Evening Star Newspaper, September 25, 1936, Page 11

~ A Iowa Hinges on Shift of 10 Pct. Swing in Rural Area Could Easily Give State to Landon. BY DAVID LAWRENCE. ES MOINES, Iows, Septem- ber 25.—It is conceded on every side that Iowa is a close State this year. Out of its 1,000,000 votes, the majority either way is not likely to exceed 80,000. At the moment, the race is aip and tuck. Some idea of the tendency of Republicans to become republicans once more can be gained by notigg that, in 3 1932, Iowa gave Mr. Roosevelt sabout 184,000 & majority, and yet S, towns, which have become pre- ponderantly Re- publican, If the m‘l m°°“nb:lc",: David Lawrenee, to republicanism a bit more strongly than appears at present, or if the Lemke vote in the cities should take away from the Roosevelt strength, this State would most certainly be found in the Republican electoral column, ‘The supposition that the Lemke ticket will subtract votes from the Democrats rather than the Republi- cans is based on the way the La Follette Progressive ticket forced the Democrats into third place in this State in 1924. The so-called radical ‘vote, of course, is to be distinguished from the Progressive vote, but, in Jowa, the Landon complexion is pro- gressive without being radical. Parity in Objectives Established. ‘The Kansas Governor has made a pleasing impression here by his visit. His speech revealed to the farmers of Iowa that they have, in the Repub- lican nominee, a man who is as earn- estly anxious to aid agriculture as is Mr. Roosevelt. In fact, the Landon speeches have just about eliminated the details of the agricultural con- troversy and placed both nominees on & parity as desiring the same ob- Jectives. ‘With the agricultural bounty issue neutralized, the Republicans expect to make gains. They believe that, ‘when all other things are equal, the farmers of the State will vote accord- ing to other issues that appeal to them, particularly the inroads made by the Canadian reciprocity treaty— in other words, the tariff. ‘The situation has hardly crystal- lized as yet, notwithstanding the ac- tive campaign that has been made by both sides. The forthcoming speeches by former Gov. Lowden of Tllinois are awaited with much inter- est. Lowden has s big following among Iowa farmers. He is believed to be the man on whom Gov. Landon is leaning most heavily for advice on the farm problem. Polls Confuse Picture. ‘The closeness of the contest in Jowa is not borne out by the polls, 80 many of which give Mr, Landon & decided lead. But while polls are a subject of much discussion, hardly any of them has included as yet a large enough cross-section of Iowa to be conclusive. One thing is certain, Landon is much stronger in Iowa than was Hoover four years ago. Likewise, the Roosevelt administration has come in for a great deal of criticism because of its spending policy, which means that there has been much talk about the waste of public funds. Even farmers who have received A. A. A. benefits are reported to have developed doubts as to the wisdom of the policy, especially because of the irksome regu- latory processes that accompanied the scheme. On the whole, Iowa may be re- garded as a pivotal State, in fact, as much as any other in the Middle ‘West because, this year, as goes Iowa, 80 goes Minnesota and South Dakota snd Southern Illinois. This agri- cultural belt has never been devoid of Democrats, even in 1920 and 1924 and 1928, but the balance of power is held this year by about 10 per cent of ‘This unseemly conduct is causing comment within the New Deal in- ner circle, especially because the commissioners were sent upon their mission three months ago with the fanfare of a White House an- nouncement. What happened will not ‘be known oficially jor some time, but you can safely dbet your last million dollars % some very deep fundamen! friction developed among the commissioners regarding the - co~ operative theory. In fact, you may expect two reports to be submitted to the President, one & minority report, signed by one or two commissioners. RN The main trouble is “co-operative” is too big & word. Like “inflation” and “progressive,” it sprawls over such a wide scale of meaning that it’ has lost any specific ce. For example, to most people it means producers’ co-ops, such as have been developed among farmers in this country. Every one is for them, Mr. Hoover as well as Mr. Roosevelt, Mr, Lemke and probably also J. P. Morgan. X The kinds of co-ops studied by the commissioners in Europe were mostly consumers’ co-ops, industrial co-ops, etc. This is an entirely differ- ent subject covered by the same name. It involves wholly different eco- nomic theories, the possibility of Federal endowments sponsoring eonsumer stores which would compete with local merchants, elimination of middle- men, then consumer factories, and, in the last, s Federal consumer control of basic industries in a complete “co-operative state,” which would permit capitalism to exist on the side if it could stand such competition. This is where the commission split. The three original brain trusters appointed on the commission are supposed to have believed the United States could profitably start out in the general direction pointed Dby European consymer co-op experience. \ The co-op study was originally intended jor use in the presi dential campaign. The one or more reports will be on Mr. Roose~ velt's desk within a few days. However, there is more than an even chance that he will drop them into @ keg-lined can and let them age. Also 6 suggestion has been made that he may put them in the bdath tub and turn on the water. Most ezplosive experts consider them politically dangerous. For one thing, the President is now applying the new Patman- Robinson law to protect individual merchants. For another, some farm thinkers are beginning to suspect the double meaning of the co-operative theory as related to prices they may get through consumer co-operatives. From an economic standpoint, & question mark is likewise developing around the point of whether consumer co-operatives are feasible in lines where the price margin between producer and consumer is not very wide. *x % ALERTNESS. Wowiied Siooe i Agriculture Secretary Wallace is 2’*“' v week on what was advertised mysterious mission. Word given out that he was talking some phases of crop insurance with the President. The fact Roosevelt called him in to frame the reply to Mr. Landon. If you will tie this fact up with the smart Democratic move serving competitive radio time for the President against Al Smith other anticipatory moves made here iately, such as announcement crop insurance investigation on the eve of Landon’s farm speech, have some ides of the inner alertness of the Democratic campaign. amazed most Washington political observers, who fancy that they something about politics. And the campaign does not start until Roosevelt opens it at Syracuse next Tuesday. (Copyright. 