Evening Star Newspaper, March 22, 1931, Page 25

EDITORIAL SECTION The Sanday Star, Part 2—10 Pages ‘WASHINGTON, D. C., SUNDAY- MORNING, MARCH 22, 1931 MOVES HELP 1932 CAUSE TWO WAYS Governor Woos Progressives by Power Stand, and Grips Dry South by Position on Raskob. BY MARK SULLIVAN. movement that is carrying Gov. Franklin Roosevelt of New York toward the Democratic presidential nomination is at a stage s0 Interesting as to be really fascinating to any experienced political observer or to any one who watches with understanding - thcse maneuvers of politicians and those currents of popular psychology that eventuate in political results. I put it this way, “The movement that is carrying Gov. Franklin Roose- velt,” because I shrink from saying *Gov. Roosevelt's candidacy,” and from using any other phrase that implies self-conscious purpose on the part of the New York Governor. The motives that cause any public man to e certain steps are something within &he boundaries of his own skull. They cannot be known positively to any out- sider; often they are unknown or vague to the man himself. The phrases al- most universally used about every man who has become a presidential possi- bility, such as “Roosevelt's candidacy,” or “Smith’s candidacy,” or “Ritchie’s candidacy,” or as the case may be, in- cludes an assumption which in the na- ture of things cannot always be exact. One unfortunate result of this loose- ness of logy is to attribute to a public man motives of ambition for ac- tions which in fact may have been in- spired by simple sincerity. ‘The movement of a man toward the presidency is made up of several Active factors: What he himsel§ does; what he does for a political e; what he does without political purpose; what his friends-do; what is done by strang- ers to whom his personality or his rec- ord appeals; the mere nature of politi- cal and economic conditions at the time the man happens to emerge. With respect to Gov. Roosevelt, all these factors are operating. Some of the factors work in his behalf; others impede him. Some factors help him with some elements of the voters, but harm him with others. Two Steps Help Cause. ‘With this explanation, let us say that Gov. Roosevelt during the pfesent month has taken two steps likely to help Tim toward the presidency, through their appeal to two separate groups of voters. (The possibility that the two steps may partially cancel each other is one reason that makes the sit- uation fascinating.) One of Gov. Roosevell’s steps was a kinship which he set up between himi- self and the Progressives (who are chiefly, in their way, of the Republican party) at. the conference held by the latter in Washington last week. The dispatch about that conference which ‘was sent to the New York Herald-Trib- une at the close of the opening day be- gan: “Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt of New York emerged today at the end of the first session of the conference of “Progressives’ as an outstanding candi- date for their support in the presiden- tial campaign period ahead.” Those ‘words, it is fair to say, are a reasonably exact expression of the state of mind of all who observed the ive con- ference closely and were best equipped to interpret its spirit and its conse- quences. Gov. and the Pro- gressive conference made toward each other plain gestures of mutual esteem. Almost they were Damon and Pythias: certainly they Gaston. Gov. Roosevelt took pains to have at least three direct communications with the conference. Upon receiving an in- vitation to attend it he wrote a cordial letter saying, in effect, that he would Jove to be there and that he would try to so arrange. Subsequently he called the leading spirit in the conference (and the leading spirit of the whole Progressive movement), Senator George ‘W. ‘Norris of Nebraska, on the phone and explained that he was only pre- vented from having the honor and Eleuure of attending by the fact of bu Legislature being in session in Al- any. g Telegram Shows Solicitude. Finally Gov. Roosevelt sent a tele- | gram to the conference, for publica- tion, in which he hoped good enough to send me the report of the conference. May I call your at- tention particularly,” added Gov. Roose- velt significantly, “to the waterpower policy of this State, to our agricultural program, and the new land utiliza- tion policy which I have outlined.” ‘The Progressives on their part recip- rocated. Plainly they were pleased by Gov. Roosevelt’s gestures of sympathy. Plainly they approved his stand on the power issue. “It is clear,” wrote the exceptionally acute Frank Kent in the Baltimore Sun, “that Gov. Roosevelt ,is the favorite presidential possibility n‘nw in the fleld among the Progres- sives.” Gov. Rooseyelt’s wooing of the Pro- g-e2ssives, 30 far as it had a consclous political purpose, Jooked not