Evening Star Newspaper, June 26, 1936, Page 11

Adproit Appeal of Platform Is Cited Democratic Planks Are Designed to Attract Both Extremes. BY DAVID LAWRENCE. HILADELPHIA, June 26.—An adroitly-written platform de- signed to reassure conserva- tives and intensify the enthusi- asm of radicals has been adopted by the New Deal party. Better phrased than the Republican document, more skillfully worded to catch the slo- ganized trends of public opinion, the New Deal pronouncement nevertheless opens the door to Republican op- portunity for bat- tle. For, in brief, it proposes a change in Amer- ica’s form of government whereby the Fed- eral Government shall assume a concurrent, if not dominant position, with respect to virtually all the powers that have hitherto been lodged exclusively in the States. As pointed out in these dispatches yesterday, the declaration of the mini- mum wage which the Republicans in- itiated at Cleveland gave the New Dealers their chances to bring in the constitutional issue as they have longed to do for some time. But the New Dealers, while using the consti- tutional - amendment - if - necessary strategy, can, if they are successful in the Autumn election, contend that they have a mandate from the people to change the Constitution. Instead of avoiding the constitutional issue, the Democrats have thrown them- selves into it headlong. In a sense this is a break for the Republicans because, while Gov. Lan- don did not come out for a specific amendment, if necessary, to assure minimum wages for women and chil- dren, he wanted this to be an amend- David Lawrence. ment enlarging the powers of the| States, and that is & far more limited position than to advocate, as do the New Dealers, an amendment to en- large the powers of the Federal Gov- ernment at the same time. Indeed States’ rights vanish if the New Deal platform is ever carried out. Nothing Said About Idle. Not a word is said in the new platform about the 10,000,000 who con- tinue to be unemployed, notwithstand- ing the boasts that recovery is here. But it is the habit of platform makers to claim everything and concede noth- ing. Incidentally, the whole purpose here seemed to be to regard seriously the attention the radio audience was giv- ing to the proceedings. something that at times reached the point of amusing innocence. Thus immediately after the platform was adopted, a pre-ar- ranged series of one-minute comments by cabinet officers and other celebrities told how wonderful the platform was, and Jim Roosevelt, the President’s son, when asked by the announcer if his father knew anything in advance about the platform, replied: “No, not a thing.” There are two distinct aspects to this convention—the external, which has put on a great show of confidence and enthusiasm, and the internal, which betrays no small amount of ap- prehension that the forthcoming presidential contest will not be the walk-away it appeared to be a few months ago. In addition, there is a sentiment about this convention which cannot be underestimated. It is that the delegates are Democrats in fact as well as in name, and they have no more sympathy at heart with the Tugwells and the Wallaces and the Ickes and the so-called radicals than has Al Smith. Southerner 1s Quoted. Sitting alongside a Southern business man, a lifelong Democrat, and a man who is considerably anti-New Deal in his point of view, I was interested in a spontaneous comment that came from his lips: “Look at them, just like any other group of delegates I've ever seen— and as I look at them they don't seem to be at all the kind who would want to change our form of Govern- ment.” And he was right. There isn’t any radicalism in the rank and file of the delegations. Left to themselves, they would this year write a liberal con- servative platform and nominate a man like Cordell Hull for President. But this is not to say they are disloyal to Roosevelt. Far from it. They rec- ognize in him the best vote getter the Democratic party has ever had. Most of them do not understand Roosevelt reforms but they accept them on faith. If they thought the Roosevelt program really meant de- stroying the capitalistic system, or limiting freedom of opportunity, or dictatorship, they would be up in arms. Fidelity Their Forte. But with true political fidelity, the delegates assume that much of the Roosevelt radicalism was necessary for the emergency period and that as recovery comes back, much of it will be dropped, too. I have been surprised to find a cer- tain amount of criticism of Postmaster General Farley. One United States Senator, for instance, who is a loyal Democrat, told me he doubted whether Farley had as good an organization for the campaign as he ought to have and that the Republicans might pos- sibly have a much better one this year. He pointed out that the Repub- licans have the intensity and fire of a crusade—something they have rarely had in their campaigns. In talking with other prominent delegates I found a tendency to think ahead as to what the future of the Democratic party might be in 1940 or possibly in 1938 when some of the Senators come up for re-election. The subordination of the words “Demo- cratic party” and the overemphasis on the words “New Deal” goes against the grain of the oldtimers who know that, in the past at least, the name Democrat has had associated with it some great traditions and some re- markable vote-getting strength with the common people. React Alike to Restrictions. It would be a mistake to report that this convention has anything in it that could be called anti-New Deal in the sense of those elements which have been fighting the President’s pro- gram. But it is obvious that the con- servative-minded persons in the con- vention are made of the same stuff snd fiber and have somewhat the é 4 THE EVENING STAR, Behind the News Sweedish Co-operative System Studied by Roosevelt for Effective Monopoly Control Formula. X BY PAUL MALLON. PHILADEPH!A. June 26.