The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1942-11-09
. Clapper
Not Enough Just TO
Please the Voters
verieiy OF Reasons For
Election Results
Social Security Still
A Dominant issue
Growing Harshness Of
Wartime Restrictions
By RAYMOND CLAPPER

BY RAYMOND oLAPPER
wAsHINGToN-If the Roose-
Welt administration tried to run
this war by doing only what IL
thought would make people hap
DIV instead of doing what seemed
necessary. no matter how unpleas-
ant. we would go down in a heap.
In a war you can't 60 on the
rule of anything to please the
voters. The same thing must hold
for Republicans. now that they
are able to exert real power in
congress.
wouldn't try to say with any
conviction exactly what produced
the nationwide Republican trend.
which was strong even where the
Republican candidates failed OF
election.
There is little In common be-
tween Rep. Fish and Clare Luce,
who won in Connecticut only a
few miles away, except that both
carry the Republican label. Or be-
tween Senator Joseph Ball in Min
nesota and Senator Wayland
Brooks in Illinois, both of whom
were reelected in middle western
states, except that they are Re-
publicans. Alike in agricultural
Nebraska and industrial New Jer-
sey. in Wyoming and in Pennsyl-
vania, the Republicans gained.
Democrats explain that city
workers were dislocated by the
war. But Republican farm boys
have gone to war by thousands,
and to the cities, so these disloca-
tons cancel out.
However thin you slice 1t, the
result is that for variety of
reasons a majority of voters in
many states took to the handiest
Republican, whatever he might be
like.
Undoubtedly one factor was q
feeling that New Deal measures
are less important during the war,
and in some respects interfere
with the war-short working
hours, for instance. But I hope
this doesn't mean that the Ameri-
can people are in mood to kiss
goodbye forever the pre-war work
of the Roosevelt administration.
I don't believe that this coun-
try is preparing, when the war is
over, to turn its back on social
security, on collective bargaining.
on restrictions against stock-mar-
ket and holding-company abuses,
or on the principle that If men
can't get work the government
must provide for them until they
can.
The war has made other ques-
tons more important for the time
being. When conditions permit.
the people Of this country will
again be interested in the kind of
social justice that Roosevelt has
fought for.
That's wishful thinking. But l
hope it Is also correct. I won't
believe, until I have more EVIL
dence, that the defeat of Senator
George Norris means a popular
reputation of all that he has
stood for, either in Nebraska or
throughout the country.
Most of the complaint must have
arisen out of things that have hap
pened in the last two years, since
the 1910 election. That points TO
matters connected with the war.
including failure to readjust New
Deal measures to war needs-such
as removing many feather bed la
Dor restrictions that interfere with
war production instead of facili-
tating it. The war requires mea-
sures in conflict with peacetime
New Deal detectives, and the
Roosevelt administration was slow
to change pace as necessity die
tated.
1t will be difficult TO know how
much Of the protest vote origin
ated in irritations over wartime
People see the hand of the gov
restrictions. Some undoubtedly.
eminent closing around them.
They see life as II used to be be-
ing taken from them. Nostalgia
for the happier days Of the past
is natural. Perhaps some graspeo
vaguely at Republicans, hoping TO
fend off the growing harshness
Of wartime restrictions, as men
sometimes go back to prayer when
everything they love is being
snatched from them.
But this is war and war u
hard. Republicans won't help To-
ward victory If they act Ike
fond mother who won't let the
dentist hurt Little Junior when ne
has a tooth that ought 70 come
out. The far-sighted Republicans
see that.
But we nave had a lot of near
sighted Republicans around CON
gress who couldn't see Il. Inc
new Republican strength VIII DC
used for helpful ends or for harm
full ones. depending on wnetnei
Republican leaders like Dewey,
willkie and Hoover can preFsn
when they say the war must %
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