Evening star., 1948-09-12

Moose equals Democrats.
That was exactly what happened
on election day. Roosevelt split the
Taft vote and Wilson won the
Presidency.
This year the same sort of thing
is obvious for all to see. 1t Is Demo-
Gratis divided by Progressives plus
Dixiecrats equals Republicans.
In that 1912 election, however, the
political mathematics were true
only on the national scale. This
year the same sort of result may
be had in many a race for the
Senate and House. The Dixiecrats
are playing no part in this particu-
lar split; their fight is strictly with
President Truman over the Presi-
dental electoral votes of the South
COP May Sweep House
The split which may seriously
weaken the Democratic Party in
Congress is being engineered by the
Progressive Party of Henry A. Wal
lace, To many a Democrat and es-
peciany to those remnants of the
New Deal still taking part in poll
tics. the really serious situation is
in the senatorial and House races
Conversely, Republican prospects
for a sweeping party victory in the
House are brighter than ever and
the COP chances of retaining con-
troll of the Senate are likewise i'm
proved, Though nothing like they are
for the House. y
1t is for exactly this reason that
labor groups. the American Fedora
ton of Labor, the Congress of In
dustrial Organizations and the in
dependents, are concentrating their
campaigning on the House and Sen
ate races. After all, they reason, If
the Eightieth Congress was, as Pres
ident Truman has repeatedly said,
the second worst" Congress in his
tory, the thing to do is to throw out
some of the old members and re-
place them with members more in
clined to your own point of view.
Green's Admonition
In his Labor Day address at
Akron, Ohio, President william
Green of the AFL warned against a
repetition of what happened in the
1946 election, when only one third
the qualified voters in America"
went to the polls to name the
Eightieth Congress. --v-... 80.
Mr. Green's admonition is s'use
your vote" and he is being seconded
and echoed by every othes labor
leader intent on improving Rthe
quality of Congressman. n
Now, it appears, the Wallace Pro-
gressives will make the job even
tougher than the regular one of
getting out the vote on November
2. They are putting up third party
candidates in many important races.
1t looks like Democrats divided by
Progressives equals Republicans.
When Henry Wallace first started
his third party he made great pro-
testations that he was interested
in electing a liberal President-him-
self-and a liberal Congress. He and
his friends said they would back
all liberal candidates and enter their
own Progressive Party members
where there was no liberal candi-
date. The definition of q liberal
varies considerably, but at least two
liberal groups, the ClO and the
Americans for Democratic Action
have produced check lists of voting
records In the last Congress to de-
termine just how liberal" Sena-
tor or Representative was.
The tests covered good many
points, but break down this way:
On foreign affairs a vote for the
Marshall Plan and for the full ap-
preparation for its first year was q
liberal vote. On domestic affairs
votes against the Taft-Hartley labor
law and against overriding Presi-
dent Truman's veto were liberal
votes. Likewise. liberal votes were
those for public housing as embod-
led in the Taft-Ellender- Wagner
bill and for extension of such
things as rent control.
The CIO News recently issued a
summary showing that it rated Sc
Congressman at 80 per cent liberal
or better-those who voted right"
from the CLOS standpoint on
out of 10 issues.
Yet the Progressives have entered
some 8O-odd candidates in congress
sional contests. in many cases
against these liberal congressman
almost without exception Demo-
Gratis.
Blunt Lan9uaae
The result appears so likely to be
catastrophe to the liberal cause
that one CIO union, the Textile
Workers Union. came out last week
with a pamphlet printed In red and
black and titled: Third Party-Red
Ally of Reaction"
The opening paragraphs express
in blunt language the feelings OF
many other liberal groups, both
unions and other groups. Up to now
no one had had the courage to put
it quite like this:
The third party, headed by
Henry A. Wallace. is trying hard to-
bring about a reactionary victory
In the November elections. This
would be true even II Wallace him
self withdrew from the presidential
race.
The real story Of the third party
does not concern the presidency;
that's just a detail. The real story
.an best be read in the 80-odd con-
contests where third party
have been entered 50 far
aYk S~ = shnnk{nU ~fNru ~ ax Asyfl