Evening Star Newspaper, September 23, 1936, Page 11

Coalition Gives Wisconsin to Roosevelt Radicals Unite, But Con- servatives Prefer to Lose Separately. s BY DAVID LAWRENCE. ADISON, Wis., September 23. —President Roosevelt has lost considerable strength in Wisconsin since 1932, so much so that, from a 360,000 majority four years ago, the most optimistic estimates now being made here on his :;oh.ll( run between 100,000 and 150,- Out of about 1,000,000 votes, this suggested majority of 150,000 might seem close, and there are certain aspects of the situation which lead Republicans to believe that from now till November they may he able to close up the gap, and that they may have an out- & side chance to ¥ win the State's electoral vote. £ If all the con- servatives wer united, just as are the radicals, there would be d 3 ty, bian oyere DorelawEms whelming majority of the State. The Democratic conservatiwes, however, stick to their party and the Repub- lican conservatives stick to theirs, and as a result the radicals usually cap- ture the offices. Democrats Neglected. ‘This year the Democratic party as &uch has more reason for joining the Republicans than in any other year. It is because the New Deal adminis- tration has made common cause with the La Follette group and has neg- lected the Democratic party. Indeed, the local leaders call themselves “step- children” of the Roosevelt regime. A coalition of Republicans and Democrats who are anti-radical would sweep this State, and some day it may come to pass, but the factionalism in- side the Republican party and the | lack of an aggressive leader for the | Republican party fortunes in Wiscon- sin is preventing such a result this | year. On paper the coalition idea, of eourse, looks formidable always, but as a practical matter it doesn't seem “to materialize on the anti-radical side. The radicals have a coalition. The Progressive party and the Socialist party and the labor groups have got- ten together. They are all for Gov. Phil La Follette for re-election "and, with the exception of a few votes that will go to Norman Thomas, the entire coalition is for Roosevelt. In other words, in Wisconsin the Bocialists can make common cause with President Roosevelt and yet the | conservatives stick to party labels and refuse to break precedents by getting together in a common fight. The recent primary election has raised what hopes the friends of Gov. Landon have for carrying the State. Only about a half million persons voted in the primary, but even such ® number of votes presents a definite trend which cannot be ignored. Sees 46 Per Cent Anti-New Deal. The Democratic party primary re- vealed that 12 per cent of the total vote was obtalned by State Senator Carroll, who is regarded as an anti- New Dealer. The Republicans polled 84 per cent, and their contest lert no scars. So about 46 per cent of | the total vote might be called anti- | New Deal. Anyway, that's the start- ing point of Republican theory ana it is argued that this is a consider- able gain over the last election and | shows a trend away from radicalism. | Applying the percentages In the | primary and assuming that not all of | the Carroll vote will be cast for Lan- | don, but about half of it, the division of the 1,000,000 votes would seem to line up somewhat as follows: Progressives—360,000 (36 per eent of total). ! Democrats—180,000 (18 per oent | east for Lueck, the winning nominee | in primary). | Democrats—80,000 (6 per cent cast | for Carroll, losing nominee, but pos- sibly voting for Roosevelt. Total—600,000. 50,000 Lost Votes. But of the above 600,000 it is esti- | mated that at least 50,000 votes will go either to the Lemke-Coughlin or the | Norman Thomas ticket, making 550,~ | 000 as the total. The Republicans | would have 340,000, which 18 34 per cent as shown in the primary, and the other 60,000 of the Carroll votes. which are really Al Smith or consti- tutional Democratic votes, This would total up to 550,000 for Roosevelt and 400,000 for Gov. Lan- don, or a margin of 150,000. The Republicans insist that the femke ticket will poll much larger than 50,000, but in a State which has had its own radicalism so long, this Jooks doubtful. The mass meeting for Father Coughlin in Milwaukee, on the other hand, was attended by 25,000. Also it is pointed out that Al Smith Democrats are on the rampage nere, #0 that the Democratic delection may be larger than 60,000, while there may be more than 50,000 votes in the Lemke movement. In any eveni, 1t 1s this prospect which stimulates the Republican National Committee to make