The Wilmington morning star., 1943-11-08
ELECTIONS SHOW
COP IS GAINING
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leader and for something to cat
themselves.
For no party, once it is ir office,
seems ever to be capable Of re
| iuvcnating itself by retirements al
the top in order to clear the way
! for those who are rising to the
top. The Roosevelt administration
has been no exception to this rule;
where once it was the natural
haven of the men of the future,
it is now choked with men who
have served their time but do not
retire.
A close study of American poll
tics will show that when the time
comes for such a change of party,
the difference between the two
parties on great issues tends to
diminish to the vanishing point.
This is the secret strength of the
American, and, indeed, of every
successful democratic society that
by the time of the final election
in which national power is trans
ferred from one party to another,
the serious issues between them
have already been settled, and
the question is one of men, not OF
principles.
This may sound strange to those
who have been fed on the notion
that the New Deal was a strange
and quassi revolutionary change
from what went before. But il
there were space here I could, ]
think, show in detail that between
the early New Deal of Mr.. Roose.
welt and the later phases of the
Hoover administration, there was
If I may quote something I wrote
in 1884, mo issue of fundamental
principle as to the responsibility
of the modern state for the mod.
ern economy Indeed it may
be said that every major move
made by Mr.. Roosevelt was in
principle anticipated by Mr.. Hoo.
yer. Both Of them used the nation 5
credit in an effort to relieve debt
ors and restore the equilibrium OF
prices. Both of them gave subsi.
dies to agriculture. Both tried
to control production. Both of them
tried to maintain or to raise wag.
es in order to enhance purchas.
ing power. Both of them tried to
stop 'cutthroat' competition. Both
of them quarreled with Wall
Street, with the stock market,
with the investment bankers. Both
of them resorted to protection
against world deflationary forces
Both of them made tentative eff.
forts to revive international
trade"
What is more, the principal in.
stitutional reforms of the later
New Deal will undoubtedly be pre-.
served by the Republicans wher
they come into power. Moreover
those reforms which the Roosevelt
administration has not made. anc
which the Republicans will make
as for example the regulation Of
labor unions-are already in prin
ciple believed in by most Of the
Democrats, including the leadins
erstWhile New Dealers themselves
This is, in short, a true WORKING
democracy which means that oul
arguments, however heated, enc
at last in agreements. Thus it i:
true, if you like, that our part,
system is Tweedledum and Twee
dledee, that, as Mr.. Dooley said O.
Wilson and Hughes, our candi
dates are usually as far apart a.
the two poles and as much alike
that-to the exquisite pain of tn,
doctrinaires - the party rising t.
power is not in sharp contrast will
but is a carbon copy" of tn,
party it is displacing.
But that is why we are the old
est and most stable large democ
racy in the world.
The Republicans, who now fac
the awe-inspiring responsibility o
power in the postwar world wi
DO we'll to understand that thei
Wlsest course, their best politica
strategy and their shrewdest tao
tics, are to offer the people not
sharp contrast and a break wit
the Roosevelt administration bu
sense of fundamental continuit
with the promise of better result
through newer and fresher mer
They are not going to win the mex
!; election by harum-scarurn attack
on the President or by insults
the great lady who is his wife, o
by prosecuting minor officials, o
by obstruction and confusion o
the home front. They are going t