| Show Series of Contradictions Marks Political Campaign By BAUKHAGE i News Analyst and Commentator WASHINGTON V ASHINGTON Political currents and cross cross cros currents are running high wide and deep along the Potomac these days The wave of popularity stirred up by Stassen supporters is not pleasant pleass' pleass pleas pleas- ant for tor regular Republicans to contemplate Some of the tho nonprofessionals professionals s' s however particularly those in the Taft TaU corner are very bitter about it it r not because they think that Stassen will get in in but because of the way he has served to block the Taft TaU despite efforts efforts despite the fact that those efforts have been labelled rightly or wrongly futile from rom the beginning S dont don't admit they are worrying J but I talked to one of the Taft men mer recently What makes me sick he said is the way the people who have done their best to break down bf hf full Taft are r J il fi 1 I praise for him I now that tha t the they y 4 think he Is beaten S 'S They describe his e efficiency U 1 c i e n c y his I knowledge his i 1 f frankness ran k n e s 5 his jj W S 'S J grasp of the subjects sub sub- he be discusses K And they t talk a I 1 k ka li a about B 1 o out u t Stassen's 0 vagueness and inability inability inability in in- ability to answer Tafts Taft's charges And these he wound up are the same came people who have been shootIng shooting shooting shoot shoot- ing at Taft Tart ever since he started his p presidential campaign f There is something in what this man says You would be surprised how many liberals how many Democrats Democrats Democrats Dem Dem- even praise Taft TaU privately would really like to see him elected but either they cant can't quite come out openly in his favor or they take for lor granted he cant can't win anyhow Then there Is the tho Te great t group of I to Republicans who arc are going vote voto for lor Dewey but act as If it they were gritting their teeth In the process What have you got against Dewey I ask them Some are vague others say the New York governor is a strad dier an opportunist never comes out for an Issue until he be sees a Gallup poll pon on it but bat I 1 suppose hell he'll win Can he be Since the Stassen hurricane the are talking a little dif dif- differently dif dif- S about Dewey Dewcy Some of them who have predicted right along that Dewey would win now are saying that Stassen has undermined him so thoroughly that now Dewey has no nomore nomore more chance than Taft And all the time the tide is rising But heres here's an interesting interesting interesting inter inter- esting thing Way back in February February February ary some very canny observers were saying that Speaker Jo Joe Martin Martin Martin Mar Mar- tin of the hou hou of representatives had the best chance of anyone for forthe the Republican presidential nomination nomina nomina- i j tion in case of the expected Taft- Taft Dewey deadlock At the time many people were surprised at that opinion But it wasn't long before belore we began to see mention of Martin here and there Then finally insiders accepted him himas as probably the best bet of the several several several sev sev- eral Republican dark horses I know T I. could feel his popularity growing is as I travelled around the country But then came caine the surprise move when Martin was credited with bringing about settlement of or orthe the coal miners' miners pension row the row the appointment of Sen Styles Bridges of New ew Hampshire as neutral trustee on the tho pension board with John Lewis and Ezra Van Horn Dorn and the agreement that was reached between Bridges and Lewis At first the settlement put Martin Martinr r In a favorable light with the pub pub- lie lic Then some of the conservative Republicans who hate Lewis expressed expressed ex ox- pressed their disapproval There were hints of a deal that had been reached between Bridges and Lewis before Bridges was appointed Democrats Dem Dem- Democrats rie-m- rie c charged arged that Martin was poU poli ticking Horn representing the operators op op- opI I orators appealed to the courts to I declare the pension agreement in in- valid Martins Martin's stock dropped And the began to say his chances chanc s stor for tor the presidential nomination were slim Not so much because of the pension deal itself but paradoxically paradoxical paradoxical- al- al ly and ly-and and this is one of the accepted 4 paradoxes of politics politics because because his intervention in the row was taken as asa asa asa a pu public avowal of his candidacy Martin ceased to be a dark horse horse- and as a light horse he wasn't consIdered considered con con- nearly as much of a favorIte favorite favor favor- ite The paradox applies to Senator The Michigan sen son senator senator ator constantly and consistently has disavowed any desire or In Intention In In- of being a Ii candidate for forthe forthe forthe the Republican nomination If It ao- ao according according ac ac- cording to this paradoxical political political po po- po- po utica rule the ol say he were thrust Into the limelight his cause would suffer too At this