The Daily Alaska empire., 1946-10-24
The Dividing Democrats
(St. Louis Star Times

(St. LOUIS star illeS)
 The acceerating dsintegration of the Democratic vote-gettng coalitiont little difficult to call it a party!-recently made more manifest than ever by Claude Peppers attack on President Tru- man before the convention of the Brotherhood Of Railroad Trainmen in Miami Beach. This business of Democratic Senator denouncng Democratic Presi- dent as a fascist no happy omen for the admnisra tons the elections of next November in those of l948.
 True the gentleman from Florida is noted for his wide-open mouth, for mpetuosity rather than we'll weighed words Also, he may have been tempted by the talk of the rail unions president, A. F. Whitney, suggesting him as presidential timber. Even Ii MT Pepper could muster labor support than now seems at his disposal nobody would give him chance in the convention-except perhaps the extreme left wingers whose favorite he has become.
 So far as Senator Pepper is concerned, his de- nuncation of the President probably can be brushed aside merely an example of the lengths to which ambition can lead a However, a sample of what is happening to the Democrats 1t is significant That party had the cohesion of the Republicans in their winning days There never was an organic union between the Solid South with it's prejudiceS and the urban Northern voters with their social interests The late President Roosevelt was successful in holding utterly diSsimilar if downright antagoniStic po tcians in line largely because, through his direct appeal to the decisive Independents of the nation he, rather than the BourbonS, controlled the winning votes The politicians did not put him in the White House. They rode his coat-tails.
 It is carrying coals to Newcastle to point ou that Harry Truman is no Franklin D. Roosevelt That's self-evdent In his inept way, MT Truman may try harder to please everybody than MT. Roosevelt ever did but in doing he just digs boobytraps for him. self pertinent example is the contradiction in his handling of the rail strike and that of the AFL men. There is hard core of policy, not even of steadfast judgment. The Wallace speech incident made that painfully clear
 As Drew Pearson said MT. Truman needs brain trust but instead he has surrounded himself with kitchen cabinet consisting almost exclusively of Allen Vardaman, Pauley and Company. The President com plains that good men unwilling to enter his ad- minstration but sometimes wonders if he really wants them Instability is attraction.
 This Washington atmosphere is reflected in the Democratic Party organization. National Chairman Hannegan seems to get little help from the White House. and is even reported that he has given up the idea of backing MT. Truman in 1948 Under such circumstances, political fence-mending becomes al most impossible. Politicians accustomed to riding on coat-tas do not work together without leadership. They go off in all directions. More and more the Democratic Party looks like centrfuge
 The Republicans, the other side certainly have not hammered together platform calculated to wean the independent voter from the Democratic column. Themselves disorganized and divided by long years out of office they content to snipe and to bank on Democratic rifts and divisions. This may turn out to be their bad luck in the end because there is validity in the idea that they win with anybody D
 It looks like two more years of pickering and chaffering in Washington-perhaps six years of augmentation and -calling-a sad prospect for the nation and the world