Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-11-11

from 100000 TO 0.000-and 1t
might be larger-cast their ballots
for President Roosevelt not because
of direct Government benefits ana
not because they believed in the
abandonment of the third-term ira
dition and not because they APP
proved of New Dealism as such.
Their vote was cast for Mr.. Roose-
welt because of his leadership III the
international situation and that
alone.
Such a group may have been
augmented by other pro-RooSeVelt
voters who simply did not accept
as creditable the other campaign
arguments of their opponents about
the peril faced by democracy or
about the fiscal dangers of continued
borrowings and increases in public
debt.
Have Tremendous Responsibility.
What the pro-Roosevelt voters
especially the small minority Of
businessmen, large and small, who
put aside all other considerations
except the international crisis-have
before them is a tremendous re-
sponsibility. They really elected
Mr.. Roosevelt. They had faith in
his ability to steer the ship of state
away from the dangers Of radlcallsm
and other extremes 1t would be
natural for their fellow citizens of
the 100000 Willkie supporters to
remind these pro-ROOsevelt voters
constantly of the power they now
can exercise in applying the brakes
to the radicals inside the New Deal,
some of whom are already beginning
to interpret last weeks mandate as
a do-as-you-pleaSe power over our
economic system. These radicals
often sway President Roosevelt into
adopting policies which, based on his
pledge and speeches, he would be
expected to reject. Will he in his
third term show an independence of
this radical group and take into
account that a truly democratic
election means proper adjustment
of the minority and majority view
points and is not analogous to a
revolution or military conquest?
If the President will examine
the sources of bitterness which have
flowed so much of late in his direc-
tioa. he will find that much of it is
not personal at all, but the natural
resentment of millions of persons
that a small clique of radicals can
sit in governmental councils and
exercise governmental authority
each according to his own Whim
or Interpretation of public power.
Sees Chance in 1912.
When the 1912 campaign for Con-
gress begins Is months hence there
may not be the same momentum
behind the foreign policy issue as
there was last week. The indie
pendents and the regular Democrats
who voted to swing the election to
President Roosevelt will have a
chance then to put a check up on
any excuses which the radical group
may have exhibited in the interim.
It is not impossible for the flames
of protest to rise so high in 1912
Whelming majority in both houses.
The President can do more, OF
course, than anybody else to cor
rect the mistakes of his appointees.
He can direct their courses and
draw a true distinction between
enlightened liberalism and mere
vindictive use of power by one class
as against another. The campaign
was a bitter one many things were
said and done on both sides that
. never should have been counte-
nanced.
Each of the two party leaders
still has an extraordinary power to
guide his own followers. In Mr..
Roosevelt's hands, however, is the
greater influence because he holds
the greatest power ever welded by
a President in our Republic.
The most important thing which
the President can do is to exercise