a concentrated effort by means of a State-wide organization. Landon, moreover, speaks in Milwaukee in a few days, and his managers nope to News thind the News Crop Insurance Plan Discussed for Months, Anticie pating Landon’s Farm Program. BY PAUL MALLON, President Roosevelt wants to tell Agriculture Secretary Wal- lace something, he pushes buttor A on his desk and says, “Get Henry on the phone.” When he wants to have a conierence with Wal'ace, his secretary phones Wallace to hop in that Gov- ernment adto provided for all cabinet members and take a five-minute spin up to the White House. ’ At least, this was the arrangement up to Monday, when the President started communicating with Wallace, six blocks away, by open letter. He wrote the Secretary that he wanted a crop insurance program ready for January 1. It must have been a tremendous surprise to Mr. Wallace. He has been doing little else except work on the crop insurance plan for the last few months. Data 8 yards high is said to have been piled in and around his desk. He and Mr. Roosevelt have had long sessions discussing it, the last one two days before the letter was sent. In short, both Mr. Roosevelt and Mr, Wallace are known to have looked in the back of the book for the right answer to the crop insur- ance problem long before Mr. * Roosevelt submitted it. The real truth, of course, is that Mr. Roosevelt did not write the letter at all. It was composed, for the most part, by several of Mr. ‘Wallace's assistants, who did a very bad job of imitating Mr. Roosevelt's style. In fact, they used the same phrases they used for Wallace’s speeches. They sent it up to the White House, Mr. Roosevelt signed it and sent it back to the Agriculture Depart- ment after copies had been mimeographed for the press. * % % ok 3 ‘The explanation of all this unseemly exertion will be found no further back than-the front-page headlines of the day previous. These read: “Landon to announce his farm program at Des Moines Tuesday night.” The effect, of course, was to leave Gov. Landon with only the empty air to punch. The old A. A. A. program has been dropped by order of the Supreme Court. The current benefit payments for soil conservation are now relegated to the unimportance of a temporary measure. The big new thing is crop insurance, and the program on that is mot to be announced until after election. A moving target is difficult to hit at any time, but it becomes in- creasingly difficult as the speed of the target is increased to the point where you cannot find it. The importance of the move lies in its aptness as another illustration of the subsurface zeal and sharpness of Mr. Roosevelt's campaign, which is not supposed to have started yet. For the last few weeks his aim has been to keep one jump or more ahead of his opposition, to look ahead, to plan ahead, to offset in advance. (Note also his anticipation of the Hearst attack 24 hours before it was made.) No other public man and no other general since Robert E. Lee has been as keen in anticipating the mopements of the enemy, through private intelligence and otherwise, or as swift in countering before a blow falls. Note—When twitted about the elaborate nature of arrangements for the open letter, Mr. Wallace sagely observed: “Lots of things naturally come through the funnel in September every four years.” s * %k X X It is said the doorman at the White House tears the masthead identi- fication off the Hearst paper each morning so Mr. Roosevelt will not start the day in & bad humor. Nothing, whether war threats in Europe or Republican threats in Maine, turns the cream in his-morning coffee like reading his unfavorite publisher. That has long been an inner situation. On at least one occasion, several months ago, Mr. Roosevelt prepared a sharply critical attack on Mr. Hearst and planned to issue it. He was persuaded not to. His capable publicity advisers told him an official presidential response to a newspaper attack generally advertises the attack to millions of persons who might not otherwise hear of it. Their conclusion has been strengthened by the partisan publicity aroused by publication of Mr. Roosevelt's state- ment against Mr. Hearst and vice versa. However, none of the President’s publicity advisers will suffer any demerits. If the truth were known, they cautioned him about the tech- nical effects of his move as strongly 2 = this time as before. He overruled. them this time. The Couzens-for-Treasury campaign of New Deal liberals seems to be stymied. Senator Couzens' friends say he would not take the budget directorship. These