The Wilmington morning star., 1947-07-26
Third Parties
BY WILLIAM HENRY CHAMBERLAIN

BY WILLIAM HENRY CHAMBERLAIN
With an election year in the ofing, rumors
that a third party, headed by Henry A. Wal
lace, may enter the lists have been multiply
ing. These rumors inspire joy in the Republi-
can Camp and gloom in the Democratic, and
for good reason. Politicians adjust their sights
to the election at hand, not to one that will
take place four years, eight years or Twelve
year, hence.
And it seems as sure as anything can be
in IT,. uncertain game Of American politics
that the effect of a Wallace l~eft-wing flank.
ing diversion in l948 would be- to insure the
%electior o. a Republican president and a pre-
donlnatly Republican Congress. Very few
norma. Republican voters, one may De sue,
would follow the call Of a Wallace led third
party. Such an organization would have to
look for support mainly in the left-wing fringe
of the Democratic Party.
A subtraction of these left : wing voters
might easily tip the scales heavily in favor
Of the Republicans in a number OF states
outside the South where the issue might other
wise be close. A Wallace bolt might have
very decisive consequences In New York and
California, two states with large quotas OF
electoral votes where there is considerable
third party material.
Those who ere Advocating a new radical
national political organization would argue
thot they are thinking in terms of the future.
What would happen in 1948 would be mostly
educ ational spadework. BY 1852 Or 1856, SO
the argument runs, American and 1n.erna-
tional conditions might be favorable to a par.
ty with a program considerably to the LETT
o. the New Deal.
It should be remembered, however, that the
American two-party system, long the butt OF
gibes from perfectionist political scientists
VINO would like to see the country neatly d.
vided along theological lines, is a pretty hsrdy
plant. It is now almost a century Since the
Wing Party disintegrated and left a vacuum
which the Republican Partz filled.
Our political history since the Civil war is
thickly strewed with the bones of third
parties, some of which started out under "a
vorable auspices, some of which were il the
extreme sectarian or crackpot category. Some
Of these parties achieved substantial voting
success On a state and even on a national
level and some Of the ideas of the Pooulists.
and of the Socialists are reflected in some
of the legislative measures Of Woodroy Will
sons New Freedom and Franklin D.. Roose-
velt's New Deal.
Put no one Of these third parties reached
the point of ~electing a President or even OF
sending enough representatives to Congress
to hold the balance Of power between the
two major parties. Theodore Roosevelt won
a remarkable personal tribute when he polled
more votes than the Republican noininee,
Taft. il. 1912. But the Progressive Party which
had been the instrument Of Roosevelts cam
paigu melted away almost without a trace by
1916
The American Socialist Party, at its zenith
before the First World War. polled about 6
per cent of the vote and elected a number OF
mayors and an occasional Congressman. But
it has dissolved almost into nothingness as a
result of Communist inroads and t%actional
squabbles. At the present time a Socialist
candidate would be lucky if he could win
more votes than the nominee Of the Prohibi-
ticn Party.
Wallace's- leadership. and with a strong
aroma Of Communist favor and infilt-ation,
would possess the political stamina and power
of attraction to displace either Of the older
parties as a major political force. And Ameri-
can voters are impatient for results. Few Of
them like to be in the position Of a permanent
minority throwing away" their votes on can
dictates who never win.
In Canada, the country which is closest to
the U4.ited States in its way OF life, its COM
bination Of political democracy with a free
economic system and its high standards o.
industrial and farm productivity, the way Of
the third party has also been hard. The ira
di+iona] two large parties, the Liberals and
Conservatives Cthe latter recently renamed
the Progressive Conservatives) have %alternat-
ed in power during the last century very
IN lch like Republicans and Democrats in this
country.
During the war a challenger appeared in
the C.C.F., Cooperate Commonwealth Fed
e%ratior), which put forward a program Of
naturalization of key industries and state con-
trolls similar to that of the British Labor
Party, although with more attention to the
in local elections was running so favorably
FOR the C.C.F. that the ousting from bower
and influence of one Of the two older parties
seemed possible. But the last national election
in Canada gave the Liberals a small majority
over all opponents, with the Progressive Con-
saryaties second and the C.C.F. a rather
weak third.
National parties with rather general and in
elusive platforms which try to appeal to all
occupational groups in the electorate are a
natural development in big countries like the
United States and Canada, with their varied
re gional interests. Logical purists may resen,
the fact that a Republican in the West may
emphasize different interest from a Repuhli.
can in New England, that d Democrat from
Mississippi and a Clio Democrat from De.
troit often vote on opposite sides.
But under the two-party system the nations
affairs have been fairly well managed. And
It remains to be proved that there woald lie
any benefit in trying to split the country
s. .arply along theological lines Or in creating
the multiplicity Of parties which has been a
beset.ine weakness Of European parliamen.
Street Journal.