to the pri- mary election for getting the Demo-| cratic nomination—but to the subse- quent general election between the Democratic and Republican candidates. ‘The Progressives have little or no power to help Gov. Roosevelt toward the Democratic nomination; for that he must depend fundamentally on the Demoeratic organizations and voters in | the New York group of States, among whom Progressives count but lightly. Similarly, Gov. Roosevelt in aiming for the nomination must depend chiefly upon another issue, prohibition, which issue the Progressive conference formal- ly tabooed. The Progressive desire to have Frank- Yin Roosevelt in the White House is in- #pired almost wholly by his attitude o the power question. Power is the issue which the Progressives, and especially their leader, Senator Norris of Ne- braska, regard as what Bryan calle¢ “paramount.” ‘The Progressives Senator Norris deplore the very exist- ence of any and all issues having to d with prohibition. Norris says. is a “false issue,” “a_sham Prohibition, . 15 being put forward by the Power Trust for the purpose of hiding tle real issue which, as Senator Norris holds, is the power question. (Paren- thetically it would be right difficult for fenator Norris to prove his assertion that the power companies are deliber- mtely stirring up the prohibition issue; ‘the ibit! - electricity to keep it moving.) Prohibition Out of Way. The net of which is that Gov. Hoose- ternizing with the Pro. , helped himself toward the (without reference to the nomi- nation, for which he must depend upon - “elt, by his fraf ® other He helped himself ‘ward the nomination) by takini the Proguu’ proh! Progressives want kept out of the way ®s an In issue. the process of attaining the presi- €emcy there is one oo-ullntfw. funda- |ing overridden by the wets—and to its| “you will be | and? Prohibition, Senator | Senator NOITiS | conveyed by those two words is well un- | issue does not need any Ips). election (without reference to a position ROOSEVELT mental in its nature, which any one | should bear in mind Who wishes to in- terpret accurately the currents that carry & man to the White House—or more often cast him on the shoals of failure. Getting the presidency (or almost any other elective office) has become, since the direct primary, a process of two steps. First you must get the nomination; then you must win the election. The inherent intricacy is that the actions and issues helpful to get the one may differ from the s and actions necessary to get the other. The ensuing complication distressing to & candidate is that in thinking too much about the one, you may lose the other. In adapting yourself to get the nomi- nation, you may disqualify yourself for the presidency. The attitudes or the actions of the issues which will help you toward the one, may work against you for the other. In trying too hard to get (for example) the dry vote or the wet vote in order to achieve the nomination, you may alternately so of- fend the wets or the drys as to lose the election. Or, in keeping your eye too closely on the election, you may incau- tiously do a thing that deprives you of the nomination. Straight Path Lacking. Getting into the White House i<, since the direct primary came, like entering a Chinese home. ¥You cannot walk straight ahead into a Chinese house. The Chinese arrange the doors of their | houses with & view to preventing the | unwanted entrance to certain ill-dis- posed genil or jinx, or whatnot, who are supposed to ride with the winds. The winds, of course, go in a straight direction. If you arrange the doors of your house so that no wind can blow straight into it, so that the wind must turn at an angie—by that device you confuse the jinx, who fall harmiess at the outer edge of your door sill. The consequence of thic defensive ingenuity is that as you enter a Chinese house, you are obliged, at some part of the process, to step sidewise. After enter- ing the outer door, you are confronted by a second door, or by screen, to pass which you must stop and make a step to the right or left. The process has at least a remote resemblance to the political device known as “side- | stepping.” In American politics, since | the direct primary, a candidate must in | many cases learn to go forward and sideways in the same movement. | ‘The other step by Gov. Roosevelt, | likely to help him toward the nomina- tion (though not necessarily toward the election) occurred at the meeting of the | Democratic National Commitiee in Washington this month. Chairman | Raskob of the committee, who presum- ably has the sympathetic supporc of ex- Gov. Smith of New York, took a step | designed to commit the Democrats to a completely wet position. Upon the news of what Chairman Raskob proposed to do, the Southern drys in the party felt{ outraged. They fought, and