Evening star., 1940-04-08

A Re epub licans,
Charles G. Ross. but he warns
that the trend can be reversed by
blindness in the party leadership.
Though the speech, being cam
paign document, rakes the New Deal
with broadside of generalities, it
is nevertheless plea for accept
ance of-and administrative i'm
proVement upon-a good part of
what the New Deal has done.
It's simple and straightforward
statement of the case for progress
sivism in the Republican platform
and candidate, from a man who
would have made more statements
Of the same sort in his own cam
paign of 1886 if he had not been
overborne by some of his advisers.
May Make Trouble.
The speech shows clearly, in and
between the lines, that beneath the
surface unity of the Republican
party, as lately illustrated in the
Senate vote on the Hull trade policy,
there are differences calculated to
make plenty of trouble at Phila-
delphia. Mr.. Landon is vividly aware
Of the conflict and he seems to be
girding himself for a fight to re-
solve it in favor of his own views
| and not the views of the money
| raisers."
| That is his word. He is talking
of the kind of candidate that the
Republicans should choose. 1--WE
must not" he says, permit one
man or any group of money-raisers,
| to pick our nominee" Ostensibly he
is shooting here at the Democrats
His real target is the Pews, the
Weirs, the Grundys-all those he
believes would like to control the
nomination and the platform in the
interest OF return to an outmoded
and discredited ''normalcy."
Mr.. Landon is fairly specific in
describing his ideal Republican can
dldate. In order to save the coun-
try" he says, I'VE must elect man
who will carry out the mandate of
the American people and make COL
lectlve bargaining work, who can
make floor for wages and a ceiling
Tor hours of labor, who can devise
a sound farm policy and make i
work. Our new President can make
all of these work by profting from
the mistakes the Roosevelt admin
lstration has made.
! Describes His Nominee.
I'VE must nominate man who be-
HeVes that the essentials of all these
must be maintained. but in the in
terest OF their maintenance knows
many changes press for considera-
ton; who has the wisdom and the
understanding to realize that when
Government takes away financial
assistance from one industry, fair
ness and justice require that it cut
all, simultaneously, including the.
high protective tariff. The farmer
must not be the only one called
upon to take the cut.
1--WE must have a chief executive
who will deal intelligently and Wig
orously with the centralization of
economic wealth and power"
At another point he says it is mot
the legislation of the New Deal
which is drawing us toward" the
possibility of an unlimited imitation.
but the loose debt-making habits of
our present administration"
Not only because he is the titular
leader OF the party, but because he
has grown in public esteem since his
defeat in 1886, Mr.. Landon will 20
into the Republican convention with
considerable power. Unlike Mr..
Hoover, he is not suspected of having
designs upon the presidential nomi-
nation himself. He has formed, ap-
parently, working arrangement
with House Minority Leader Joe
Martin, of whom he is extremely
fond. Altogether, he is in a good
strategic position to make his in
1uence felt, both in the writing of
the platform and the choice of
ticket.
| Once-Radical Platform.
AS to the platform, he is talking,
as we have seen, the language Of
the Glenn Frank report He is asking
for platform that few years ago
would have seemed radical. OBJ
serve his specific points: Collective
bargaining, Federal wage and hour
control, strong line with regard
to "the Capitalization of economic
wealth and power" and a thrust
left-handed though it may beat
the sanctity of the high protective
tariff
Strange words, these. when read
in the light of old Republican con-
cepts.
The thought of even the more
conservative members of the party
has moved to the left, but there's
still wide and deep chasm be-
tween-shau we Say?-the money
raisers" and the school of thought
represented by Mr. Landon. It will
be interesting to see how the Re-
publican platform essays to bridge
the gap: it will be vastly more in
teresting to see on whom the choice
falls for the presidential nomina.
ton. 3.
Platforms can be made to mean
anything-or nothing. The kind Of
candidate is what counts. Mr.. Lam
don, In effect, emphasizes this point
when he calls for the selection of a
candidate who can be depended
upon to do certain things. Unless
some candidate goes into the Re-
publican convention with enough
votes and prestige to get the noni-
nation in a hurry, there's likely to
be very spirited, and a very Sig
nificant, battle between those who
hold with Mr.. Landon and those
he has denominated the money
raisers."