surmises have turned speculation to the possibilities of getting him into a cabinet chair through the Commerce Department or Interior Department window, after election. The Navy has clamped down on mews since the spy scares a few weeks back. Officers below the rank of admiral are afraid to be seen talking to any one. Vice President Garner was torn away from his fishing not to make speeches, but to lend advice. He will make no more than three or four speeches, but he will sit in on all political conferences. His judgment is respected. (Copyright, 1936, by the North American Newspaper Alliance, Inc.) day for the broadcast of the Presi- dent's address at Pittsburgh, to be carried by both WEAF-—N. B. C. and WABC—C. B. 8. It was also announced that a verb- al request for time at the same 9 MAY BE RADIO RIVALS President and Al Smith Due to Broadcast at Same Time. NEW YORK. September 23 (#)— President Roosevelt and Alfred E. Smith may be rival broadcasters the night of October 1. The Democratic National Commit- tee announced yesterday it had pur- o'clock hour, but via the WJZ—N. B. C. network, had been made by pub- | licity associates for the former Gov. | Smith’s talk from Carnegie Hall in | New York. He is to speak under sponsorship of the Independent Coali- develop a harmonious front on the part of all anti-Rooseveli factions. ‘Wisconsin’s electoral vote, at pres- ent writing, looks sure for Mr. Koose- welt, but it is significant that the tide is running against him strong!y. (Copyright, 1036.) HOT-WATER HEAT RADIATOR PLANT 289 C&Hfl{fll, STALLED 6 ROOMS Writien Guarantee yve price includes 18-in. Red B TR R ROYAL HEATING CO. 907 15th St. N.W. Natl. 3803 Night and Sun., AD. 8529 chased the half hour at 9 p.m. that | tion of American Women. THERMOLYZED TUNG OIL HOUSE PAINT Proved 46% Better by Official Test DOUBLE WATERPROOF . . . “PRE-SHRUNK" « « « SELF LEVELING These three qualities of T. T. O. solve your paint problems . . . master painters and property owners are getting better-looking, longer-wear- ing, ond more dependable decoration with the new T. T. O. than any other materials have ever offered them. C. I. SMITH CO. 2422 18th St. N.W.—Below Ambassador Theater Phone Col. Experience 6088 PRICES INCREASE OCTOBER 1st Order Before the Big Rush Last chance to save on your Winter coal—Prices in- crease October 1st. You can save a substantisl sum if you buy your coal mow. Place your order before the big rush—before inclement weather sets in. Open s convenient charge account. Remember, you get the finest coal from famous Pennsylvania Mines—thorough- 1y cleaned over modern vibrating shaker screens. Phone now—office open until 10 P.M. Present Low Prices on Anthracite Coal! Egg__......$1245 Chestnut___$12.75 $12.85 Pea $10.75 Buckwheat--_____$8.70 A. P. WOODSON CO. COAL ... FUEL OIL ... DELCO-HEAT 1202 MONROE ST. N.E. NO. 0176 1313 HST. N.W. ME. 2315 D. C., WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2 Collaboration on Power N eedefl Cases of Private and Public Co-operation Are Many. BY DOROTHY THOMPSON. RESIDENT ROOSEVELT'S de- cision to call a power confer- ence on September 30 to discuss the possibilities of complete collaboration between public and private enterprise, on the development of electric power in the Tennessee Valley and elsewhere, seems to me the most encouraging thing that has happened in a long time. It is eminently sensi- ble. Briefly, what is proposed is that private op- erations and T. V. A. functions & in the Southeast ; should be pooled, with the object— to quote the Presi- dent—of “serving the greatest num- ber of people &t the lowest cost, and if possible without injury to exist- ing investments” It is hoped that such a pool will smooth out the peaks and valleys of separate system opera- tions and postpone the need for invest- ment in new generating facilities. The occasion of the conference is the ex- piration of temporary contracts that have been made between the Govern- ment and private companies in the Southeastern region, the largest being Commonwealth and Southern. This column has never been able to see that there is any insuperable bar- rier between private and public enter- prise provided an objective and real- istic criterion is laid down. There are, of course, people—and some of them have considerable authority in Wash- ington—who seem to think that there is some superior morality in public enterprise, and that all private enter- prise is just the functioning of the predatory instinct. On the other side is & group who attribute superior moral qualities to private enterprise, and ap- parently