Evening star., 1948-07-17
Truman's S Liabilities
Are Offset by Assets
To Some Extent
liberals Must Follow
President-They Have
No Other Place to Go
Bv Frank r. Kent


ing out that none of the horrible
things so freely forecast by the loud
mouthed liberals" determined to
toss Mr.. Truman into the ash can
and taka charge of the party came
to pass.
1t turns out at the end that the
individuals who led the fight against
Mr. Truman are the ones discredited
and discounted, not Mr.. Truman.
With extremely few exceptions and
excepting the South-theSe have
been exhibited as cheap publicity
seekers whose political power is a
noisy bluff. They are left in posi-
ton where they will have to gobble
an inordinate lot of crow or starve
to death politically. They will eat
the crow all right but they will not
do it with any degree of grace.
Rather the reverse. They will
choke and gulp and strangle over
their own words, muttering about
being "vindicated" in November,
earnestly hoping for the worst. Nor
will they have any conspicuous part
in the Truman-Barkley campaign
for several reasons. One is be-
cause 1t would be ridiculous; Sec
ond is because they are incapable
of what is generally called gen
erous gesture; the third Is that
again with few exceptions-they are
not TO be trusted. Nevertheless, they
will 60 through the required mo-
tions, profession the surface-har-
mony and good will and support the
ticket.
No Other Place to Go.
There simply is nothing else for
them to do. Literally, there is no
other place for them to go. There
fore they will whoop it up for Mr.
Truman and the Truman manage
ment will welcome and rejoice But
no one will be fooled. ContraSted
with the Republicans, the Truman
platform leaves the liberals no
room to complain. In particular,
It's pledge to repeal the Taft-Hart-
ley Act so entirely meets the CIO
demand that there seems ro alter
native for that organization save a
complete reversal of form, which It
ought to make with enthusiasm but
probably won't.
1t took nerve for Mr.. Truman
to put that plank in because it is a
severe criticism of a majority OF
the Democratic members of Con-
gress who voted for the bill and
to override his veto. Yet, if it had
not been put in, it would have
. been an evasion of his LWn record
It was unfortunate he made that
record. He would have done much
better to have made the bill his
own. But, having gone far IN the
other direction, he could not with
self-respect refuse to be consistent
Certainly, 1t was much too big
q price to pay for the support OF
the labor leaders who opposed him
before the convention nomination
and, though now he has gone the
full distance with them, give him
reluctant and lukeWarm support
It cannot be much consolation for
Mr.. Truman to realize-if he does
that these labor bosses whom he
has tried so hard to placate have
been shown up as politically i'm
potent, unable to deliver their own
rank and file.
The rather deplorable truth is
that the Truman record, policies
and platform show that he has
done his best to keep together the
extraordinary combination which
the late Mr.. Roosevelt created and
to which he subordinated the DEM
ocratic party-to wit, the lib
erals" the labor bosses, the North
ern Negroes, the big-city bosses
and the solid South.
Coming Apart at Seams.
That this combination has been
coming apart at the seams and can
no longer be held intact by Mr.. Tru-
man or any one else has been clear
for long time. Clear, too, are the
reasons, though there is not space
enough here to stress them. The
present lamentable state Of the
party is not SO much Mr.. Truman's
fault as the fault of his predecessor
who, one way or another, held to-
gether groups that did not belong
together and which plainly were
bound to disintegrate soon or late
The process of disintegration seems
to have begun. 1t was inevitable
and is overdue. None the less the
list of Mr.. Truman's liabilities-to
some extent at least-is offset by
Truman assets.
Among the liabilities must be
listed:
l. His party has been in un-
broken power for 16 years during
which there has been a great and
natural accumulation of resent
ments. 1t was saved from defeat
in 1914 by the war and there have
been many indications that an over
due tide has turned.
2. He has chosen to continue the
left-wing policies of his predeces-
sor at a time when the country as
a whole was veering toward con-
servatism.
8. Mr.. Wallace's third party has
taken from the Democrats the ex-
treme radical elements, including
the Communists. which always
marched under the Roosevelt ban
ner.
4. The party is in bad shape
financially. There is practically no
money in the treasury and very
poor chance Of being able to ap-
proach Republican campaign ex-
penditures.
S. The party leaders are depressed,
more or less resigned to defeat.
Among His Assets.
Here are some of his assets:
1. He is President of the United
States. Any one who thinks that
the fact alone is not Of real value
to a candidate for President does
not know American politics.
2. The Federal jobholders, who
Senator Byrd says have been in
creasing at the rate Of 500 day
since early March, now total 2,500,-
600. Estimating each Of these to be
worth four votes besides his own
x1,l,icb is MT fon small on eStinat te-