fought hard —but the one contribution that made :Efi}r fight l\lcc!!l:lil] (llor l,!;e “mflboe. g) ceme. surprisingly, from v. | Roosevelt of New York. Of all the sections of the Democratic party, the one that might be supposed to be most wet, the most devoted to pushing the pafty nationally toward the wet a&tlflon, is New York. Vet here was New York Democratic organiza- tion, presumably upon the inspiration of Gov. Roosevelt, calling an extraordinary meeting in order to adopt formal reso- lutions disapproving what Chairman Raskob was proposing. | Feeling of Dry South. ‘That step was and is likely to help Gov. Roosevelt toward the nomination (without fundamental relation to the election). The dry South felt itself be- rescue came Gov. Roosevelt, himself a | wet, but by this action demonstrating | that he is not an extreme wet. and demonstrating that the dry South will | not find him intolerant toward them. By this action Gov. Roosevelt largely disarmed the dry South which other- wise, might have been expected to op- pose his nomination. ‘The interesting and extremely impor- tant speculation is whether Gov. Roose- velt, by the action that drew the South | toward him, may have at the same time thrust ex-Gov. Smith some distance | away from him. Ex-Gov. Smith was in | ‘Washington at the time. The one effort | of practically every writer of political news was to find out what Smith thought about Gov. Roosevelt's action— and whether ex-Gov. Smith regarded himself a possibility for the Demo- cratic presidential nomination. These questions the Washington newspaper | men put up to ex-Gov. Smith in every| conceivable variation and refinement. | Out of him they tried to drag, or cork- | screw, or surprise, or infer, or deduce, or divine, or surmise whether he disap- proved Gov. Roosevelt’s action, whether he felt kindly .toward Gov. Roosevelt's | presidential aspirations, and whether he | himself would be. an aspirant. To the | prying of the newspaper men ex-Gov. Smith presented the easy wariness of a veteran of thousands of such encounters, ‘The newspaper men did not find out, directly. An epitome of their aggregate feeling would say that they belleved ex-Giov. Smith to have been irritated by what Gov. Roosevelt did. The news- papers for several days. and since, re- flected the notion that there was politi- cal coldness between the two. In any event and all events the one man—not the one man, the one force— | that Gov. Roosevelt must consider, both a5 respects the nominatjon and the elec- tion, is ex-Gov. Smith. It is trite and commonplace to say that Gov. Roosevelt would never be able to get the nomina- tion against the outright opposition of ex-Gov. Smith. He would not be able to get it even against the silent opposi- | tion of ex-Gov. Smith. He would hardly be able to get it if ex-Gov. Smith’s at- itude should be one of merely detached indifference. Help of Smith Needed. Roosevelt, in order fo win the nomi- | | nation, must have Sraith for him; in | order to win the election he must have | Smith not only for him but fur him. (The distinction in shade of enthusiasm | derstood in Tilinois.) Ex-Gov. Smith is | | by far the largest single force within the Democratic party. He has the largest personal following of any person in the Democratic party. Probably he has the largest personal following in America excepting only President Hoover and ex. President Coolidge. How large ex-Gov. | Smith’s personal following is can be proved by the figures showing the popu- lar vote for the last three Democratic candidates for the presidency: Year. Candidate. Popular vote. 1926—Smith . 15,016,443 1924—Davis 8,386,503 1920—Cox . 9,147,353 Those are really very impressive fig- ures. They show that Smith is able to evoke almost twice as many Democratic | votes as any other candidate. And these figures are net—after deducting the hundreds of thousands of Democratic votes that, everybody knows, went uhalmt Smith in the South and else- ‘where, Smith's following s pecullarly de- Woman’s Sphere Defended There’s Little Security for Them and They Must Labor Long and Hard Drawn for the Sunday Star by Harve Steln. MODERN WOMAN HAS BROKEN THE SHACKLES OF YESTERDAY'S DEPENDENCE. admit that if one went by what one s¢es | men are able to keep their female be-| them as spending their days in grim on the Cote d’Azure one might conclude | los toil, in an agony of concentration, in the relationship of the sexes to be such desperate determination to keep their as he suggests by these ecstatic cries, jobs. Whereas, “With the departure of Certainly man provides there, all right. their husbands the two former ladies He provides so handsomgely that Paris have 10 hours of liberty. Even if they dressmakers and jewelers move down to live in a town there is a park near for the coast for the season and hotel own- baby or bables, there is a charwoman, ers can live with the splendor of Czars. if not a little servant maid. At the BY REBECCA WEST, In fact, down on the Riviera, woman is worst, there are for them four or five A iy dependent on man, and her dependence hours of freedom apart from the neces- i e R is very comfortable. sity of concentrating bon any K OMAN—the helpmate! 