assume that every step toward public enterprise—usually referred to as an “encroachment”—indicates that the Nation is rapidly sliding into de- cadence or communism. As long as the problem is contemplated from such viewpoints you get precisely nowhere. For there is no criterion by which such standards can be checked. Objective Criteria Needed. But if the object is to serve the largest possible numbes of people at the lowest economic cost, protecting the existing irfvestments of those who are also people, then there is a cri- terion, and it is not moral. It is technical. Moral questions are abso- lute, as you learn if you try to argue with & Communist. Technical mat- ters are susceptible of scientific analy- sis, and of agreement, according to & technical standard. For the question Dorothy Thompson. then becomes not who has the right | to do this or that, but how and through whom it can be best accom- plished. And if ever this country needed to lay down such objective criteria and move in the direction of maximum agreement under them, that time is now. 9 As a matter of fact, the talk about the fundamental incompatibility of public and private enterprise is de- nied by the facts of our every day | life. We drive privately manufac- tured automobiles over publicly manu- factured roads and the automotive in- dustry is not clamoring for the right to build highways, nor do many of us think that the State could manufac- ture cheaper and better automobiles. We drink privately manufactured beer and publicly piped water. We transport ourselves by vehicles which | are public, private and a combination | of both. We send our children to public schools and to private uni- versities. It is extremely desirable that cheap power should be made available to the hundreds of thousands of Ameri- cans, who still burn kerosene lamps and run agricultural machinery by hand or by expensive, individually ine stalled motors. And it is obvious that private enterprise alone has thus far failed to furnish such power to thou- sands of isolated farms. I live in the backwoodz of Vermont, and in 1929 it cost our family $2,000 to get an electric line to our house, after which we pald 12 cents per kilowatt hour for electric light. I am not protesiing, but my farmer neighbors have to stick to the old lamps. The local electric company said that it could not do better, and perhaps it told the truth, although since the Govern- ment began going into utilities the fact is that this company has done considerably better and is building lines at its own expense and letting the clients pay for them by guaran- teeing to take a minimum of power. And, certainly, if private initiative cannot meet the problem, private plus public enterprise could. Examples of Collaboration. ‘There are innumerable European examples of such collaboration in the realm of power which have worked out happily for all concerned. The Berlin Electricity Works, which is the largest source of power in Europe, if not in the world, springs to mind as an example, because there the collab- oration is between German public ownership and American private cap- ital. These works are the joint prop- erty of the German Reich, the Prus- sian State and the City of Berlin. A few years ago—in 1932—they needed extra capital and got it, from Ameri- can, British and Belgian investors— banks and utility companies. Actually the capital became predominantly pri- vate, but the voting stock was equally divided. Everything worked out hap- pily, and the American investors, curi- ously enough, found collaboration with public enterprise in another land something they could do without a qualm of conscience, We need such an objective attitude toward several things, notably housing. It is very probable that in the next decade we shall accept & certain amount of public enterprise in this field as desirable and unavoidable. I mean by that, that the majority of people of all parties will come to this conclusion, We simply cannot afford the cost of slums, in their contribution to juvenile delinquency, ill health and crime, to say nothing of their offense to the public pride and to the aesthetic appearance of our cities. If it is the objective that determines the method. then, like England, we shall probably have a close collaboration between public and private enterprise, which will be profitable both to business and all the people. But if private enter- prise simply balks at admitting a need, and if government assumes a holier- than-thou attitude, then we shall probably have public dissension and retain the slums. So I still keep my fingers crossed for the power conference. (Copyright, 1936, New York Tribune, Inc.) 