—President Roosevelt has adopted & per- miphuomphnko{hhonwmehmymmmbem\ important than any adopted here. A few days ago the White House casually announced that the President was appointing a three-man mission to go to Europe to study co-operative enterprises. No stress was put upon it, no significance at- tached to it. The move was lost in the noise of the convention hallelujahs. ‘The story behind it is this: Some weeks back, Mr, Roosevelt read a book called “Sweden: The Middle Way,” by Marquis Childs. He became interested in its account of the way capitalism has been controlled there by consumer co-opera- tives and State competition with pri- vate business. At that time, you may have read in this space the pre- diction that the next big New Deal move would be toward co-operative promotion. It has been discussed fully in the inner councils since then. He picked a New Deal left- winger, Jacob Baker, assistant W. P. A. administrator to conduct a study 5 on the ground in Europe. He ex- pects a report back within a few months, in time for use in the campaign. The purposes set forth in the book cannot be taken as indicating fully what Mr. Roosevelt has in mind. But they at least indicate lines along which he is thinking. The book shows that one-third of all retail trade in Sweden is mow carried on by co-operatives without profit. About 10 per cent of wholesale trade and manufacturing for domestic con- sumption is likewise conducted by co-operatives. The system has been built up over a period of 40 years. In it, the royal family, a Socialist government and a capitalistic system all work side by side. In line wit!t these consumer co-operatives, the Swedes have also estab- lished state industries, which compete with private business. Lumber and electrical power generation are the two largest. Limited state monopolies also have been created in liquor and tobacco. (Profits from the monopolies, above a limited dividend, go to the state.) The author defines the system as “a course between the absolute socialization of Russia, and the end of development of capitalism in America.” He says: “The Swedes have not hesitated to curtail or abolish profits, or the private business man, when a desired change made this necessary.” * %k X What interested the President primarily, his associates say, is that the system contained ‘marvelous possibilities as an anti-monopoly scheme,” through state competition. It also contained the germ of experimentation which has always fascinated him. His mission will visit all countries where co-operation has been tried; Denmark, where the rural marketing co-operatives and the land systme have had unique development: Norway, where the co-operative fisheries furnish an example of collectivism, as well as England, where the co-operative movement started and flopped. But the Swedish system is apparently the most important in his mind. Some presidential friends say he let this front paw of his co-operation cat out of the bag at this time only as a sop to the liberal extremists within his camp. Messrs. Tugwell, Ickes and Wallace have not fared very well among the office-holding delegates at Philadelphia. They had to have something. The fact seems to be the co-operative meat is a little too strong to be absorbed by delicate delegate constitutions, except as fed in tidbits of generalities. Postmaster General Farley is said to be sleeping with a handkerchief in his mouth so he will say nothing prematurely about what he intends to do with the postmaster generalship during the campaign. Nevertheless, his postal associates have heard that he recently issued an order which will shortly permit First Assistant Bill Howes to sign himse!f as “Acting Postmaster General” Such a change would merely make Howes a rubber stamp temporarily for Farley for campaign purposes. Much inside missionary work is supposed to have been performed upon wayward Senators Glass and Smith to get them back in sight of the delegates here. Glass is really tired and would have preferred to remain in Washington. Smith spoke in anger when he walked out in protest against the convention invocation by a colored minister. The fact is many delegates have gone home, not ecause they were angry, but because the show has been rather dull and there is nothing much to do. Everybody gets very tired of conventions after the second day. Places of the missing, however, have been largely taken up by people coming in for the Roosevelt acceptance speech tomorrow night. * % %X X ‘Those who have talked with Mr. Roosevelt on the telephone since the convention started have remarked how gay and cheerful he has been. His messengers, lately arrived from Washington, say he looks that way, too. Apparently he has been delighted by the convention trend and the extent to which he has been able to guide it smoothly. A reporter who hears very well is willing to swear he heard Dr. Town- send say the third party movement was designed