Show uA IliJ lr I 1 aili i ili 1 ar f 11 11 ll in nii jl digest national lodics BWILLIAM BRUCKART leill diw G i tariah ta afi iiii pAi jt i hi ii i ii iiii I 1 rl washington I 1 suggested in these columns a year or more ago that the campaign of break in 1030 would bring party lines linea forth some of the most amazing odds odd ales atlea tn in political alignments that thai this country had ever known it aps was apparent even during the battle for or ballots in 1032 1932 that a gl gantic shake up in the voting alignment of citizens was in the making these thins things are now being demon borated and more proof of the il changing langing times seems just around the corner we all have seen how such outstanding ng figures as former gov alfred ID smith of new york the democratic presidential nominee in 1928 have boldly flouted president roosevelt and his new deal theories and we have witnessed such vitriolic outbursts as those by former senator james A reed that old bid line missouri democrat and we have watched with interest the hauling and filling by jeffersonian democrats who find now new deal fantasies to be a bitter pill to swallow lately cutely there has come another most interesting situation respecting spec ting partisan alignment although the action received much less attention than I 1 believe it deserves the determination of the clr finla 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 thatis it was better to leave the field clear for the election of the veteran senator than to precipitate a political battle by naming a republican candidate the reason for the ahe 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 arin principles and policies could do the country more good from their standpoint than could be attained by placing a republican candidate against him without chance of success to state this premise in ano another way carter glass does not swallow the new deal as a whole and when he be finds objectionable features in the he roosevelt program he Is independent enough and ad has the strength of character to voice his feelings doing this as a member of the majority party in the senate necessarily necess arl has more weight than all of the criticism of we the new deal that could be voiced by a republican it if one could b be elected in ill Virg virginia lnla and finla the vir virginia convention chose a course which it believed would best serve the nation as a whole but it la Is the circumstance of a party convention refusing to engage in battle that interests me most under 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 of course in the opinion of many car ter glass Is the outstanding exponent of conservative thought in the democratic party and if be speaks for conservative thought in the democratic party lid he Is almost speaking for conservative thought in the republican party it li 19 easy to therefore why the virginia republicans ado adopted p the course they did but where does that leave party loyalty what does it me mean an as to the future alignment of political thought I 1 0 the course followed by the vir ginta republicans Is not moie more strange than the on the action of other hand dent roosevelt himself wild who has indorsed endorsed Indor sed senator johnson of california and senator george nor ris of nebraska with almost boyish enthusiasm Sen senator titor johnson and senator norris have not been regarded as regular republicans but they have been flying the Rep ubil can banner for abood a good many years bears set let the president verbally pats them on the back and offers his blessing during the same period we have watched mr roosevelt playing touch and andge go with the la Fol lettea lettes in wisconsin of course the la Fol lettea lettes catalogue themselves as progressives Progress ives but they never have had a great deal in common 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 half heartedly fighting the new deal in fact some of senator MeN arys js own colleagues claim that he lins has really given aid and comfort to their political en enemies emles in the meantime one can wander around the halls of congress and hear private observations from men who were supposed to be stalwart partisans that they have been unable able to determine yet what their course ought to be ono one of them remarked confidentially to me that he believed he would have to consult a clairvoyant before lie he could say whether he was going to sup port 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 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 of the ballots in which party lines are torn asunder for countless hundreds of more or less important party figures I 1 think everyone agrees that tile the condition cornea comes from the cevelo development p of new deal principles and policies under the leadership of president roosevelt noo sevelt there will be many who are now doubtful as to their course who will realign themselves with the now new deal because they were originally democrats and there will be many who will again follow the republican banner down tile the stretch but it seems to we me that three years of roosevelt probably have established a greater segment of in thir country than had resulted from a quarter of a century of partisan politics before the situation must be construed then as indicating that hereafter those who stick definitely in party barnest will continue to stand hitched because they have political aspirations and ambitions or br because economic conditions in their communities are better fostered by the party with which they have aligned themselves 0 at last after almost two years of promotion work president roose volt velt has aban quoddy dream boned two of dropped h Is I 1 s cherished dreams bar 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 bea before ore turned out was wa to cost the great job of excavate ex cavat log ing a slit across the face of the state of florida to let iet ships go direct from the atlantic to the gulf without going around the toe of the state was td to cost only a small amount that Is a small sum compared to other new deal expenditures had been wasted on the ship canal plans before it was tossed into the limbo of forgot ten things but something like already has been ii used in the attempt to make the moon work th through the medium of the tides of t quoddy bay both projects can be charged up to politics and experiments and probably the country will be better oft off to take the loss anti anil avoid the use of further money ey tile the president fully intended to go through with his bli plans res respecting pectin 9 these two projects until he ran into vicious opposition in congress too many representatives and senators realized that they were going to have the names quoddy boy bay and florida canal hurled at thern them through tile the coming coining campaign campal gh if they voted their approval by including additional funds for these projects in the relief appropriations 1 1 I dont know what Is going to become of the homes hoines the model city erected for workers near the quoddy bay project eci photographs of this vil village lagein indicate it to be a community of which any resident might be proud it was constructed to assure assur the workers on the quoddy project a comfortable place in which to jo live avi they still have the comfortable place in which to live because the government still owns hofts the homes but anat Is to become of those people anil AAA what disposition Is to be made of the property la Is something else again most alost engineers have contended that it was impossible to place in the bay equipment faced that could bunc difficulties tion satisfactorily while lit at the same time producing electric cur ernt at a rate that would bring a return on the tremendous investment necessary further than that no jao one yet set has been able to abow where so much electric energy could be marketed the territory la is sparsely settled and the industrial production product fon Is small while it was wad contended that limitless power would bring industries into that section the indications were even after actual work started for only a small increment in the number of factories and other users user of energy the quoddy power idea probably was the most fascinating and most romantic of anything proposed by the new deal for the purpose of 01 creating jobs like the proposed florida ship canal kf it held potentialities but those whose opinions heretofore have been sound remain unconvinced that either cither the power plan or the canal for a short cut across F lorida florida ever could repay the government for money spent there 6 0 western Newa News pacer paim union |