Evening star., 1952-02-09
GabrieIson Takes Bid
For Votes 10 South
In Birmingham Talk
By Gould Lincoln

BY Gould Lincoln
The Republican bid for voter
support in the solid South" was
carried to Birmingham, Ala.
today by Republican National
Chairman Guy George Gabrielson
speaking at q Lincoln Day
luncheon.
I'VE are here today, making
the same plea that Abraham
Lincoln made in the dimness Of
the past" Mr.. Gabrielson said
"Our plea is almost identically
the same-let us unite to pre-
serve our Republic from socialism
within and from communism
without"
The G. o. p. chairman said in
an interview the Republican
presidential nominee this year
will campaign throughout the
South.
mo matter who the candidate
will be-" he said, I'VE plan for
him q tour of Dixie"
Speech Is Precedent.
Mr.. Gabrielson's visit to Ala
bama to deliver a speech at a
Lincoln Day rally is itself a prece-
dent. The Republican chairman
urged his audience to remember
that Lincoln, the first Republican
President, was a Southerner.
"He never lost his deep affection
for the South" Mr.. Gabrielson
continued. while he lived, he
fought with bitter determination
against those who sought to take
stern measures against the States
Of the Confederacy."
ION the very eve Of his death
he said: Enough lives have been
sacrificed; we must extinguish our
resentment If we expect harmony
and union
Mr.. GabrielSon said the un-
timely death of Lincoln had been
followed by a tragic era in which
one political party became soli-
fed in the South. AS the years
have passed, however, he added,
the Republican Party and the po-
litical leaders Of the South have
been drawn closer and closer to-
gether.
Oppose Socialist Democrats"
Today, he said, both stand in
opposition to the Socialist DEM
ocrat Party of the Truman ad-
ministration. 1.-THE Republican
Party is trying to bridge the gulf
created more than four score
years ago.
Are we not making the same
fight?" asked Mr.. Gebrielson. Are
we not in wholehearted agree
ment in our opposition to the con-
centration of power in the Federal
Government-in short-to social
ism?
"Our friends call themselves
States Fighters and we call our
selves Republicans. But they op-
pose corruption in government
and so do we.
They are sickened and shamed
by the wasteful, political spending
of the Truman administration
and so are we.
They are fearful lest more
blundering in the administrator s
foreign policy let loose the food
gates of communism to sweep
through Europe or the Near East
as it did through China-and so
are we.
Forget Differences.
THAT is why it is our duty, as
Republicans, to persuade our
Southern friends to support the
Republican Party in this election
year. We must forget sectional
differences and remember the
need of the people of our nation" :"
Mr.. Gabrielson said there exists
a deep and fundamental split in
the Democratic Party today.
There are" he said, "the ira
ditional Democrats who espouse
very nearly the same principles
and objectives as those of the Re-
publican Party, and there are the
johnny come lately Democrats
who support an American version
of socialism"
Despite this area of intense dis
agreement, the Democrats of the
South, he said. have continued to
support the national candidates
of their party-thereby assuring
those candidates 1913 electoral
votes, even though those candi-
dates care nothing about the
South and its interests.
Concentrate ON Other 1873.
With this assurance, the New
Fair Deal Democrats have been
able to concentrate on winning the
other 1873 electoral votes necessary
to elect a President in the indus
trial areas of the country, where
the radicals have been strong. He
declared:
eve must demonstrate to the
Southern voters that his best in
terests lie in a two-party system,
which means growth and strength
ening of the Republican Party.
In the Republican Party the
Southern voter will find the same
rockribbed core Of Americanism
that is the foundation of the
GA,1kt,