Evening star., 1954-12-28
The Political Mill
Both Parties Now Fuce
Task Of Rebuilding
Stevenson's Problems
Match Eisenhower's
The Political Mil

StetenSonS rToOIemS
Match Eisenhower's
By Gould Lincoln
The coming year win md President
Eisenhower seeking to rebuild the Re-
publican Party. with progressive
moderate set of policies and program.
On the other side of the political fence,
Adlai StevenSon--working behind the
scenes, win be working hard, too, to
rebuild the Democratic national organ
ization. For the Democrats have prob
lens equal to or even greater than
those which confront the @. o. p.
Since the defeat of 1852, the Stevenson
leaders, including particularly Stephen
A. Mitchell. Democratic national chair
man who Is stepping out Of Office jan
uary /, have been engaged in cutting
out the deadwood in the national or
ganization- in several of the State
organizations. This work will be con-
tinued under the leadership Of Paul
coming Democratic national chairman.
Mr.. Buffers own election, at the
recent New Orleans meeting Of the
Democratic National Committee. was
a step along these lines. Democrats
In Indiana had struggled for years to
win decisive victory from the Repub-
hcans. The old organization was unable
to deliver. Mr.. Butler and O group
Of Democrats decided something must
be done. So he became q candidate
for the job which Frank McHale had
held for years, national committeeman.
He won, and took his first step toward
heading the national organization.
Drive On In Iowa.
A drive is on In another important
Midwest State, Iowa. to change the
party leadership. In this case, the
political scalp of Jake More is the OBJ
jective. Mr.. More. strongly opposed
to q second presidential nomination for
Adlai Stevenson, has failed to elect o
Democrat In six consecutive guberna-
torial campaigns. And this year saw
the defeat Of the Iowa Democrats sole
representative In Congress, Senator Guy
Gillette. The attack on Mr.. More's
leadership Of the party was brought
into the open when Neal T.. Smith,
national president of the Young Demo-
Gratis. wrote letter to the Iowa Demo-
cratic State Central Committee, de-
manding that Mr.. More resign the
Craftsmanship. Mr.. Smith Is himself
Des Moines lawyer. He was caustic
In the extreme In his criticism Of Mr..
More.
In addition, the Stevenson Democrats
have been striving to obtain better re-
lations between the Northern and
Southern wings Of the Democratic
Party-and incidentally to encourage
the selection Of more progressive Demo-
cratic leaders In some Of the Southern
States. They believe that In New Or
leans they made real progress toward
improved relations between the North
ern and Southern Democrats, when a
decision was reached by q special ad-
visory committee to recommend against
the so-called Loyalty Pledge" which
caused so much trouble at the 1852
Democratic national convention.
The end, however. is not securely In
sight. The Governors of several South
ern States found 1t impractical, for
one reason or another, to attend the
big victory celebration (for the con-
gressional and gubernatorial elections
Of 1954) in New Orleans. It Is this
division in the party that continues
to cause the Democrats grief, not only
IN elections but also In Congress.
Eisenhower Problem.
President Eisenhower faces man
sized task. He Is trying to shake of,
from the party leadership. the Old
Guard shackles which persist in q
number Of States. The defeats which
the Republicans suffered In q num-
ber OF important States, including
Pennsylvania, however, may prove an
aid in bringing about shifts in Lead
ership. with new blood taking over. A
real problem is to obtain the proper
leadership and to make the party
really progressive moderate and not
lose the support of the more conserva-
tive group. Too many of the conserva-
tive group object that the Eisenhower
wing Of the party is New Dealish---
indeed. too like In many respects the
Democratic opposition. All kinds Of
threats have been heard-even to the
organization Of q new third party.
The differences between the Eisen-
hover Republicans and the Democrats,
however, are in fact fundamental. The
President himself stated the case when
he declared himself opposed to creep
ing socialism" The @. o. p, o. the
President sees 1t, remains the party,
or should remain the party, against
the GENERALIZATION Of governmental
power in Washington--the develop
ment Of big government" It should
remain the party, too. in opposition to
continued bigger and bigger Federal
Government spending, and fight al-
ways for balanced budget. For two
years the President has been striving
for better financial situation for the
Government. He has been handicapped
by the burdens Of earlier appropria-
tion and authorization on huge scale
which he inherited from the Truman
administration. Also, the President
will be aided In his efforts to keep
the conservatives within the Republic
FL H.., u - -