Evening star., 1948-06-20

Truman expects to top his party's'
ticket, despite the apathy-some-
times hostility-to his leadership
which has developed in some impor-
tant quarters.
1t is equally evident that once the
opposing slate is drawn, the Presi-
dent will take his case to the people,
hammering primarily at a single
theme-refusal Of the Republican
controlled Congress to act on
domestic legislation, with prices and
housing getting the hardest play.
Foreign affairs may cut a minor
figure in the campaign unless there
are developments which force Mr..
Truman to make this an issue, too.
He told a Montana audience that
American foreign policy was con-
Quoted on q nonpartisan basis and
that was the way it should be as
politics stops at the waters edge
He repeated the same thing later
and it is obvious the President Is
willing to rest on that.
Problem in the West
Parenthetically it should be said
that the President has demonstrat-
ed his willingness to defend his veto
of the Republican-sponsored tax
reduction law as 4 rich mans law
and to taunt labor for failure to
turn out the vote in 1946 and make
possible the election Of the present
Congress in which the Taft-Hartley
Act was enacted.
There was no mention in the
West of the fact that Democrats
helped pass both measures over his
veto.
Onee the President does swing
into action, it is difdcult to escape
the conclusion that he must depend
more on Harry S. Truman than any
one else to do good for himself, in
the section through which he has
lust come, unless there is change.
Generalizations always are dan
eerous, but certainly from what re-
porters with the President were able
to detect on q dawn-to-darkness,
hop skip-and- jump routine by train,
plane and car, there is not much
Of 4 Democratic machine In opera :
ton in the West ut this. stage OF
the game. and too many Democrats
are looking for = Messiah whose
name is not Truman.
Public Is Receptive
One observer of many years. view
ing a crowd of several hundred
thousand which greeted the Presi-
dent in Los Angeles, summed 1t up:
Il wonder II this man can put
himself across with q grass-roots
appeal, despite his party" That's
the poser.
At any rate, the President is find-
ing the public receptive. The street
turnouts have been excellent. His
rear platform crowds have been
uniformly good, and often, late at
night, the people have stayed at
railroad stations to watch his train
pass, on the off-chance they would
get a look at him. The receptions
for his five so-called major speeches
varied, from the frost" at Omaha
where the Democrats-or some OF
them-are unhappy. to the record
crowd of $4,000 to 10000 at the
University OF California commence
ment. which heard the President
sail into Russia for blocking world
peace.
In Chicago, where the Cook
County Democratic organization Is
thinking more about saving the
State ticket in November than in
trying to win nationally. the Presi-
dent spoke to a Swedish American
centennial observance, and filled
every inch of Chicago Stadium
which can handle $4,000 or 10000
Other thousands had greeted him
in the slow motor ride through the
Loop.
Crowd Reaction Marked
In Seattle the President encoun.
tered a lot of empty seats in the
sun baked High School Stadium
where he talked on natural re.
sources and assailed the "specia
interests" for power-grabbing, but
a few blocks down the street thou.
sands gathered in shady canyon
formed by the tall business build
ings. to hear the speech by radio
and the warmth OF the welcom'
when the President drove into tina
area left nothing to be desired.
The Presidents speeches nevel
provoked the wild tumult that {
Franklin Roosevelt or an Al Smith
could stir, but the crowd reaction
was marked where the Presiden
went before individual groups K
talk specific subjects.
| That was true in Chicago, where
he was driving home the need fol
doing something on the displaced
persons issue to an audience COM
posed of the sons and daughters o.
Swedish immigrants. In Seattle
where the people are public-powel
conscious, his small stadium audi
ence followed his remarks with clost
attention. It was the same at ths