to hurt the Democrats, not the Republicans. Also that the Townsendites would tie up with old estab- lished radical organizations in several States to get on the ballot. Postmaster General Farley's wire pullers began to worry among them- selves after the second day because they had stretched the convention out too long. They discovered there was not enough business to keep any one interested that long, even with Eddie Dowling as master of ceremonies. The most entertaining convention entertainment was provided news- men at a home called “The Castle,” about four blocks from the auditorium, where Attorney General Cummings was host. The text of Semator Robinson’s speech contained a line about the Republicans’ charge that the New Dealers have “flaunted” the Supreme Court. when he read it, maintaining that the Republicans had used the wrong -word and misled him. The headquarters hotel dance orchestra has definite orders not to play “Oh Susanna” or “The Sidewalks of New York,” probably as a protective measure to save the boys from slaughter. There is nothing in the rumor that the Platform Subcommittee which held the all-night wake in a hotel room had a deck of cards but no copy of the platform. A radio trio has been warbling “Is It True What They Say About Roosevelt?,” which seems to be the Philadelphia Republican theme song. He corrected it to “flouted” (Copyright, 1936.) same reactions to restrictive legisla- tion as do Republicans of like envi- ronment or disposition. It would be a simple matter to segregate here the liberals and the conservatives, but it would, on the other hand, be unfair to assert that a Democratic conservative has anything in common politically with his Republican breth- ren. The Democratic conservative likes to wear his liberalism on his sleeve and attack monopoly and trusts and shout about the benefits of Gov- ernment aid to the common people. To sum up, the vast majority /of delegates of this convention are “reg- ulars” in the Democratic ranks. They do not expect Mr. Roosevelt’s second term, if he is elected, to be as radical or so full of experiments as his first. Expect Right-Wing Swing. They expect a settling down, a trend toward prosperity—they are wishing and hoping for some of the old days when, once a party got in power, it stayed there many, many years—not by stirring up too much opposition or class warfare, but by intensive party organization, plenty of funds from the business interests for campaign pur- poses and just enough liberalism to keep the masses from going into the Socialist party. This may seem like an uninterest- ing convention to some because the contest element is missing, but it is nevertheless a reflection of the Dem- ocratic party of old, happy enough to go along with Roosevelt as long as he pulls in the votes but ready to abandon him if by chance next Au- tumn his reforms have proved too ex- treme and if the voters register a big negative vote against the New Deal. (Copyright. 1936.) LOUISIANA REJECTS CHILD LABOR LAW Legislature Refuses for Third Time to Ratify Proposed Amendment. Ly the Associated Press. BATON ROUGE, La., June 26— The Louisiana Legislature yesterday refused for the third time to ratify the proposed child labor amendment to the National Constitution. The House defeated, 80 to 9, a con- current resolution by Representative George E. Beckcom of Bossir calling for indorsement by the State of the proposed amendment, which would authorize Congress to supervise labor of persons up to 18 years old. A total of 24 States have ratified the amendment, 12 short of the neces- sary 36. Louisiana rejected it in 1924 and 1934. NAVY “SPY CASE” TERMED “SILLY" Ex-Petty Officer Denies He Ever Gave Secrets to Japanese Officer. By the Associated Press. LOS ANGELES, June 26.—The Gov- ernment’s espionage charges were be- -| littled today by one of the suspects in the Navy “spy case” as he was called upon to answer to an indictment ac- cusing him of having sold American naval secrets to a Japanese. “A silly mess” was the way the al- legations were summed up by the ac- cused, Harry Thomas Thompson, for- mer United States Navy yeoman. He said he knew Toshio Miyazaki, who was indicted with him by a Fed- eral grand jury, but was not aware that he was a lieutenant commander in the imperial Japanese Navy, as charged in the indictment. “I knew him at Stanford University as a student and instructor,” he con- tinued. “As for receiving money from him in return for naval secrets—that's all a lot of bunk.” ‘Thompson, who has been serving a county jail sentence on his conviction of of & naval uniform, declared he “wouldn’t be surprised to see the indictment thrown out of court before trial.” Arraignment of Thompson was orig- inally set for next Monday, but late yesterday the date was changed to today. ‘The former yeoman, the indictment set forth, boarded warships at San Diego and San Pedro during the period between July, 1934, and March, 1935, and, disguised as an officer, ob- tained confidential Navy documents which he sold to his alleged co-con- spirator. Federal operatives have warrants for the arrest of Miyamki, but Gov- ernment officials expressed bellef he is now in the Orient. Towns Get Yards of Rain. Inches are inadequate in measuring recent rainfall in Northern Queens- land, Australia. Tully reports 7 feet of rain in 10 weeks. Innisfall and Babinda had more than 6 feet and they were run close by several other towns. Mackey could report only 1% yards, but its total rainfall, if up to the average, should measure enough to float & battleship, Fate of Party Ideals Bound to Speech Democratic Machine May Be Taken for Ride in Roosevelt Coup. BY MARK SULLIVAN. HILADELPHIA, June 26.