Evening star., 1943-07-31
President and Politics

The President jocularly passed on
to his press conference the sugges-
ton that some people would say he
was angling for the spooners' vote
If he made a speech praising the
beauty Of the moon. Perhaps so.
But not as many people as say he
was thinking about the soldiers vote
In talking about postwar plans for
veterans; or about the coffee drink
ers' vote when he reserved the good
news about coffee, with sugar in it,
for his own speech Wednesday night
instead OF letting poor old OPA, bat
tered and kicked around, get the
credit for this tiny morsel of good
cheer.
For while the President speaks to
the Nation as Commander in Chief,
he also is speaking as a probable
fourth-term candidate and anything
he says on the hopeful side is as in
exorably tied to political implications
as "the fighting front" is tied to 'the
home 'front.'" More so, as matter
OF fact. Thousands of miles of ocean
separate the fighting front from the
home front, but it is sometimes hard
to see what separates the Com
mander in Chief from a fourth term,
If he wants it and the people want
him.
Had the President wished to avoid
the political implications of his
announcement of postwar plans for
soldiers in his Wednesday speech
he might have said nothing until
Congress reassembled and then sent
a message calling to the attention
OF that body the advisability of max
ing such plans now, inclosing the
recommendations of his planners.
That, at least, would have been more
consistent with the Presidents re-
minder to the people on Wednesday
evening that obviously the execu-
tive branch of the Government can
not do it alone"
The trouble is that nobody knows
whether the President wants to avoid
political implications, and notable
among those who would bet that he
does not is Chairman Harrison E.
Spangler of the Republican National
Committee, whose rather angry
statement of protest is not apt to
influence anybody's vote, least of all
the soldiers. There are those who
would have advised Mr. Spangler to
try another tack; to compliment the
President on his forethought about
postwar treatment of our veterans
and to assure him that whatever
plans came to Congress, the COP
would perfect them. For if the
treatment of veterans is to become
the political issue that Mr.. Spangler
sees through his dark glasses, the in
tereSt of the voter is in who will do
the most, and the propriety of the
Presidents bringing up the subject
now is apt only to bore him.
Plans for the veterans, of course,
should not be political issue. There
are many men, older now than then,
who have not forgotten the failure
after the First World War to make
adequate plans for the veterans,
turned loose with an honorable dis
charge and $50 apiece. 1t is gratify-
ing that plans are being made now,
along lines which seem sound and
most desirable 1t should be possible
to shape those plans so that the re-
turning soldier will receive what he
most of all desires-a chance to settle
down with job and reasonable Sc
curity. And If it gives the soldier
in the field any comfort to know
that the President is initiating such
plans, Mr.. Spangler assuredly does
not want the good news denied
transmission over the channels of
owl or the military radio or any
other available medium of communi-
cation.