The Durant news., 1940-07-25
IT,
Eyes
BY
Hazel Brannon

gone home.
The Democrats nominated Franklin
Delano Roosevelt for a third term
because there is not another man in
the party who would stand a chance
against Wendell willkie at the polls
next November.
The delegates did not want to
break the third term tradition. They
did 1t because there was no other way
ot securing party victory. The least
ardent New Dealer will admit that.
Whether or not there should be a
third term is still an open question
throughout this country today. This
column does not attempt to justify a
third term. Nor do we condemn it.
The Democrats have gone down the
line with the President in his social
legislation. The Republicans have too,
to certain extent. At least they have
not been effective opposition for his
program. SO it seems, that the only
objection voiced to Roosevelt by party
supporters is the precedent-breaking
third term.
That is pretty poor indictment
of a man. The fact that thing has
never been done before is no reason
why it should not be done now. Per
haps IL we had our choice we would
not accept third term On the other
hand If we had our choice we would
not have the United States and the
world confronted with the problems
they face today.
Extraordinary conditions b r d
with their implications of impending
trouble at home form, enough reasons
for us to try to keep F'DR in the
White House four more years. We be-
lieve that any drastic change in poll
cy now in our domestic affairs as well
as foreign policies would result inn
mediatey in widespread discomfort
which would lead directly to revolu- !
tion.
Regardless of who wins al the polls !
come November we do n OF believe
there will be any decided change in
policy at home or abroad as far as
the administration is concerned.
The gains in social legislation made
by the Democrats are here to stay in
one form or another.
Henry Wallace was nominated as
vice president on h e Democratic
ticket because FDR wanted him on
the ticket and said so. The rumor pre-
vailed that the President made the
statement he would not serve as NOM
inee unless Wallace was on the ticket
with him.
AT any rate the fact remains that
Wallace, even though he was popular
personally, was crammed down the
throats of the delegates. He was
placed on the ticket when Speaker
Bankhead or Governor McNutt would
have been a more popular choice with
the delegates, the press platform and
the galleries.
Why the President wanted Wallace
we do not know. Public opinion then
and now seems to favor any other
possibility.
We cannot understand the wisdom
of the move if it was Just to get the
almost solidly for Roosevelt anyway
We believe the President gave the
nod to Wallace simply because Wal
lace is known outright as an ardent
New Dealer, a veritabe shadow of
the President so to speak. We be-
lieve he did this because he, Franklin
Delano Roosevelt, expects TO carry
the ticket by himself and thinks the
people who vote for him will do SO
regardless of who is on the ticket with
him.
II appears certain t h campaign
will be based simply on ,slether the
people of these United States want
the New Deal policies continued or
not We think the President is going
to stand pat on all the legislation en-
acted during his administration and
is going to put IL squarely up TO the
people. We can take it or leave it.
If the President does want the
campaign to resolve itself into that
one issue it is easy enough to see why
he wants Wallace on the ticket. There
is too much ammunition the Repubh-
cans could use against almost any
other man the Democrats could have
picket. As it is now all they have
10 attack is the New Deal.
In this column recently we made
the statement that we would fare
better If we had a two-party system
in the solid south; that if the Re
publican vote amounted to anything
here we would be wooed by both par
ties AS it is we are practically ig-
nored by both. We said that the &c
ononlic situation of any section of
the country is indelibly linked with
its political prestige. If we ever hope
to fare better economically we will
have to carry more political weight
yet out of the sure class.
The very recent organization OF
yIy;ylkieIror-president clubs in Mem