certainly was a good
enough liberal to be nominated as
running mate with President Roose-
velt In 1882 and 1896, is not now re-
garded as a liberal by some of the
100 per cent New Dealers,
1t was recalled that in 1882 a
conference of liberals-supported
then by the La Follettes, the Nor
rs followers and others-was held
here. The result was to accentuate
the speed Of the toboggan slide of
the party then in power, the G. o.
r. NOW, 1t happens, the Demo-
cratic party is in power, and the
Democrats do not wish ANYTHING
to happen to injure its remaining
IN power after the 1910 elections.
The very suggestion that any
considerable number of New Deal
-ers might desert the Democratic
national ticket is repugnant to
Democrats who have gone down the
line for their party nominees. They
do not look upon either Mr.. Ickes
or Mayor La Guardia as simon-pure
Democrats. The first was once
republican and the latter has been
both a Republican and a Socialist
IN the past and is now affiliated
N the American Labor party.
There was resentment that they
should now attempt to say who
should be the nominee of the Dem
ocratic party.
Earlier Speeches Gone Over.
The jackson Day speeches which
Roosevelt delivered in January
1898, and again last January were
scanned yesterday and a couple of
quotations were seized upon as
possible basis for the Ickes and La
'Guardla interviews, and also for
some clues to what might be ex-
pected when the President again
speaks to the Democrats of the
Nation.
In 1888. during his jackson Day
address, the President said he had
received letter from a lady during
the 1886 campaign in which she
said that she believed in the Presi-
dent but because she was born into
q Republican family she would have
to vote for his opponent.
MY reply to her ran as follows"
SAID the President. MY father and
bgrandfather were Democrats, and I
was brought up Democrat, but in
lSo4, when I cast by first vote for
president, I voted for the Repub-
llcan candidate, Theodore Roose-
welt, because I thought he was a
better Democrat than the Demo-
cratic candidate. The Democratic
candidate was Alton B. Parker.
= In his jackson Day address last
january the President said:
. III there are nominal Democrats
who as a matter of principle are
convinced that our party should be
"a conservative party-a Democratic
stWeedledum to Republican
ztweedledee-it is on the whole better
that the issue be drawn within the
party, that the fight be fought out
and that if the tweedledums are de-
Heated they join the tweedledees. :"
g Came Just After Purge.
This remark was given especial in
nterest at the time because it fol-
lowed shortly the efforts of the
administration to purge" from the
democratic ranks in Congress a
number of Democratic Senators and
Representatives in the 1888 elec-
t1ons.
=. In the rest of his address last
January. however, the President not
only urged united Democratic
party, but also predicted that it
would be united in support of
measures designed particularly to
shelp the common man.
y What the President will say in
his coming Jackson Day address is
mere speculation. In some Demo-
cratic quarters a statement from
him on his own future plans-with
regard to possible third term
would be welcomed. But whether he
makes any reference to his own
plans or not, it is expected he will