Evening star., 1940-01-18

bearing on his
own renomina-
ton. D"'io LAWRENCE
Actually, however, the plan OF the
New Dealers for several months has,
been to try to get as many State
delegations instructed to follow the
wishes of the administration, what
ever they may prove to be. In other
words, If the President wants to
name his successor as the party
standard-bearer, he will want to be
able to influence the convention to
that end through delegations now
being chosen which will be favorable
to the New Deal cause.
Mr.. West would not find any New
Dealer here disappointed or dis
turbed If the Democrats of the State
of Ohio are going to send third
term" delegation to the national
convention. The use of Senator
Donahey's name as means OF
camouf1aging real thirdterm drive
or the nomination of some one who
would be desired by the administra-
tion is not by any means unorthodox
in politics, but under the direct pri-
mary system it has been assumed
that the people of a given party
would express their preference by
votes and not by the dictates of
few men in control of the party.
A Swing Back to Cliques.
Political oligarchies originally
brought the downfall of the State
convention system of making nomi-
nations of candidates, but gradually
the swing has been back to the
cliques once more. No longer are
primaries regarded as binding,
though in a few States, where con-
tests occur for prominent candidates
instead of stalking horses, there has
been in recent years a tendency to
stick to the primary choice for a
number of ballots or as long as there
seemed a reasonable chance of his
winning the nomination.
Whether Roosevelt will be drafted
after he publicly declines to seek
denomination, or whether he wishes
to name the candidate, the tactics of
the New Dealers will be the same
to retain control of majority of the
delegates. There will be drives, for
instance, for "third-term" delega-
tions in an impersonal as well as a
personal sense. Attorney General
Robert H. Jackson was among the
first in public speeches to declare
that 1910 should see third term"
for the New Deal, the inference being
that, irrespective of whether Mr..
Roosevelt could be persuaded to run,
the New Deal policies should be
maintained.
This means that in Ohio the
voters will have clear-cut issue.
The kind of delegation which is now
promised under the Donahey label
means that the party voters in the
primary election this spring will be
asked to approve the New Deal,
whereas the votes against the DON
ahey ticket will be recorded as
against the New Deal. From the
standpoint of the autumn election,
this means the opening of division
in the party from which the Repub-
Icans may hope to benefit. 1t is
not unlikely that an opposition
ticket on the primary slate in Ohio
will stress the Importance of re-
vision, if not vital change, in New
Deal policies.
Stalking Horse Can Switch.
The fact that Ohio by its law pre-
vents anybody's name from being
used on the ballot without his con-
. sent has been troubling the New
Dealers, who knew Mr.. Roosevelt
would never sanction such a step.
But by using a stalking horse
the same result can be achieved, for
at the proper moment in the con-
vention a delegation instructed for
Senator Donahey for President can
switch to any candidate desired by
the Administration.
A more palpable and openly con-
fessed system of governmental con-
troll of party elections could hardly
be cited. In Europe the government
controls elections by various forms
of physical coercion. In America
the charge can be made and now
proved that the men in public Office
actually control the selection of dele
gates to a nominating convention.
This was the issue on which the
Republican party split in 1912 when
the Bull Moose progressive move
ment was born. The Taft-controlled
convention was denounced as re-
dictionary and boss-controlled. Yet
today, % years later, party which
boasts of its progressivism and lib
eralism brazenly adopts the tactics
of the old reactionaries and dele
cations are now selected with formal
approval of the Government officials
themselves.
The Hatch Act was passed by
Congress to prevent subordinates
and Government employees from in
fluencing national elections by the
use of governmental power and au-
thority-but all higher officials were
exempted, perhaps on the assump-
ton they would not do what their
subordinates were forbidden to do.
il, Amendment of the Hatch law to in
clude all Government officials would
seem to be the logical consequence
OF what has just been announced by
Democratic leaders from Ohio.
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