Imperial Valley press., 1944-11-02
GOULD He, EVEN If He WOULD?
Clos Angeles Times)

Never is a political opportunist 50 Nul-
nerable rs when, in the hope OF gaming
votes. he abandonS his own long-famlllar
vehicle and runs to climb aboard the bet
ter. faster-moving enc of his opponent.
In his Chicago speech, the President
aStOnShed everyone and diSm1N2d loyal
New Dealers by verbally pitching over
side the collectivist principles he has fol
lowed for - years and paying lp-SerNlce
to the free-enterpriSe ones of Governor
Dewey and the Republican party.
Whether Mr.. Roosevelt Is Is much
alarmed by the rapid campaign progress
of his challenger rs this would indicate,
or is merely trying to he all things to
everybody as additional ballot bait, only
he knows What he does not know, ap-
parently. is that the candidate who essays
to carry water on both shoulders fire.
quently comes in without much on either.
In any case, Gov. Dewey took devastat-
ing advantage of the wide opening. In
his Buffalo speech last night he tore
the camouflage from the President
18th hour conversion to RepublCanlSm
and exposed its hollowness.
Assuming (Which is difficult indeed)
that Mr.. Roosevelt has genuinely seen
the light and is now for what he has so
long been against and against what hH
has so long been for-hoW, as a practical
matter, could he carry out his new prom
iseS?
Copying Mr.. Dewey, in places almost
verbatim he proposes TO restore peace
time prosperity and create Jobs by Civ
ing business and industry free hand
and encouragement to expand.
This is not merely a flop in the abstract
from his longtime position that private
endeavor must be government-contrOlled
regimented and restricted and that, any
way, there is nowhere for it to expand to-
The whole New Deal machinery, II years
in building and mimaglnably complIcat-
ed is constructed to operate ON prin-
ciples diametrically opposed to the eco
nomicS of private enterprise. In its down
hill progress. moreover, 1t mas gained
an enormous momentum.
To carry out his new program, Mr..
Roosevelt would have to Junk the worlds
greatest bureaucracy, l2boriously erect
ed and trained over many years in the
philosophy of collcctivism, borrow your
self rich. tax. spend and waste, abund-
ance through scarcity and all the rest OF
the New Deals fantasia. He would have
to divorce his economic advisers and fire
most of his principal subordinates, pick
ed for their talents and training in the
patent-panacea school. He would have
to replace, overnight, deep-rooted depart
mental policies particularly in the fiscal
and labor fields. He would have to go
back and pick up the shattered rust
eaten pieces of his 1892 platform and try
to build with them whole new admins
tration from the beginning.
Disregarding his 100000 bureaucrats,
many of whom would have to walk the
plank. how would Sidney Hllman and
the CIO regard such an upset of their
plans? According 10 their sworn state
ments. the Hilman PAC and NCPAC
have already spent nearly 5000, 900 in this
campaign. Do YOU suppose they do not
regard that as lien on the administra-
ton to be collected with some over-if
Mr. Roosevelt is reelected to carry on as
h has always carried on? How about the
big-city political machines whose take"
would be sadly curtailed under the new
program?
And don't forget Earl BroWder, whose
Communists are trying TO re-elcCt Mr..
Roosevelt l@cause, As their leader says.
this country is now the easiest picking Of
any for the advocates Of national social
ism.