—On the opening day of this week the shrewd Frank R. Kent, with information that un- doubtedly came from inside the New Deal inner circle, outlined in advance the spirit and purpose with which the “Each day's proceedings have been so arranged as to make the enthusiasm cu- j. mulative, steadily ', mounting until . the grand climax of Saturday night, when the President spec- tacularly will ac- cept his renom- ination before a vast crowd at Merk Sullvan prankiin Pleld, in 8 speech which, it is said, will be full of surprises. * * * This plan of swing- ing the country off its feet in one wild week of convention oratory, coming to a climax with an eloquent and ring- ing appeal by the candidate himself, originated, it is understood, not with the practical politicians, but with some of the more advanced thinkers of the inner circle who have great weight as advisers and who are responsible for some of the more daring of the New Deal experiments.” Kent, while a life-long Democrat, is a bitter critic of the New Deal. Ob- viously it would be unfair to take a critic’s forecast of what the New Deal was about to do and on that alone build a fresh criticism of the New Deal. But there is supporting evidence that this was the intention with which the New Deal managers began the convention. One reason for believing this is that it comports with what the New Deal is. Something Novel. No one will be able to think cor- rectly about what is going on in Amer- ica until he first understands that the New Deal is not the Democratic party, Nor is it a mere successor to the Democratic party. It is not merely & political party at all. It is something America has never seen before. It is | a new order of soclety and govern- ment. It is only our unfamiliarity that prevents America from seeing this. Mr. Roosevelt has used the phrase “new order” and stronger phrases, and other New Dealers have been even more forthright in saying what they proposed to bring about. The New Deal is the American varia- | tion of the new order that has been set up in three great European coun- tries and some smaller ones. The term “New Deal” is the American equiva- lent of the term “Fascism” in Italy, the term “Nazi” in Germany and the term “Soviet” in Russia. I hasten to add it is only the terms that are equivalent, not the things themselves. Centralized Power Essential. ‘The New Deal in final fruit would not be identical with any one of the three variations of the new order in Europe. It would include some basic principles and devices common to all three. It would include especially the | essential element of enormous concen- tration of power in the central govern- ment and in the individual at the head of government. But the new order, as brought to completion in America, would contain some features arising out of our special circumstances and traditions, just as in the three European countries it has been modi- fied by local conditions. The New Deal, when and if com- pleted, would be a social revolution. Bringing about a revolution always involves some degree of coup d'etat. The coup can be with violence or without violence. If without violence, the coup must include some kind of overwhelming manipulation of mass psychology, an emotional sweeping of the country off its feet. For this pur- pose the radio, combined with the right kind of personality and the right gift of emotional oratory, is largely what Hitler relied on in Germany. This technique of revolution without violence is familiar to the more radical New Dealers. May Be Effected Tomorrow. If this convention had gone accord- ing to the intention, and if Mr. Roose- velt tomorrow night should make the right kind of speech, America might have been swept so far into acceptance of the New Deal as to make it clear the New Deal would win the election in November; and that, as everybody must realize, would make the new order in America an accomplished thing. But certain obstacles have inter- vened. The convention has not gone fully as planned. True, the program that everything must be accepted, that nothing be debated, has been fairly well carried out. But if there was not much debate, there was and is opposi- tion and plenty of it. When Senator Carter Glass of Virginia and others of his mind refused to take places on the Commitee on Resolutions, when they as Democrats refused to partici- pate in writing a platform which should be not Democratic, but New Deal, that was a passive resistence that carries its own potency. There's a kick in the old mule yet. The Demo- cratic party may again be Democratic. South Fears Passing. The whole South—at least the in- tellectual part of it, the editors, the lawyers and judges and others—have become aware that what they know and prize as the Democratic party is threatened with utter extinction. That feeling pervades many of the State delegations from all sections, even though the delegations are made up of office holders to the extent of more than 60 per cent. The more intel- lectual of the delegates are alarmed and the others have not not been swept with emotion as much as was con- templated. FPinding themselves cast as at once puppets and spectators in a drama, the drama has not enraptured them. Many of them are bored. For the purpose of cumulative drama, they are asked to stay five days for a pro- gram, which, as respects formal busi- ness, was cut and dried and could have been performed in a day.. They want to go home. Since Philadelphia is within a few hours distance of those who come from the populous East, many will not stay for the climax on Saturday night. The galleries are even less enthralled. Tickets for President Roosevelt's speech tomorrow night are being given away in hand- fuls. It is doubtful if the platform or Mr. Roosevelt’s speech tomorrow will be what was intended in the begin- ning. Indeed, one suspects that dous N Yes-Men Can at Least Say *No’ at Polls Votes May Avenge Five Days and Nights of Ballyhoo. BY SAMUEL G. BLYTHE. HILADELPHIA, June 26 (N.A. N.A.).