Evening star., 1952-12-05
Truman Tells Party
To Let 6. @. P. Have
Fair Chance in Office
By Joseph A. Fox

Democrats to follow two rules of
conduct in their new role as the
minority party:
l. Give the Republicans a fair
chance to operate.
2. Aim at the recapture of con-
gressional control in 1854.
The President gave his elder
statesman" philosophy at a news
conference yesterday in which he
said also that he and Gov Stew
enson had agreed that Stephen A.
Mitchell ought to remain as DEM
Ocratic national chairman. This
statement was made despite the
reported feeling in some quarters
that a more experienced hand is
needed at the helm in view of the
party reorganization that shapes
up as must" after the Novem-
ber debacle.
Getting away from politics. the
President also had high praise
for the news conference as an
institution. declaring he believed
President ELECT Eisenhower would
continue these regular sessions
with press and radio, because they
enable a President to convey his
ideas to the public in a way that
can be understood. /
Often a critic of these two me-
diums of particularly
the press-Mr. Truman conceded.
aid the functioning of Govern
ment. He said he had enjoyed his
news conferences.
In enunciating what amounted
to "no-sniping" rule for politi- 7
cally minded Democrats after the
Republicans come into power the :
President lined up with Gov Ste
venson, who urged the same
course earlier in the day. at a
White House news conference. /:
Praises Durkin. /
President Humans comment
was touched off by a question as /;
to whether he agreed with the
criticism which Senator Taft, Re i
publican, of Ohio leveled at the |,
appointment of Martin P. Durkin, /
Chicago union leader. as the Eisen- +
hover Secretary of Labor.
Joining in the laugh that fol-
lowed this question, Mr.. Truman
said the Secretary designate is a
very fine gentleman. Asked next T,
his views on the new cabinet as
whole. Mr.. Truman turned serious
and told the reporters that you
want to give these people tthe G.
0. P) a chance and see what
they do.
Adding that comment in ad-
vance never does anybody any
good, Mr.. Truman said that if the
opposition makes mistakes the
Democrats will point them out.
Party Deficit Is Factor.
Concluding, the President said
If the Republicans do right and
SET along all right he'll be as
happy as anybody. .~
But the President made 1t clear
in commenting on the party re-
organization that is being widely
discussed, that the idea is to con-
tinue the National Committee on
a basis that will keep the party in
the forefront and enable the
Democrats to take over control of
Congress two years hence. He ex-
poets this to happen.
The Democratic deficit of some il
thing more than $500,000 is fig
uring largely in Gov. Stevenson's /;
conferences here. which Chairman !
Mitchell and Treasurer Dwight 4
Palmer have attended. The Pres
ident told a questioner that the
party intends to raise money to 1
pay of the campaign deficit just
e: las always been done.
Responding to questions about
the results of his plan to have Re !
publican officials come to Wash
ington for brief1ng on the duties
they will take up next month. Mr. 4
Truman said it will bring about
the most orderly transition of
one administration to another
thai ever has been made. /.
Won't Become COlumnist.
Mr.. Truman reiterated he didn't l.
know what he would do when he
got out of Office, but he stressed
that he intended to see how it
felt to spend all day doing nothing
after working II hours a day for
30 years. !;
He laughed off the idea that he
would become a columnist, ex-
planning that he had been fussing
with this group for a long time
and it might not be good idea. +
Asked if he would not like to
attend Eisenhower news confer
Tk@ \A/@~4L@.