'NEW CONTEST DUE IN LETTER-WRITING William Hard Also Announces Winners of Prizes in First Political Competition., By the Associated Press. some time ago for best letters on “Why I Am for Roosevelt,” William Hard, Republican commentator, has announced another letter-writing con- test in which the subject will be, “Why I changed From Roosevelt to Landon.” In his regular broadcast for the Republican National Committee, Hard Hard said Prof. T. V. Smith of Chi- cago University, “a New Deal Demo- crat,” had selected the following win- ners among the pro-Roosevelt letter- writers: First—Duncan Fraser, Chicago car- | penter, $500; second, Nat M. Dysart, We, the People Attack on Roosevelt’s Catholic Following Seen in Cry of “Communist.” BY JAY FRANKLIN. Hearst papers have blossomed forth with a convenient “transla- tion” from the July issue of & magazine allegedly published by the third International, quoting Eari Browder, the Kansas boy who is the Communist candidate for President, es preferring Roosevelt to Landon. Father Coughlin promptly joined in the Hearst-and-cry, but the whole thing looks like wet fireworks. In the first place, it comes too early in the campaign to do much good in eflecting a last-minute shift. There are still six weeks to go, and if the polis are anything to go by, the trend to Roosevelt is unmistakable, In the second place, Hearst is the last man the G. O. P. should have allowed to make the announcement. He is a wolf who has cried “boy! boy!” too often. The Hearst announcement was sccompanied by the news that Al Smith would make five stump speeches attacking Roosevelt. Those of us who still think of Al as “the Happy Warrior” had hoped that Raskob’s prisoner would be spared this final gesture. * ok K % ‘The general purpose behind the Hearst-Coughlin-Smith show 1is, apparently, to alienate from Roose- velt the general support which he has hitherto received from the mass of American Catholics. The church is today engaged in a death struggle with the Communist creed throughout Europe. The Vatican is ail but preaching a crusade against the Moscow doctrines which have challenged it in Spain. Part of the Vatican's defense against Marxism is its concept of a re- formed Christian capitalism which the pope embodied in his great encyclicals after the outbreak of the Spanish revolution in 1931. It has been, apparently, generally assumed by American Catholics tha the New Deal is a parallel attempt to reform American capitalism. ‘This belief no doubt accounts for the quiet support which many of them have given to Roosevelt. The attempt is now made to identify these Roosevelt reforms with Communism, in order to divert Catholic support to Landon or Lemke. Father Coughlin has used the money question as justifica- tion for the claim that the “money changers” are in charge of the New Deal, at the same moment that Hearst implies that the Com- munists—the bitterrest enemies of the “money changers’—are also in charge at Washington. Al Smith, the most publicized of prominent Catholic laymen, has long been rumbling about “reds” and is now trotted out to barnstorm against Roosevelt. The Hearst papers will print the “evidence” and everything is organ- ized to attack Roosevelt's Catholic », following. ¥k x ‘The White House has been com- pelled to notice and repudiate this subversive attempt to smuggle into this country the social warfare which now shakes the world in an effort to turn the tide in an elec- tion which is otherwise lost to the Republicans. This introduction of a foreign issue is dangerously reckless, but Hearst has always been a plunger and, while his motives often remain shrouded in doubt, his tactics have not changed in 40 years. Now, for better or worse, the dirty deed is done. An alien issue has been deliberately thrust upon the couptry by one of its richest men and is being played up without thought for consequences. The “Zinoviev letter” trick, worked in England about 10 years ago, but England was much closer to Russia than are we. England had recently experienced a general strike, and was just entering the acute depression, which did not hit us until some years later, The same drug may not work the same way so far as we are con- cerned. Perhaps the American people have greater faith in their political institutions and more common sense than they are credited with having. (Copyright, 1036, farmer, Peoria, Ariz., $300; third, tie between Jean Oliver Macauley, house- wife, San Mateo, Calif., and George | G. Starr, jr., teacher, Beaver Falls, | Pa., $200 each. Explaining the contest, Hard said PLANS NEW MEASURE Drug Bill Will Be Offered. Copeland Says Drastic Food and f.