—This convention is a good show, but the stage waits are too long. It is proceeding in the usual convention manner as to its scheduled operations, but the slow pace of it is having a somewhat sopo- rific effect on the delegates as well as on the crowd. The great clashing cli- max is too long on its way. It will be a great climax, no doubi; an extraordinary demonstration, with the renominated President appearing before a vast number of cheering peo- ple to accept his nomination and make his professions of faith. However, there is apparent now a feelnig that the showmanship has been too elab- orate, too sedulously arranged, too greatly blue-printed and planned. Five days and nights of patterned ballyhoo is a heavy dose of ballyhoo to assimilate, even by such enthusiasts as the Democrats are. Spectacular as the President’s ap- pearance undoubtedly will be tomor- row night, it will not have a tenth of the stirring drama in it that marked his flying to Chicago four years ago to accept his first nomination, with 15- minute bulletins of his progress key- ing up the convention to the tremend- ous welcome he got when he dropped from the air to make his speech. Produce a Little Stale. That was great showmanship. He is still a great showman, but the stage nas been set for him out at Franklin Field for a week, and a week is con- siderable time to wait for a climax that has been press agented 5o ex- tensively as this has been. The Demo- cratic publicity churns are working incessantly, but the butter hasn't the flavor it had a few days ago and the appetites of the consumers are some- what dulled. It was an apathetic day yesterday. The Rules Committee had its will as to the two-thirds rule. The South had its treasured veto prerogative taken away, politely, of course, and all in the spirit of progress. That was in- evitable. Also, it was good political sense. It should have been done years ago. Although this two-thirds tradition was thus expunged from Democratic procedure, another great “political tra- dition had its inning. The Platform Committee put on the usual perform- ance. Not a change in that hugger- mugger since we began to hold na- tional conventions. Always the same hocus-pocus. The members of the com- mittee met in secret session, very secret, to wrestle with the nouns and verbs and pronouns and commas and semi- colons and staggeringly important sen- tences that must make up a platform. Bask in Limelight. As always, they toiled all night, emerging in the gray of the early | morning, weary, haggard, red-eyed and worn with their enormous labors. Vast quantities of platform guesses, predic- tions, inferences, rumors and prognos- tications were written, printed, spoken | over the air, and circulated about the | hotel lobbies. It was exciting. The| Platform Committee was having its bit | | of the limelight and enjoying it greatly, | as all Platform Committees always do. Meanwhile, the platform the conven- tion adopted arrived in Philadelphia some time ago. It came from No. 1600 Pennsylvania avenue, Washington, which, of course, was the place it should come from, because the present resident of that house has a greater and more essential interest in it than any other person whatsoever. Yesterday, also, was a field day for the trend-finders, those earnest stu- dents, expounders and interpreters of the psychology of politics who probe into the slants, divergences, divigations and disturbances in the minds of the delegates in order to determine whither we are drifting. And why. Trends were sought from morn to dewy eve. Any delegate suspected of harboring even the most tenuous sort of trend was pounced upon, put through the stand- ard trend clinical tests, and the results analyzed in sonorous, erudite, and sapient prose. Trend Proves Elusive, The rseults were interesting, even if not very conclusive. There is a trend undoubtedly and, while the seekers for it sensed it, they did not locate it, either analytically or with any una- nimity of conclusion. The results ranged all the way from collectivism, centralization, regimentation and reg- ulation, to the puzzled inquiry of what a trend is and is it catching. These dull days inspire the academic in convention discussion for the pub- lic prints, and this trend business is entirely academic, because this con- vention has but one trend and that is to renominate Roosevelt and Garner on any sort of a platform the Presi- dent desired and get away from here. The idea that, officially, in a con- vention and delegate sense, there is anything to this convention except President Roosevelt, that, officially and in a delegate and convention sense, there is any party but the