Evening star., 1941-10-15

not so rampant The crusading
spirit which carried the Mayor to
victory in those two elections is not
so warm. Four years ago, District
Attorney Thomas E. Dewey was at
the top of his stride in Manhattan
and he brought as much strength to
the fusion ticket in this borough as
did Mayor La Guardia. The fight
fQr district attorney in New York
County, which is Manhattan, is all
washed up. Mr.. Dewey declined to
be a candidate himself, although
strong efforts were made to persuade
rim to run again. He picked four of
his assistants, any one of whom he
said would be satisfactory. The up
Shot of the matter was that one
of the four, Hogan, has been in
dorsed both by the Democrats and
by fusion. This was a smart move
by Tammany Hall. 1t gave the or
ganization an aroma of sanctity
which it has long been without.
Mr.. O'Dwyer and opponents gen.
orally of the Mayor are stressing
the fact that the Communist party,
after having nominated Israel
Amter as its candidate for Mayor,
withdrew him, although his petit
tionS for nomination were signed by
approximately 10000 voters, and that
Mr.. Amter promptly declared for
the Mayor. Despite the fact Mr.. La
Guardia disclaimed any interest in
the Communist party and its aid
charges are flying thick and fast
that the Communists know who
their friend is-and that it is the
Mayor. While the withdrawal of
the Communist candidate from the
race undoubtedly will mean more
votes of the radical element for the
Mayor, it is not helping him with
many other voters, who look as
kance upon any union with the Reds.
Another Withdrawal Factor.
There was another withdrawal
from the mayoralty race-John R.
Davies who ran for the Republican
nomination against Mayor La
Guardia and later sought an inde-
pendent nomination. On the sur
face it looked as though this with
draWal OF Mr.. Davies would be a
help to Mayor La Guardia. But
those on the inside insist that it
Will work rather to the assistance
of Mr.. O'Dwyer, on the theory that
those who were following Mr.. Davies
would either vote for Mr.. ODwver
or not vote in the mayoralty cleo
ton. No Davies vote, they say, will
go to Mayor La Guardia.
Mr.. Davies went into the Repub-
hcan primary against Mayor La
Guardia in a desperate effort to give
the Republicans a chance to place
a bona flde Republican in the field.
He lost, in an extremely light vote,
by only about 10000 votes. In two
OF the counties, the Bronx and
queens, Mr.. Davies actually ran
ahead of Mayor La Guardia, and the
Republican leaders in those counties
are still off the Mayor and doing
nothing for him.
To complicate the situation still
more, Morris S. Tremaine, State
controller, died the first of this
week, and it now becomes necessary
to elect his successor. The Repub-
hcans are planning to put a candi-
date in the field, and so will the
Democrats. There has been expec-
tatlon also that the American Labor
party, of which Mayor La Guardia
Is an enrolled member and whose
nomination he has also, would nomi-
nate candidate for controller. too
II the Mayor does not support the
candidate of the Republican party
for this State Office, it is going to
make a lot of Republicans still more
sore with the Mayor than they al
ready are.
Headaches in Deal.
There has been a suggestion that
the Democrats might be willing to
ndorse an American Labor party
man for controller-perhaps Joseph
V. OLeary. present State commits
sloner of standards and purchase.
If that happened, it would be with
the idea that some of the American
Labor1tes might be willing to give
their support to Mr.. O'Dwyer for
Mayor In return for Democratic sun
port of Mr.. OLeary. In any event.
the Mayor will have to decide
whether he will go down the line
for the Republican candidate for
controller, and whatever he does. he
is likely to offend some of his pres,
ent supporters.
The path of the La Guardia FIJI
siOniStS, it Is clear. is not so srnootb
by any means as it was in 1887.
when the Mayor romped home
winner over his Democratic oppo-
nent with a lead of 5000 votes.
And yet, on the single issue Of good
government, he is expected to win
unless there are still further deyel-
opments injurious to his candidacy.
That, plus the support which he is
surely going to get from a very largo
proportion of the huge Jewish vote,
Is estimated.all the way from 600 900
to 100000.