1936.) ‘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 themaselves and directly opposed to The Star’s. itfe =§;§5 & Eigst K { pdf E the total vote in the rural counties. In Iows in 1983, the rural areas shifted from a 60-per-cent Republican vote to a 60-per-cent Democratic vote. To put it another way, the Democrats A shift of 10 per cent from four years ago, therefore, would make the race even. There is reason to believe that & considerable shift has occurred, but the puzzle revolves around the size of that shift. GROSNER OF Suits financial solvency. (Copyright, 1936, o5 F STREET u 2 S Many distinct features in. GROSNER Hats for Fall! Another Grosner style prediction comes true , . , brims -are wider ¢+« crowns are lower... colors are darker! See the many new and hat features in Grosner’s 1936-37 TFall showing. The New o [T} = (7] P=1 [~ : [T ; distinctive ' The New LO-CROWN. .....$5 The New WIDE WELT.....$5 The New GROSNER AA-1, $7.50 SPORTSMAN .. .. .$5 I ONE-INCH Herringbone fr Men Grey and White Tan and White A new style de- velopment pre- scribed by men who know style . . . A FULL ONE-INCH HERRINGBONE PATTERN (meas- use it)! You'll see a lot of it later on . « . we have it now « « « a three-button, single - breasted model with notch shawl lapels and center vent at $35. . i P [ ‘ EZEE iz i -] 2 1 i gi 3 it ; E il | R [ gggéi?s solicited backing, Gov. Landon is per- fectly miserable material for one. But the C. N. P. really does oblige. He is perfectly fitted to be a Fascist menace. His picture is in the Ger- We, the People The Next World Question Is Whether France Can Change Without Revolution. BY JAY FRANKLIN, VERY steamer that arrives from Burope brings word of & growing revolutionary strain in Prance. Peopie of means are skipping out of Paris and gold s steadily dripping away from the wounded money bags. : France’s “united front” Rowever, is reported as straining at the parliamentary leash and preparing for @ real seizure of power under terms which would enticipate any danger of an army revolt, The stubborn textile strike in Lille has been fluttering like a storm warning of the political hurricane, and only the need to stand on Military alliances were useless without military equipment and this Wwas supplied by Schneider and Creusot with loans subscribed by the French and Nhld’xl‘::"m i mmme?imh il e very 4 bl rered) were blocking domestic reform of Only recently has France freed herself from this bondage to her 200 families”—the little group which ran the Bank of Fran wned the big industries and private raflways. g i The rise of Hitler and his resurrection of German pride and power proved that the price France had paid for the status quo was lost money. . ‘The alliance with the Soviet Union, however, not - 1t also gave encouragement to the Prench liberals and workers to undertake social reform at home without fear lest that reform would sutomatically A 50 per cent revolution which leaves the potential Fascists in charge of the army, mavy and air force is simply an invitation to 100 per cent counter revolution. Morever, as fear of further and more drastic reforms struck the wealthier families in Paris, they promptly proved that money has no by shipping their funds to London, Amsterdam and New York— Headline Folk and What They Do Sir Frederick Leith-Ross, British Financial Trou- ble Shooter. BY LEMUEL F. PARTON. HE world financial sleight - of - hand in British money < = conjuring to thfi satisfaction of al s and sundry, sits in with Premier Blum and the cabi net. They start with a nice euphemism.. In France devaluation is a horrid word. Hence the issue today is “re- alignment.” An astute Englishman once remarked in New York: “The difference between America and Eng- land is that, in America, you can do anything you want, but you mustn’t say it; in England, you can say any- thing you want to, but you mustn's do it.” Roughly true, it seems, but it doesn's fit Sir Prederick. The economic ade viser to the British treasury says noth- ing, whether he wants to or not, and is always doing something. He is of the get-out-and-get-under school of finance. He is a financial trouble- shooter all over the empire and he is credited with having charted Britain’s course on her amazing financial come= back. There is usually a definite out~ come to his participation in interna- tional financial parleys. He negotiated the financial agreement with Germany in 1934 and the agreement with Italy in 1935. He's the dotted-line man for England and his presence at the French cabinet session indicates sohne: thing definite impending — scaling down the franc and mooring it to gold, or just setting it adrift, say informed onlookers. Big American colleges, training money kings, throw out the classics. Sir Prederick might give them pause. At Oxford his high honors were in the classics and humanities. He was Lord Asquith’s secretary, became connected with the treasury in 1909 and Britain's economic adviser in 1932. (Copyright, 1936, Labor Improvement Aim. Latvia’s newly established Chamber of Labor is to represent the needs and rights of hired labor and will seek to improve the economic and cultural standards of the laboring classes.