Evening star., 1948-10-10

/ elephant. The Democratic Party
,oday, is a dead duck. Mr.. Wallace
,al function of his current campaign
who had asked what the
160-acre irrigation limitation meant,
of showing by the question that he
thought Theodore Roosevelt was
radical.
1t is all very discouraging. There
is none of the excitement, this time,
that attended his gg-and-tomato
engagements with Dixiecratic row.
dies on his Southern tour six weeks
ago. This time, he is the victim. so
far as publicity is concerned, of police
protection and popular indifference.
On a few occasions. good turnouts
at his rallies have reflected an in
tensive advance buildup by the local
Progressive organization. Only once.
in Chicago, did he fire a crowd to
real shouting enthusiasm. That was
when he spoke at convention OF
the American Slav Congress on the
day after that organization had been
labeled Communist" by Attorney
General Clark.
Lons, Slow Defation
The long-range trend, however,
has been one of slow decline, with
Mr.. Wallace drawing less and less
response from smaller and smaller
audiences with speeches more and
more extreme in their denunciation
of his country, its leaders and their
policies.
This decline. it should be UNDER
stood, is no temporary huctuation.
but rather a long, slow deflation. A
reverse groundswell, one might call
it. For Mr.. Wallace's campaign.
unlike those of President Truman
and Gov. Dewey, has not been q
last-month rush to influence the
voters. Mr.. Wallace has been CAM
paigning hard since last January.
It is clear now, Of course, that the
early start was poor strategy for the
race; that one reason why Mr.. Wall
lace is folding up in the stretch Is
simply that he made his move" too
soon. In fairness to the Progress
sive candidates handlers, however,
they have a special problem in that
they were trying to establish a new
party. The early pressure probably
was necessary, for one thing, in
order to assure the party's position
on a reasonable number Of State
ballots.
The fact is at any rate, that in his
lengthy pilgrimage Mr.. Wallace con-
sistently has been attracting less at.
tention and less of an audience the
second time he visits place than
he did the first time.
Attendance Falls Off
This was graphically illustrated
last week in California, the State
which is second only to New York
as a Progressive stronghold-and
which, according to the once-upon-
a-time boast of his campaign man
ager, Mr.. Wallace was destined to
carry. Before this visit of Mr..
Wallace's it had been estimated by
close political observers that his
following in California has fallen,
during the summer, from about 700,-
900 to somewhere around 100000, .
decline of a little more than one
third.
1t may have been coincidental. but
Progressive aides we're something
more than embarrassed. Mr.. WAL
lace's Los Angeles rally seemed to
provide pat statistical support for
the dopesters' calculations. Last
May, according to third-party
claims, Mr.. Wallace had packed
more than 10000 people into Los
Angeles Gilmore Stadium-the big
gest political gathering in the city's
history. This time. just under 2o,-
900 turned out to hear him.
The next night, at Bakersfield.
Mr.. Wallace spoke in a ball park
before exactly 372 people and ap-
proximately $500 empty seats.
Endorsement Rejected
There were other signs Of Progress
sive weakness in California. The
most interesting was the withdrawal.
on the eve OF Mr.. 'Wallace's arrival
in the State, OF Progressive congress
sional candidates who were to have
opposed the liberal Democratic IN
cumbents in two districts, Repre-.
sentatives Douglas and Holifield.
Mr.. Wallace has made point Of
pretending that this last-mlnute
switch, together with the decision
to support other Democrats such as
Hubert Humphrey in the Minnesota
senatorial race, was something ne
had planned on all along. OF course,
this is arrant nonsense. Mrs. Doug.
las and Mr.. Honfield support the
Marshall Plan for European recov-
cry, opposition to which is a cardinal
tenet in Mr.. Wallace's criticism of
our Governments conduct of foreign
affairs.
Last spring it seemed the Wallace
ite opposition would bring about the
sure defeat at least of Mrs. Douglas,
and she would willingly at that time
have accepted his support.
One thing and one thing only
changed this picture during the
summer months-namely, Mr.. Wall
= -.