8o But one cannot argue from this that “Mr. Oppenheim should not live all the [ old-fashioned! So eter- |all women have the chance of being time on the Riviera. He should come to nally true! comfortably dependent on men, and London, or to New York, and ses how ‘Man—the provider,|that those who insist on working are | penheim’s description of how his im- | the Mrs. Strubes really live. It does not carrying out the law of4wantonly throwing aside the right to|aginary Mrs. Willlam Strube and Mrs. | seem to me that they have such a very nature. So hackneyed! So inevitable!” | live at ease for the chance to do poor | Alfred Strube spend their days. Their | good time. I say that without being Really, Mr. Oppenheim, this is what | work for second-rate reward. That|husbands are wage slaves, a clerk and comes of living on the Riviera, I feebly ' argument is based on a fallacy: That!a drummer. Mr. Oppenheim represents (Continued on rbu'rth Page.) Can Gandhi Control India? Several Troublesome Questions Must Be Faced If Present Agreements Are to End All Strife. Note—Last Sunday E. Phillips Op- penheim, i1 an article entitled “The Truth About Women,” flouted the earnestness of all women, Rebecca West, in replying in the following article, does not tihnk Mr. Oppen- heim told the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.” gs. ‘They cannot do it. Not #s an inva- riable, general Lots of them do it for a while, some of them can do it all the time, But it is not true that the economic position of men enables them to put aside such a sum for the support of their women folk t the mass of women could feel justified in looking forward to a lifetime of dependence. Nor is it such that ‘women who are dependent on men have a particu- larly good time. ‘That really made me laugh. Mr, Op- British goods has been withdrawn. ggm; important of all is the promise of Glndmw advise his friends to co- operate in future discussions, with a v}:w to filling up yawning gaps in the outline of the setilement agreed upon at the London conference. Remarkable Conference. In some respects the Delhl conver- sations constitute the most remarkable political conference ever held in this world. It is conceivable, perhaps, that the Middle Ages may have produced a conclave of rulers and medieval monks which bore a remote resemblance to it—but I cannot recall an: quite“like it. Gandhi has many of the characteris- ‘medieval delegation and carried with #t a formi- dable body of Indian opinion. Nevertheless, the active and popular Nationalist movement among Hindu intellectuals, manufacturers, merchants and operatives was largely unrepre- sented. The Indian National Congress, which is the organized expressiongof this patriotic movement, declined"to send delegates to London and was, therefore, not bound by the decisions of the conference. Factors in Any Peace. " ‘The future peace of India, therefore, depends on the view taken by Indian popular leaders of the adequacy of concessions secured I_alye their country- men in London. Sir Tej Sapru and his colleagues were very confident when they left our shores that things would go well in India. Their confidence xx been justified in the events that - lowed their arrival. The Irwin-Gandhi agreement is as much a triumph for the wisdom, the statesmanship and the influence of moderate leaders as it is for the actual signatories of the Delhi pact. ‘When they reached Bombay, almost all the influential lar leaders, in- cluding Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, were in for sedition, and about 50,000 of their followers were under lock and key. Then came the Delhi pact. Political prisoners are now all released, except those who have be:a convicted of actual violence. Complete tranquillity has been restored, Civil disobedience has been called off. The movement for the non-payment of taxy has been dicontinued and the boye* Franklin and reached an agreement which woul have commended itself to George Washington and all moder- ate American leaders who were anxious to avold bloodshed. A temporary ac- commodation would have been reached, and if separation was inevitable in the end, it. would have come by mutual consent and not as the result of a bitter war that left behind rankling memories. Such speculations are not altogether barren conjectures, for they: have a BY DAVID LLYOD GEORGE. N interesting book was publish- ed recently containing a series of fictitious happenings based on the assumption that certain well