Evening star., 1944-07-10

tOreQ 10 regard FFshA - Aens'
his attitude as not admirable, and
in addition, to be developing q
strange persecution complex which
makes him feel that some people
are trying to dragon" him into
support of the ticket under threat
Of punishment"
Just who are these persons who
are trying to dragon" him, what
kind of punishment is threatened
is not in the least clear. It is all
very anonymous and mysterious and
though obviously these ideas come
straight from Mr.. Willkie, news
papermen are not supposed to quote
him directly.
Specific" Grievances.
Nor do they-in their written ac-
counts. One extremely well predis-
posed journalist came away the
other day with list of four specific
and fundamental Willkie griev-
ances against the Republican party
which it was declared it would be
necessary for Mr.. Dewey to clear up
before he can hope for Willkie sup
port.
These include, Of course, the
foreign policy and postwar trade
planks, concerning which one
gathers Mr.. Willkie used the word
'monstrous," but also are included
the wage and tax planks. and finally
the Negro plank Aside from the
fact that Gov. Dewey already has
clarified and interpreted in forth
right way the first two planks, 1t
does seem as If 1t requires consider
able straining for Mr.. Willkie to find
fault with the Negro plank. which
Is certainly stronger and more spe-
cific than the plank on which he,
himself ran in 1910.
Also. it would appear fairer for
Mr.. Willkie to wait until he sees
whether the Democrats 60 even as
far as the Republicans in promis-
ing what he thinks should be prom
ised to the Negroes.
However, aside from that, it seems
Mr.. Willkie wants Mr.. Dewey to
"renounce" the support of whatever
tsolationists are now supporting
him. OF course, this is slightly ridi-
culous. 1t ignores the fact that long
before his nomination Mr.. Dewey
"renounced"-or rather denounced
the support of the noisiest isola-
zionist in the country who claims
the largest following-Gerald H. K.
Smith.
1t ignores the fact that Mr.. Dewey
has come out as strongly against
isolationism as Mr.. Willkie. It
ignores the fact that the foreign
policy plank has been interpreted by
Mr.. Dewey in terms Of the Mackinac
declaration, from which Mr.. Willkie
did not dissent. 1t ignores Mr..
Dewey's preconvention speeches. 1t
ignores so much, in fact, that there
seems no sense at all in the call
upon Mr.. Dewey to "renounce" in
dividuals.
Certainly, there is no more sense
In that than to call on Mr.. Roose-
velt to "renounce" Earl Browder, the
Communist leader, original sponsor
OF the fourth term and one of his
most conspicuous supporters. Or
he might as we'll be asked to re
nounce' Sidney Hillman, who Is
running his campaign for the C1O
and is the boss of the American
Labor party.
Reaching Pathetic Stage.
Yet, on top of all this, Mr.. Will
kies Journalistic friend, fresh from
a long talk with him, says "it can
be stated without reservation" that
Mr.. Willkie would like to support
the Dewey -Bricker ticket because
he knows II he bolts this time there
is nowhere to CO." 1t isn't exactly
easy to take this seriously when
linked with Mr.. WILKES "condi-
tions" and conversation, but it
does not sound much like principles.
An effort to explain is made by
saying that his choice now Is be-
tween support Of Dewey or taking
walk" but that there is no chance
that he will support Mr.. Roosevelt,