£75" Everett A. Colson. . Headline Folk and What They Do Maine Yankee First American Seated by League. BY, LEMUEL F. PARTON. MAINE Yankee in Selassie's court becomes the first Ameri. can citizen to be seated as delegate by the League of Na« tions. Everett A. Colson, shrewd down= Easter who has been the Emperor's adviser for many years, gets the Ethi- oplan delegation seated, himself in- cluded, just as Il Duce was trying to jerk their chairs. It is a triumph for the Negus and for the little short- enders of the League, but quite possibly temporary. Italy is angry and Geneva correspondents seem to think she will win again, America finally got into the Leagua of Nations in a roundabout way and 80 did Colson. 4% Prom the tidy "' little town of Warren, Me., he traversed many little fly - bitten countries before he landed at the right hand of the Negus—as friend, counselor, coach, . financial adviser f and political mentor. He dron- ped into Addis Ababa to found a bank, an odd idea, it would seem, and the Emperor made him chief of his monetary system. He stuck by the Emperor even when bombs were drop- ping, and still sticks in the curious diplomatic epilogue to Il Duce's one« man show. For his labors he received a tin-roofed bungalow and $9,000 & year. He was a sickly lad. precocious, and an avid reader. His mother died when he was a small child and he was reared by an aunt. At the age lof 19 he got a civil service job at Washington and was sent to the | Philippines as a Government stenog= | rapher. He was transferred to Can- ton, China, as United States marshal and then back to the Philippines as director of the civil service. After several years in the World War he was in Haiti, keeping his gimlet eye on customs revenue. Like most Maine men, he is no chatterbox and he’s a wizard with figures. Many times his doctors ordered him to a lower altitude than Addis Ababa— he has heart trouble—but he said he couldn't leave the King in a hole. Last Spring he finally took & vaca< tion in Europe. He says that if the Emperor ever regains his country he will go along. Mrs. Colson, a native of Kentucky, has been with him dure ing all his years in Ethiopia. Their | one son, 16 years old. is a student at | Lynn, Mass., preparing for the Massa= chusetts Institute of Technology. (Copyrisht, 1 Awarding prizes which he offered | the points that political parties need to hit are arguments that the opposi- tion regards as strongest. Similar prizes were offered in the new contest for best letters on “Why I Changed From Roosevelt to Landon.” —_— Arizona Labor Backs C. I. 0. PHOENIX, Ariz, September 23 (). —The Arizona Federation of Labor adopted a resolution yesterday sanc- | tioning the “views, operation and ethics” of the Committee on Indus- | trial Organization, headed by John L. | Lewis. HE opinions of the writers on this page are their own, not necessarily The Star’s. Such opinions are presented in The Star’s effort to give all sides of questions of interest to its readers, although such opinions may be contradictory among themselves and directly opposed to The Star’s. THERES NO SUCH THING AS A BARGAIN IF anyone tells you all bargains are a joke, give them a taste of Dated Coffee in the bag. After they’ve raved flavor, tell them how little it cost you. The joke will be on them! . We don’t sacrifice quality to make Dated Coffee so low priced. This superb blend is made from the choicest coffees in the world. It’s fresher because we rush it fresh to your grocer and mark every pound with the date he about its richer | Chairman Copeland of the Senate | Commerce Committee said yesterday a \ new food and drug bill, proposing | drastic changes in Federal health services, would be presented at the next session of Congress. It will provide for a new Federal agency to take over all health activi- ties now carried on by the Agriculture | Department, Federal Trade Commis- sion, Children's Bureau and other Government units, he said. The measure will be drafted after consultation with Senator Byrd, Dem- ocrat, of Virginia, who is studying a plan for a comprehensive reorgamiza- tion of all Federal *administrative agencies, Copeland said. —W. E. French, agent of the Georgia & Florida Rail- | road, died here yesterday. Rail Developer Dies. VALDOSTA., Ga., September 23 (#). eneral development Good on soeciied woin nky= for detois 3eg fyers — consul ogent. 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