Evening star., 1946-09-21

q
choice. Mr.. Wal $
lace is paying
Time will de- =
velop what pay -
ments are to be Doris Feeson.
exacted from the host of other
parties involved: The President
Mr.. Byrnes, the worlds peace hopes
the Democratic party.
Mr. wallace will keep on fighting
for his foreign policy views He
won't lack forum. audience or funds
The PACs we're already planning to
storm the White House gates with
demands that Mr.. Wallace be
unsagged, at least on domestic is
sues. Some strange bedfellows for
Henry are already sticking cold
toe into his bedroom: Honest, con-
servative dissenters from the Byrnes
policy, isolationists who acclaim Mr.
Wallace for returning to the policy
Of Washington and Jefferson"
November to See Effects.
We shall have to wait until No
vember to determine some of the
practical effects of the Wallace
resignation and present refusal to
campaign upon the uneasy coalition
Of conservative Democrats, labor
unions. Sbig city machines, pinks
and Reds who four times elected
Mr.. Roosevelt The Democrats hold
House majority solely by reason
Of their strength in exactly those
industrial cities where Mr.. Wallace
Is idolized. They are nervous also
about q dozen Senate seats where
they expected Wallace's help.
II the left wing stays put, re-
gardless, they can be expected in
1e48 to raise row about renom-
mating Mr.. Truman; would certain
" demand the vice presidency-per-
haps for Mr.. Wallace.
The Democrats are saying brave
" about the Wallace followers
Where else can they go?" They
may get a slight clue from q meet
ing Of nine left-wing organizations
IN Chicago next week end.
Post st-Mortems on Affair.
Meanwhile there are the post
mortems.
Why did Mr. Wallace gamble the
cabinet seat he forced Mr.. Roose-
welt to give him and has held onto
despite other temptations to dis
agree?
The answer is that he believes the
present trend OF American policy
toward Russia is leading us into
the war nobody wants.
Why did he think he could get
away with it2
To begin with, he wasn't sure he
could. But he felt 1t was his duty
to try. That word has an impera-
tive propulsion for those reared In
the SUNDAY school belt Of the
agrarian Middle West As Mr.. WAL
lace was. There is not much world
" give" to such folks.
Besides, Mr. Wallace and the peo-
pie around him are natural-born
New Dealers. They are talkative
imaginative. doing kind of people
who think they ought to do some
thing. Witness the New Deal Su-
preme Courts liveliness despite
black robes and a marble palace
But Mr.. Wallace gambled cheer.
fully-even confidently.
He estimated that Mr.. Truman
does not merely give the Roosevelt
policies lip service but honestly
wants to do the right thing. He
had found the President amenable
to frank discussion.
However, Mr.. Wallace. who has
lived on a political tightrope for
years, perhaps ovestimated Mr.
Truman's ability to grasp the po-
htical risks involved.
Wallace Knew Risks.
Mr.. Wallace knew them thorough
ly. AS the liberal franchise of the
Truman administration he is O
unique political asset of the Demo
cratic party. National Chairman
Hannesan and q lot Of tough con-
servatives with him, believe that
the party can succeed nationally
only As it can cement its right and
left wings. They bank on the solid
South and they concentrate on hold
ing the skittish majorities in the
great pivotal States-New York In
diana, Illinois, Pennsylvania. Ohio
and the West Coast. Here are the
groups for whom the author OF
The Century OF the Common Man"
and 80 Million Jobs" speaks: Radi-
Gals, racial and religious blocs, la
Dor unions. With Roosevelt dead he
Is about their only symbol.
Mr.. Hannegan had drummed il
INTO the President that at all costs
Mr. Wallace should be retained In
the administration. He has taken
on his own head the bricks from
those who hate Mr.. Wallace and all
he stands for and the substantial
group that quite honestly think he
Is fuzzy-headed and unreliable. The
ever-suSpicious radicals say Mr.
Hannegan Is 100 per cent-he tries
Mr.. Hannegan arranged to have the
President and Mr.. Wallace speak
Jointly at the Jackson Day dinner
Mr.. Wallace was never deceived
He knew he was an asset-but he
knew also that he has powerful
enemies who showed their teeth
when they took the vice presidenc,
away from him. Wallace knows he's
. storm center.
He supposed Truman realized 1t
Truman Never Independent.
1t should be remembered that Mr.
Truman has never been an inde.
pendent political operator. He got
into politics when he appealed fol
HELM Ia an nid patteyv n FALLEN,