Rosevelt party represented here, that anything will happen in this conven- tion that the President does not want to happen, whatever the inner con- victions of the delegates may be, is entirely erroneous. This convention is a highly mechanized, vastly pub- licized, slow, but precisely, moving enterprise. It knows where it must go. and it is cumbersomely on its way. However, the idea that all these amenable and hand-picked “yes-men” will perform as complaisantly and as ‘unanimously at the polls next Novem- ber as they have so far, and will per- form here until the show is over, is also mistaken. In fact, it is inac- curate to a degree that will astonish & considerable section of our political pundits and population. (Copyright, 1936, by the North American Newspaper Alliance, Inc.) speech and platform, and the whole program, has been modified by two events that took place just as the con- vention was about to sit. New Party Hurdle Set Up. Mr. Roosevelt and the New Dealers may not have been greatly disturbed by the proclamation of dissent from former Gov. Smith and his associates, for that could have been expected. But one can safely surmise that Mr. Roosevelt and the New Dealers may have been thrown off balance by the announcement of a new party made up of radicals. That made the elec- tion starkly doubtful, even to the most confident New Dealers. That took away from the New Deal precisely the votes it was hoped to hold by being dramatic. (Copyright, 1936.) 4 WASHINGTON, D. C, FRIDAY, JUNE 26, 1936. A New Party Is Born Bennett Clark, as Hamlet and Midwife, Avenges Political Death of His Father. BY WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE. HILADELPHIA, June 26 (N.A.N.A.).—The new party, under the old name, was born yesterday. Its new rules take the veto power from the old South, its new platform gives all reserve power to the Pres- economic equality, even if it the average man much political liberty. The new party are not set, but they shine like a eugenic prophecy rules, its platform, its candidates. Three days the accouchement—three days of twilight sleep, A definitely leftist party, it is bred of three blood First, the old South, a remote grandmother; second, the new all-American wigwam wherein the Irish rule the urban population, and third, in its blood is - & strong strain of Farm-Labor radi- calism! Franklin Roosevelt is its daddy as much as Thomas Jefferson ‘was the father of the Civil War and post-war democracy and as much as Alexander Hamilton begot the Re- publican party as it lived from Lin- coln to Hoover. One might go further with the figure and say that the convention has heard the voice of the two crown princes of the new George H. Earle and Senator Bennett Champ Clark. Bennett Clark, presenting the report of the Committee on Rules last night, showed the convention an earnest, scholarly, well-bal- anced man with fine zeal and proper courage. He cut the umbilical cord that bound new democracy to its old mother by taking from the South, under the abrogation of the two-thirds rule, the right to veto a presiden- tial nomination. The two-thirds rule, which passed out of the Democratic party last evening when young Bennett Clark sat down amid the well-earned plaudits of the muititude, took away the Democratic presidential nomina- tions from Speaker Champ Clark in 1912 and Willlam Gibbs McAdoo in 1924, which they won fairly by attaining and holding a majority in Democratic national convention, but not a two-thirds majority. The convention knew that Young Clark, cast for the moment as a modern Hamlet, was avenging his father’s political death. A fine, manly job he did of it, but, with his vengeance, came also the death of the party his father loved and the birth of the party which may take the son to the place the father vainly coveted. » * ok k% ‘The new party has no flowery path before it. Franklin Roosevelt may, probably will, be able to hold it together while he commands its fortunes. But the seeds of death are in it. Many of its members are bound to conflict. The city Tammany group of States needs the Negro in its business as a voter. To hold him as a voter, it must prosper him as a worker and as a citizen, which is all right for the Farmer-Labor group in the North. But when “Cotton Ed” Smith raged to reporters, as he did this week, at having to sit under the altar of a colored preacher, listening to him invoke God’s blessing on white men, and, further, when the delegates from the South fully realize that they no longer can hold their party to a policy of white supremacy even in the South without States’ rights, trouble will come into the new organization. Another thing, the city Tammany, whether it is in Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Houston or Atlanta, inclines naturally toward conmservatism, a feudal conservatism. The money to operate every Tammany comes from the rich, whom the Tammany softly levy upon to control the poor. The attitude toward Franklin Roosevelt which the New York Tammany holds (and Al Smith’s attitude does not seriously difler from that of his other sachems) is the universal feudal attitude which is never willing seriously to cripple the rich but always must jurnish some kind of political pap to the poor, through political assessment, of course, but always decent and moderate. The Farmer-Labor crowd is frankly radical. They would use taxation as a distributive agent more than will please the city Democrats