known historical events had taken a different turn to that which actually occurred. If toward the close of the eighteenth century Britain had installed Lord Irwin as Governor of Virginia and; a Democratic statesnan as prime mirfls- ter in Westminster, would the American States have nevertheless untimately | Dearing on the situation in India to- scceded, or would they mow be the|day. The Irwin-Gandhi conversations predominant influence in directing the | at Delhi following upon the successful policy of a world-wide empire? issue of the round table conference in G 3 London have completely changed the e ey ot Bavetaiked mpsters | HtuMtion in Inds for the better. = The London conference represented over at his residence with Benami® |the Native-Indian states and the most potent of the Indian princes attended the deliberations in person and took part in the proceedings. But these states in the “:rrenw account for less than a fourth of the population of India. The acknowledged leaders of Indian Mohammedans attended the conference. That would account for less than another fourth. Their chief spokesmen came to London to present their case. The oppressed caste of other words, there is one condition that | Hinduism—the so-called untouchables— Eniich could reasonably impose as the | were also represented at the conference price of his wholehearted s for by one or two of their ablest leaders. Roosevelt. The condition has to do with ey number one-eighth, The ruling prohibition. If Roosevelt should seem |castes of Hinduism were represented by to “pussyfoot” on prohibition, to - | certain princes and by moderate leaders promise with the drys, it is doubtful if | like Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru, the dis- Smith could or would throw his follow- un’uuhed Indian jurist, Mr. Jayaker, ing to Roosevelt's support, and Dr, Moonje. It e . powerful where en route for saini law. I am not sure he did not at one as an Ing The skill and precision he then ac- quired stood him in stead when came to assist in the terms of this elaborate and momentous agree- ment. For the stately viceroy discussed every aspect of the government in In- dia, & government holding sway over 300,000,000 people of many races, creeds and castes, with this diminutive half-clad fanatic, and negotiated with him articles of a treaty of peace as if he were an equal potentate with whom he had to reckon. One can hardly be surprised that the old Tory diehards of ”_(bn'fuiu‘i‘in‘fi?nm Page) ) voted, peculiarly personal. If.it were known or even vaguely suspected that Smith had no heart in 'S can- didacy, such a suspicion would be fatal to the New York Governor. Probably it is safe to say there is just one condition that could cause and Justify ex-Gov. Smith, from the mnl of view of his following, in being ok wirm about Rocsevelt. To put it in SOVIET GAINS AS EUROPE DIVIDES ON TRADE AIMS Unless Capitalist Nations Get Better Teamwork, Russian Domination Is Believed Probable. By FRANK H. SIMONDS. ARIS.—No single evidence of the present. incoherence in l.'umg: can be more striking to the American than the policy of the various countries toward Red Russia. That the latest developments in the Soviet Union, notably in the matter of the five-year plan, carry a deadly thrust to nearly il European countries, is conceded with equal- frank- ness on all sides. That along with this economic menace goes an eventual mill danger is similarly recognized. N less there is the unmistakable fact that in the face of these dangers the European states are incapable of = lishing even & common economic ont. ‘The case of Germany is the most in- teresting and significant. If the five- plan succeeds, even after longer lesser magnitude than . but German manufacturers find themselves con- fronted with a system of dumping that may spell ruin to the vast industrial edifice of the Reich. Moreover, long before the industrial program has been realized, German agriculture, now suffering from the gen- eral and world-wide depression, seems bound to suffer still greater losses. In fact, not Germany alone, but all the great agrarian states in central and southern guvpe Rumania, Poland and Hungary in particular, are already un- der the shadow of a Russian danger which was foreshadowed in the recent dumping of Soviet wheat, and can at- tain ive ns were Russia to Com‘l:unht revolutions in all Todsy, t00, in’ Europe one may see a situation, which at least vaguely il- lustrates the bases of Soviet calcula- tion. As s consequence of world-wide But what if Soviet Russia were able to ite tremendous world economic crises; to ruin the farmers of the world or at least of all food countries by dumping its wheat? The same process .could, as has been shown recently, be extended to lumber and ofl. And at a later date it might even be pushed further into industrial