Evening star., 1944-06-27

can re-eStaOl1Sn ""0h "0"et'
itself as the forward looking party
of the middle class-a position 1t
once occupied-it will be formid-
able contender in November"
From authoritative sources 1t is
learned that some members Of the
Platform Committee bought the
magazine, read the piece and were
greatly puzzled.
They could understand what DR..
High was driving at when he re-
minded them: Some of them claws
enacted by the New DeaD were both
salutary and liberal. Many of them
were clearly called for by the eco
romic crisis. Social security
legislation was long overdue. Fed
eral insurance of bank deposits
makes good sense. Measures de-
signed to provide some backlog of
public works against recurrent un-
employment are-with reservations
acknowledged Government respon-
sihility. So Is some such agency
as the Securities and Exchange
Commission to regulate the opera
tions of Wall Street"
1t Was Understandable.
The rm-makers could un-
derstand this. Nearly everybody
had been telling them the same
thing, telling them they must dis
tinguish between the New Deal and
the New Dealers.
What the platform makers couldn t
understand was the particular rea-
son DR.. High gave for attempting
this difficult legerdemain. The
thing that is wrong with New Deal
ers-but not the New Deal-Dr.
High explained, is something he
called climate" Reading his piece
backward and forward - and some
found the latter method the more
illuminating-it was possible to fig
ure out what he meant by climate.
He didn't mean anything personal.
DR.. High used to be New Dealer
himself, his connection ending when
some of his colleagues decided he
was not content to be merely High
but was endeavoring to be High
Wide and Handsome. Now, how
ever, when he spoke about the clim-
ate Of the New Deal he was char
liable and made it clear he was
only trying to describe a state of
mind. New Dealers, DR.. High ex-
planned, have created a climate OF
fear and defeatism and that, he
said, Is what this country doesn't
like about the New Deal = no, my
mistake: not the New Deal, the
New Dealers.
Well, If you think these few para
graphs are confusing, you ought to
read tlse whole piece After work
ing through a thousand words or
so, you will be glad to reach a
simple paragraph like the following
Unfortunately for themselves
and for the Nation, the Republicans,
up to now, have not had much sue
cess in separating this reactionary,
defeatist New Deal from the largely
liberal New Deal that is on the
statute books. 1t is the reactionary
New Deal that the Republicans have
to beat. For the most part, that is
all they can or should try to beat
If, in a hate Roosevelt mood, they
try to take on both, the odds are
that they will end up this year
where they have ended up in the
last three presidential Novembers."
Affects One Extraordinarily.
Somehow or other DR.. High man
aged to tie all this to his opening
assertion, IF the COP can re-
establish itself as the forward-look-
ing party of the middle class, il
will be a formidable contender in
November" For, he said, "the cli-
mate of the America in which the
Republican party prevailed for SC
long was essentially middle class"
DR.. Highs advice Is said to have
had an extraordinary affect on one
member of the Platform Committee
According to the same sources men.
toned above, this member, as he
left fho cr,nLe f1Iol