or the landowners who operate the feudal system in the South. * ¥ * X This whole new American political tendency is a reversion to feudalism, modern feudalism, but typical of all feudalism—at its best a benevolent, despotic paternalism. In the new party the city Tammany rules through conservative feudalism. In the South the landed aristocrat must maintain feudal relations with his share-croppers. In the West the Farmer-Labor group must set up a feudal relation with an all-wise, all- powerful Government. In all three, the citizens surrender their political individualism for economic security. But here is the dismembering dyn- amite. Under this set-up, the jeudal South will have no reason to cling to the empty mame of an extinct Jeflersonian party, for both the Farmer-Labor group and the Tammany group will be vastly more insistent upon treating the Negro as a worker and not a serf, and giving him social and political equality in the North and economic equality under the landlord with the whites of the South. In the twinkling of an eye, when young Bennett Clark sat down after proclaiming the mew rules, even though they were sugar-coated erpediency, the South lost its reason for loyalty to the mew party. The South will probably mot break away this year, but, with the veto gone, it can be ignored in the horse-trading which will be inevitable in the new Democratic convention four years from motw. The platform of the new party will give to the President great reserve powers, powers purposely withheld from the delegates so that, as the head of the new, strong, Hamiltonian party, he might meet emer- gencies unfettered by platform promises. He is the platform—der Fuehrer! This parallel of Roosevelt and Hitler, of course, is more or less literary. The differences between Germany and America are so deep that our brand of strongly centralized Hamiltonian Government will not be the German Nazi brand. * x ¥ % But if we do turn away from the old economic order, we must cement the new order with new political forms, we must abandon much of the old hampering political machinery of present-day America. The two-form economic feudalism, a republican democracy, cannot liwe in the same State. Hence, in the beginning, the party that sponsors the new feudal Hamiltonian idea must leave its leaders free. That the convention yesterday has done. Its platform promises are few and zenera.x,_ Naturally, being the party in power, the Democrats point with pride, and being the party out of power, the Republicans view with alarm. ‘Where the Democrats strut, the Republicans strafe in their platform, each about as foolishly as the other. Foolishly, because the forces of the system which are at work today are evident in the two parties, the Repub- licans turning from Hamilton to the States’ right doctrine under Jefferson and the Democratic party picking up the fallen Hamiltonian banner. Those evolutionary forces will work their way out to their inexorable end. Roosevelt and Landon are symbols. Roosevelt incarnates the new, unhampered leadership which inspires hypnotic devotion with the lure of all its promises, Landon personifying the old average, middle-class, country - bred American. With the faults of its virtues, these two symbols, rather than the platfgrms and the economic forces struggling around them, will decide the battle of the year. (Copyright. 1036. by the North American Newspaper Alliance. Inc.) Sidelights of the Convention Texas Centennial Roses Take Favored Place in Cere- monies—Representative Norton, Tired by Hard Year, to Sail Abroad. Luncheon Committee. “This conven- tion shows that women are at last coming into their own in politics,” she commented, “and the women are get- By & Staff Correspondent ot The Star. PHILADELPHIA, June 326.—Four hundred centennial roses were deliv- ered to Mrs. Katherine De Reeder, offi- cial hostess at the Walton Hotel, yes- terday as a feature of the Texas jamboree on the roof garden tonight, in which Vice President Garner is ex- pected to participate. More than 350 big sombreros were to be worn by the “Texas Rangers” and Texas Tania, the “sweetheart” of the delegation, who is to give & special dance. The roses were sent by Senator Sam Pollard of Dallas, who grew them on his own farm. They are the same as the red roses presented to President Roosevelt by Miss Ann Ambrose when the Texas Special reached Washing- ton. Miss Ambrose, who was voted the May queen of Fort Worth, will repeat the ceremony at the notification dem- onstration in Franklin Field tomorrow night. New Jersey to second the nomination of President Roosevelt. Terribly tired by her hard year in Congress, followed by this strenuous convention, Mrs. Norton has made ar- ting more from the Democrats than from the Republicans.” She has been particularly zealous to get a strong welfare plank in the party platform. Women of the press were guests yesterday at a luncheon given by the Philadelphia Club of Advertising ‘Women and the Poor Richard Club. The Governor of Hawali, accom- panied by his wife and son, arrived yesterday—having traveled further than any one else to attend the con- vention, Delegates representing 22 foreign language groups yesterday organized the National Association of Natural- ized Citizens. Edward C. Rybicki, president of the New York State Conference of Polish Clubs and former director of New York City's Free Em- ployment Agency, presided. The as- sociation will campaign for the elec- tion of the Democratic ticket this Fall. Rybickl, in opening the session said: “The administration of President Roosevelt has given human rights & prominent part in its program. It the despair of 1932 and One-Fifth Rule May Revive Long Bouts .