Show s h i ing mgt Interpret ante etT nica fc ip washington I 1 suggested in these columns a year or more rio ago that the campaign of 10 1830 wa break in in would bring forth pa party arty lines some ot of the most amazing oddities in political alignments that this country had ever known it was apparent even during the battle for ballots in 1032 that a gigantic shake up in the voting alignment of citizens was in the making these things are now dow being demonstrated and more proof of the changing times seems just around the corner we all have seen how such outstanding figures as formers fori gov alfred E smith of new york the democratic presidential nominee in 1028 1928 have boldly flouted loii ted Preg president ident roosevelt and his new deal theories and we have witnessed such vitriolic outbursts as those by former senator james A reed heed that old line missouri democrat and we lave watched with interest the ha hauling and filling by democrats who find new deal fantasies to be a bitter pill to swallow lately there has come another most interesting situation respecting partisan alignment although the action received much less attention than I 1 believe it deserves the determination of the virginia ginia republicans in their recent convention at roanoke to refrain from placing a republican candidate in the field against senator carter glass constitutes to my mind one of the most extraordinary twists ever to take place under our two party system that convention acting utterly without precedent took the position that it was better to leave the field clear for the election of fit the veteran senator than to precipitate a political battle by naming a republican candidate the reason for the action of the virginia republicans Is quite clear in one way they felt that carter glass although a lifelong life long democrat who has carried on his share of bombardment of republican principles and poll policies cles could do the country more good fr from their standpoint thin than could be attained by placing a republican candidate condi date against him without clince chance of success to state this premise in another way carter glass does not swallow the new deal as a whole and when he finds objectionable features in the roosevelt program he Is lA independent dependent enough and has the strength of character to voice his feelings doing this as a member of the majority party in the senate necessarily has more weight than nil all of the criticism of the new deal that could be voiced by a republican it if one could be elected in vir virginia enla and tile the virginia convention chose a course which it believed would best serve the nation as a whole but it Is the circumstance of a party convention refusing to en engage age in battle that interests roe me most U under ader such circumstances the old idea of party loyalty becomes not only illogical but ridiculous instead of a call to battle we see what amounts to a call for support of a theoretical opponent ot of course in tile the opinion of many carter glass Is the outstanding exponent of conservative thought in the democratic party and if he speaks for conservative thought in the democratic party lie he Is almost speaking for conservative serva tive thought in the republican republica n party it Is easy to see therefore wily why the virginia republicans adopted the course they did but whore where does tb that at leave party loyalty what does docs it mean as to the future alignment of political thought 0 0 the course followed by the virginia republicans is not more strange than the action of on the dent roosevelt him other hand self who has indorsed endorsed Indor sed senator hiram johnson ot of california and senator george norris of nebraska with almost boyish enthusiasm senator johnson and senator norris have not been regarded as regular republicans but they have been flying the republican banner for a good many years yet the president verbally pats them ou the back and offers his blessing during the same period we have hava watched mr roosevelt playing touch and go with the LaFollett es in wisconsin of course the la Fol lettes catalogue themselves as progressives Progress ives but they never have had bad a great deal in COM common mon with old line democrats likewise in the senate it if one Is to believe gossip frequently bandied about senator mcnary of oregon the titular republican leader has been only halfheartedly fighting the new deal in fact some of senator MeN arys rys own colleagues claim that he be has really given aid arid and comfort to their political enemies in the meantime one can wander around the halls of congress and hear bear private observations from men who were supposed ed to be stalwart partisans that they have been unable to determine yet what their course ought to be one of 0 them remarked confidentially to me that he believed he be would have to consult a 2 clairvoyant before he could say whether he be was going to support the new deal or oppose it or try to straddle the fence of course his remark was in a humorous vein but it epitomized the thought and I 1 rilay may say the worry of a very great many partisans at this time so we have a picture six months ahead of the actual casting castin of the ballots in which party lines are torn asunder tor for countless hundreds ot of more or less important party ft figures faures ures I 1 think everyone agrees that lint the condition nai comes from the development ot of new deal principles and policies under the leadership of pre president ident roosevelt there will be many who tire are now doubtful as to their course who will realign themselves with the new deal because they were originally democrats and there will be many who will again follow the republican banner down the stretch put but it seems to me ma that three years of Poo poosevelt probably have established a greater segment of oc independent botin strength in this country than had resulted from a quarter of a century of partisan politics before the situation must be construed construe ct then as indication that hereafter those thosa who stick definitely in party harness will continue to stand hitched because they have political aspirations and ambitions or because economic conditions in their communities are better fostered by the party with which they have aligned themselves beyond that it seems to me citizens in most cases will vote in ID increasing numbers tor for the man instead ot of the party 0 0 at last after almost two years of promotion work president roosevelt has aban quoddy dream boned two of his dropped cherished dreams harnessing the tides of bay in maine and construction of a gigantic canal across florida the quoddy project designed to produce electric power in quantities never before turned out was to cost the great job ot of excavating a slit across the face of tile alie state of florida to let ships go direct from the atlantic to the gulf without g going around the toe of the state was to cost only a small amount that 1 is a small sum compared to other new deal expenditures tures had bad been wasted on the tha ship canal plans before it was tossed into the limbo of 0 forgotten things but something like already has been used in the attempt to make the moon work through the medium of the tides of quoddy bay both projects can be charged up to politics and experiments peri ments and probably the country will be better off to take the loss and avoid the use of further money the president fully intended to go through with his plans respecting these two projects until he be ran into vicious opposition in congress too many representatives and senators realized tint thit they were going to have the names quoddy bay and florida canal hurled burled at them through the coming campaign it if they voted their approval by including additional funds for these projects in the relief appropriations I 1 dont know what Is going to become of 0 the homes the model city erected for workers near the quoddy bay project photographs ot of this village indicate it to be a community of which any resident might be proud it was constructed to assure the workers on the quoddy project a comfortable place in which to live they still have the comfortable place in which to live because the government still owns the homes but what is to become ot of those people and what disposition Is to be made of the property Is something else e se again th thus us development of electric power from the tides of quoddy bay has been an engineering question that has raged for years as s a controversy it has recurred frequently frequently as a political matter but never until tile the new deal came to in were any tangible steps taken to install electrical equipment in that bay where the tides run higher than anywhere else in the world most eni engineers have contended that it was impossible to place in the bay equipment that faced could function sails difficulties ies facto rily while at the same time producing electric current at a rate that would bring a return on the tremendous investment necessary further than that no one yet has been able to show where so much electric energy could be marketed tile the territory Is sparsely settled aud and the industrial production Is small while it was contended that limitless power would bring industries into that section the indications were even after actual work started tor for only a small increment in the number of 0 factories and other users of energy the quoddy power idea probably i was the most fascinating and M most ost I 1 romantic of anything proposed by the new deal for the purpose of creating jobs like the proposed florida ship canal it held potentialities but those whose opinions heretofore have been sound remain unconvinced that either the power plan or the canal tor for a short cut across florida ever could repay the he government for money spent there 0 western newspaper Ni pir union J |