Evening star., 1940-01-05

ONCE, lnto the perpleXities of the
President as the head of a political
party, into the inner conflict that
has disturbed the mind of President
Roosevelt from the beginning. This
is a conflict arising partly from his
own nature and partly from the
tremendous problems he has faced.
The message shows what a her
culean task will be faced by the next
President. 1t makes quite plain that
this President, whatever may be
done in the term remaining to Mr..
Roosevelt, will be up against the
hard necessity of increasing taxes.
only an economic miracle can wipe
out the need for new tax revenues,
and there is nothing in Mr.. Roose-
velt's statement, moderately optim-
lstlc though it is, to suggest that
such miracle is in prospect. AS
the President said in side remark
In his earlier message on the state
OF the Union, we cannot have our
cake and eat it. too.
Services to Go On.
The new services which the Fed
eral Government is providing, un-
der a conception of governmental
duties which has become in some
degree a fixed part of the political
thinking of both parties, will largely
be carried on no matter who may
be elected President. That is the
most significant political fact of the
times. And these services have got,
somehow, to be paid for. The
brighter side of the picture, which
is the one that the President
stressed, is that the taxes of the
future will be paid-or so he hopes
out of an increased national in
come
So much for the difficulties i'm
posed on Mr. Roosevelt and his
successors by the new role which
the Federal Government is play
ing in the affairs of the Nation.
These would be troubles onerous
enough if they existed in a DO
ltical vacuum-if they could be
dealt with, as by dictator, without
regard for the political processes
that make up the democratic sys-
tenn. For the American President,
the difficulties of his Office are COM
pIcated by the fact that he is the
head of a political party. 1t is his
job so to hold together the dissident
elements Of his party that it can
go to the polls with a fair chance
| of success,
Recognition of Split.
We see Mr.. Roosevelt trying to
do this in his budget message. There
is in it implicit recognition of the
split in the Democratic party be-
tween those who would carry the
spending policy farther. and those
who would call halt. The Presi-
dent sets out the arguments which,
he holds, have justified our spend
Ing up to now; he suggests, even,
that he may again fall back on
these arguments against the rec
concentrations he is now making.
AT the same time, he proposes, ex-
cept as to national defense, sharp
cuts in all the major items of the
budget. He offers something to
both sides of the spending dispute.
He tells them, in effect, to sink
their differences and avoid a rup-
ture that might be fatal to the
party in November. This is the
politics Of the message.
There is a third point which en-
titles the message to be described
as more than commonly revealing.
Parallellng, in a measure, the conflict
in the party between the spenders
and the savers Cor between the lib
erals and the conservatives is the
conflict within the President himself.
He has been torn on many occa-
sions, as the record shows, between
an ardent desire to install social
reforms and desire to balance the
budget, or at least to get it headed
definitely toward a balance.
Crusading Instinct.
The crusading instinct wars in him
always with certain Dutch pru-
dence. He spoke sincerely at Pitts
burgh In that 1882 campaign speech
IN which he attacked the Hoover
deficits and told of the danger to
liberal governments of loose fiscal
policy. He took Office with the full
determination to balance the budget.
Events, linked with the audacious,
crusading phase of his character,
took him in another direction, but
they have never taken him that way
to the extent that his more radical
followers would have liked. He has
not always initiated or helped to
initiate the reform movements of
his administration; into some of
them he has been pushed. He has
compromised often between the
Dutchman in him and the social re-
former. It will be noticed that he
is not now espousing the expensive
Wagner health scheme,
Mr.. Roosevelt would greatly like
to 60 out of Office with the govern
mental deficits headed downward.
Like all Presidents, he is historically
minded. He is eager that the his
torian Of the future shall have no
justification for saying, in the event
Of a possible crash, that the seeds Of
1t were sown in his administration.
Written for Future.
In sense, then, this budget mes
sage-the last such message of the
President If he is not re-elected-is
written for the future as we'll as
the. present. His defense of his
s~s& t.
Joined with it Is his admonition to
Congress to put on the brakes-or
raise taxes.
Incidentally, the President hands
Congress a hot potato-an act in
itself revelatory. For among the
other qualities which make the
President the fascinating and COM
plex character that he is, there Is q
puckish delight in causing the other
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