| Change Might Offer Star Act for 1940 Convention. BY JOHN LARDNER. HILADELPHIA, June 25 (N.A. N.A).—In a last-minute deal, completed just within the deadline of the 1936 trading season, the Southern Democrats gave up their good old two-thirds nominat« Ing rule in exchange for two infielders, & left-handed pitcher, and plenty of red-hot representation in 1940. It looked for awhile as though the gents from Dixie would get nothing at all for their trouble. In fact they were going around shouting “We wuz robbed!” in the manner of Joe Jacobs. And one of them, Judge W. C. Davis of Texas, was describing the whole thing as a Farley plot. “Farley,” said the judge, “is going to kill the good old rule and try for the nomination himself in 1940.” This unpleasant rumor was eventu- ally headed off and buried by the backers of the new majority system, who saw clearly that they would have to make concessions to gain their end. They offered Dizzy Dean, but Diz ve- toed the scheme by saying he was satisfied in St. Louis. Then there was talk of giving the South a few extra Senators, but every one agreed that there were too many Senators nln{ady. both Northern and Southern style. Peace Too Peaceful. Finally the men from the South de- cided to settle for bigger and better representation in 1940. It was a pretty peaceful settlement, and pretty dis- appointing to your correspondent. Il admit, though, that the fight was fun while it lasted. As long as the Roosevelt-Farley high command tried to railroad its program through, the indignation and confusion of the rival statesmen knew no bounds. “This is a kick in the breeches” bawled Gov. Jimmy Allred of Texas, the leading tobacco-juice-spitter-by- | proxy of the Southwest. “What would have happened to the great Woodrow Wilson if we hadn't had the two- thirds rule back in 19122 Representative Doughton of North Carolina had an answer for this. “We would have elected the great Champ Clark,” he replied, “and be- lieve me, the great Champ Clark was just as good as the great Woodrow Wilson, if not better.” Refight 46-Round Event. To tell you the truth, I think a lot of these delegates were more interested in refighting the Clark-Wilson fight than in anything else. It must have been quite a scrap, to hear them tell it. It went 46 rounds, with Wilson winning by a technical knockout. I have heard fight managers rehash | the Jeffries-Corbett fight and the | Dempsey-Firpo fight and many other | famous controversial slugging-bees. | Sometimes they get violent and do it | with gestures, in which case you are | likely to see history repeating itself and une or more managers lying on the floor. Then I have listened to cultured gentlemen like Ely Culbertson and P. | Hal Sims as they reviewed the bidding | after a bridge hand. Often these gents forgot their culture and used words which you would not care to have your pet Airedale overhear, let alone your wife and kiddies. But bridge players and fight mana- gers are mealy-mouthed compared to & Southern delegate on the warpath, and the rehashing of the great Clark- Wilson fight has produced some very vivid language at this convention. If you sprayed your garden with it, there wouldn't be a bug alive for miles arounc. Famous Multi-Round Bouts. Besides, the Clark-Wilson fight is not the only battle which rouses their memory and spleen. There was the big Smith-McAdoo bout in 1924, which went 103 rounds, and the Cox free- for-all in 1920 (44 rounds), and the Douglas slugfest of 1860 (57 rounds), and the battle of 1852, which ended in the forty-ninth stanza. Some of the old-timers will even take you back as far as 1844, when the two-thirds rule rose up and smacked Martin Van Buren right in the teeth. It seems—and the old-timers de- scribe it very gleefully—that Van Bu- ren outsmarted himself. The two- thirds rule had been invented for his benefit, back in 1832, when Jackson wanted Silk-Sheet Van for his Vice President instead of Jack Calhoun. He ordered a two-thirds vote and Van Buren copped the nomination. But 12 years later a gentleman named Polk stole the presidential nomination from Van Buren by the same process. This is very irénical stuff and the Democrats still love to tell about it. Let’s Try Another Version. It seems to me that if the boys can have so much fun with a two-thirds rule they ought to kill the new ma- jority system at their next convention and pass a three-quarters rule or a four-fifths rule. A four-fifths rule would be sure to bring back the era of 50-round and 100-round fights, when men were men. Maybe nobody would get nominated at all, Or it might be nice to have a one- fifth rule, in which case five guys could be nominated at once. Five simultaneous Democratic Presidents would take up a lot of space in the ‘White House, if they all chose to board there, but there would be plenty of action all the time. In an emergency the five Democrats could be sent to the Olympics to repre- sent the United States in basket ball, and replaced at the helm of the ship of state by four Republican Presidents and an electric icebox. The Repube lican Presidents could be replaced, too. Everything can be replaced except the horse. 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