writing seems to stand as the No 1 bet however claim that this paradox is all old hat bat that I times and political thinking have changed One of the tho first black marks marki which the Republican old guard checked against Stassen was the fact tact that he be came right out as a candidate way ahead of time The traditional thing is to be oh so 10 coy about it r But some observers feel as Newsweek Newsweek News News- week magazine expressed it some soma sometime sometime time ago forthright quest for votes may end much of the traditional traditional coyness of ot aspirants In the future Its It's tl thought ought that more candidates candidates candidates can can- will frankly announce their Intentions well in advance of elec elec- tion Well maybe There Is plenty of ot old line resentment resentment resent resent- I ment against Stassen not only because because because be be- cause he began an open campaign I Iso so early but also because of the efficient powerful organized highly and aggressive m machine he has built up A right riCht wing whig Republican I II I spoke to recently seemed especially especial especial- ly resentful grumbling about the big money backing Minnesota's governor ex-governor and the New York banking interests that wanted In Senator Taft Tart was reported so furious over Stassen's stassen Invasion of Ohio that it was thought that he ho might forget forgot his rivalry with Dewey Dewoy and throw his support to the New Yorker earlier In the convention If it the deadlock was certain cerbin All AU this talk AGAINST candidates Is 15 Interesting psychologically You always hear far more reasons reasons rea rca sons for voting AGAINST a n candidate candidate candidate candi candi- I date than you hear for voting FOR one Its It's a very good thing that no candidate is ever quite so bad as his opponents claim he is Otherwise Otherwise Otherwise Other Other- wise the government would fall apart regularly every four years S A Monroe Doctrine Is Reactivated I On Charles street in the sleepy little town of Fredericksburg Va in the first floor office of a story- story and half brick house you can cnn see if you ou obey the parking signs and stop there a beautiful brass-bound brass i mahogany desk artistic handiwork I of ot the French cabinet makers of I the early century It is an historic piece of furniture furniture furni turn I ture for on its surface years yens ago there was signed a document which reactivated today becomes at once the challenge e and the hope hope- of free men throughout the world That desk carefully carried across the seas as a precious heirloom I found its way Into the great empty I I. I rooms of the White House newly- newly rebuilt after the destructive fire set by an enemy torch In the War of ot 1812 Turn back the pages paces to December I of the year 1823 At this desk sits sitsa I a man In a stiffly starched stock His bro broad d forehead is wrinkled with I thought His wide eyes look down at atthe atthe the document he is about to sign I I It Is his message to the congress congress con con- gress of the United States but it embodies the spirit and is couched I in the phrases which his predecessors ears sors have used before him expressing i sing liing the intent and the obligations of the young republic of which he James Monroe is la the President Two years before the Czar of ot all the Russians had uttered a ukase that no foreigner must approach within mB miles of at the American coastline north of the parallel I Russia then had a firm foothold on the northwestern of the I western hemisphere The Iron curtain curtain cur cur- tam tain had descended Plus ca change plus ca en reste lax meme chose We could not view any Interposition interposition interposition for the purpose of or oppressing oppressing oppressing sing sing- them the free countries of the Americas by any European power in any other light than as the manifestation of an unfriendly ly disposition toward the United States One hundred and twenty-five twenty years pass Today the United States in a world that has shrunk until Moscow is nearer to Washington I than Boston Boston Boston Bos Bos- ton was In Monroes Monroe's time rededicates rededicates cates its resources resources to help free tree peoples people to maintain their free tree Institutions institutions institutions and their national integrity against aggressive movements that seek to impose upon them totalitarian totalitarian total total- regimes The words are arc President Truman's Tnt Tru- mans man's but the spirit Is the tho same ume as that breathed In the Monroe Monro doctrine America c carries on ODe S S Polysyllabically John L. L Lewis and Gen Douglas MacArthur have something In common Perhaps Lewis should run as MacArthurs MacArthur's vice president Think of all the sonorous f 1 I v syllable e statements statements state state- ments meats they could get out S S S SIn In President Lincoln's time most of the speeches were made in the open air without benefit of public address system or microphone Now all you really need Is a few tew friends who can make themselves heard beard in m a smoke-filled smoke room |