flelds, when the five-year plan, expanded by a ten-year plan and perhaps by yet another ten-year plan, at last achieves. ‘What confuses many observers is the conception that this is, after all, mere- Iy an economic issue. In_reality the moment one comes in touch with Soviet mentality it is clear that the driving force is not economic, but political. While the western nations fumble and {falter with Russian affairs, the Soviets pursue their course consistently. They are always at war with all capitalistic nations. Success for the five-year plan, for Sovhl% lmlh:y,l ‘does not m:.lli‘ a M ous Russia, living peacefully alongside its many neighbors. It means providing the foundations for a world advance of Communism. Moreover, while we in capitalistic nations are continuing to talk about the suffering and misery in Russia, the Russian press and propa- ganda are busy portraying to their audience appalling crisis in all capitalistic countries at the moment. Notwithstanding the fact that Ger- many is, on the whole, the country most hit by the economic depression, certainly on the’ continent, and in the nature of things the nation which must remain most vulnerable to Soviet at- tack, alike because of its dependence upon foreign markets and because of the presence of a relatively huge Com- munist party, which counted nearly 5,000,000 votes in the last election, it is precisely in Germany that Soviet policy seé incomprehensible. cause Germans believe that a powerful Soviet state will one day over- whelm Poland and enable them to re- cover the dor, because they be- lieve that close relations with this Red | in] Russia will enable them to escape from what they consider French hegemony, German policy, with increasing empha- sis since the death of Stresemann, seeks to make closer political relations between Moscow and Berlin. But if the Red armies crossed the Dniester and the Vistula, their march would be directed quite as much against the capitalistic system of Germany as the political structure of Rumania and Poland. They would not come to re- store the Corridor to Germany, bu¥ to bring succor to the Communist major- ity of Berlin, ‘The Italian situation differs from the German n aegree. Italy has a strong government, for the present a ‘weak or non-existent Communist party. But it does suffer cruelly from the economis and all of its raw materials from abroad and for them by exports. Yet Italian resentment of French power Europe today leads sm to follow the German example and fiirt with Moscow. At the same time Ital- ian repression of Communism is sav- age in the extzeme and is explained away b, nical inte ffairs of win government inter- rupted trade relations, Labor has adopt- ed a different course and has been forced to submit with empty protest to Soviet charges of British plots and pros- pective campaigns against Russia. In sum, for reasons of inmer or outer politics, one today sees nearly all the larger countries of Europe carry- ing on one form or another of rela- tions with a system which never for a single moment lises the fact that it is at war with all. German and Italian politicians and statesmen in- dulge in little byplays calculated to win points in the game of foreign af- fairs, but Stalin and his lieutenants in Moscow with no attempt to conceal their enjoyment assist in playing capi- talistic nations off against each other, deepening and widening ‘the be- tween them, against the day when Red Russia will be on the march. Bitterness Is Noted. If you go from capital to capital in Europe, as I have been in the past _months, eventually you have not merely the sense of the num- ber of resentments and bitternesses di- viding the various western peoples, mak- ing co-operation well nigh impossible and conflict in some future seem al- most inescapable but in addition there is the feeling of a peril of ever- wing roportions preparing beyond Res y the mo- ment is on Moscow as first. of the United States ol“?flmpe. - (Copyright, 1931.) Dublin Dotne'“h and Clare, County, whose population increased, rulyn!:n a mfim. o De Valera has often it may have an important effs balance of parties, and as the Jority of usually no more than 10 votes, the fresh allotment of seats will be carefully scrutinized by the opposition. Dublin Seeks to Rival ; Chicago Church Meet LIN, Ireland —It Eucharistic Oon' i of the be held program for Dublin re- great success, and says: lands had found The calls its “Exiles from many in the United States freedom to work and pray, and to Chicago came - lentlgve,lrmm spectle, tha-thu' fact a e, an will increase the to Dublin of Irishmen parts of the world. Many tions have announced their inten sending mflnfi:fl .and the expected from the United Stai Altogether during the prohibiting the use of any but Czech in descriptive signs, nouncements, billl or electric an-