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Show SEEN HEARD around the National Capital r By CARTER FIELD Washington. Growing Insurgency of business against the New Deal threatens threat-ens to upset a political tradition as old as party campaigns in this country. coun-try. The tradition is that the party In power always wins when the country coun-try is prosperous, and always loses when times are hard. The present movement may be misleading, mis-leading, but the fact Is that a great many Republican leaders are hoping strongly for more and more prosperity, not Just as patriotic Americans but as bitter partisans. Only with a great wave of prosperity, they now believe, will they have a real chance against Franklin D. Roosevelt In 1936. Until the last few weeks, for the whole period during which the blue eagle has been functioning and the brain trust inspiring legislation aimed at curtailing profits for the advantage of the workers and consumers, Republican Repub-lican leaders had been very gloomy about the prospect "If prosperity comes back," many of them said, "nothing can beat Roosevelt. Roose-velt. He will be a hero and will be recognized as the savior of the country. coun-try. We will not have a chance for the election of Republican candidates unless times are hard, unless it is evident evi-dent that his various policies are not the proper medicine for what ails us. But as persons we want prosperity. It Is better to have the country in good shape, even if we are kept out of power by that very condition." But a proverb, much older, seems to be running to this theory so generally gen-erally held until lately. It is: "The devil was sick the devil a monk would be; the devil was well the devil a monk was he." In short, business was eager to have the government try anything a year ago anything to get the country back on its feet. It was willing to accept the codes, higher wages and shorter hours, in fact, it was willing to take any medicine, no matter how bad tasting. tast-ing. But now the devil Is getting well ! He doesn't like the medicine. He just wants to be let alone, and is beginning to think that he would have gotten well anyhow without the governmental tinkering. Becoming Alarmed Republican orators have been preaching this doctrine, but the old politicians among them thought they were just making the best of a very bad situation. They continued certain cer-tain that returning prosperity would redound to the credit of the administration adminis-tration and make any comeback on the part of the Republicans impossible. It is the attitude of business executives execu-tives that has upset this. They are beginning to be very alarmed over the ultimate objects of the Roosevelt New Deal, now that they think the depression depres-sion is passing into history. They are particularly worried about this continued contin-ued harping on the part of the New Dealers on cutting down profits, not to mention the insistence on more union recognition, etc. The theory now accepted by Republican Repub-lican leaders here is that if business continues to get better during the next year and a half, business will become more and more restive, and by the time the campaign opens up there will be a "regimentation" of business against the administration which will stand a fair chance of success. .Despite rumors about a possible turning to the right on the part of the President, the private opinion of Republican leaders Is that the President's Presi-dent's heart is set on going down in history as having set up a new order. They think he believes profoundly In the economic and social soundness of the New Deal policies, and hence they believe he will continue just as he has been going, and fight for his program. So now they have been led to the conviction that the more prosperous the country Is In 1934 the more chance there will be of electing a Republican President ! Senate Balks While there is more talk on the surface sur-face about Capitol Hill's revolting on stock exchange regulation, payment of closed bank deposits, and amendment of the securities act than on the proposed pro-posed new tariff powers for the President, Presi-dent, actually senators are more concerned con-cerned about that privately than anything any-thing else the President wants before adjournment Yet the Chief Executive Insists on the grant The point is that the senators do not want to give up their own power in tariff tinkering. Not only do they know about the advantages of such power, theoretically; they are constantly con-stantly being given demonstrations of Its value. At the present moment the sugar allotment al-lotment or quota bill Is in the throes. Powerful lobbies representing the various va-rious Interests are in Washington, and all the talk Is not of high ethics, morals, mor-als, and what Is best for the country or the world. Not for a minute. There are plenty of subtle and some not so subtle suggestions about campaign cam-paign contributions, lining up this or that faction in a state through direct or indirect connections. ! Senators up for re-election this fall i are particularly subject to this pres-I pres-I sure at the moment. Some of it is annoying. an-noying. But some of it is very gruti-; gruti-; fying. One of the little squabbles, for ; example, Is as to whether a quota for Hawaii shall be written into the bill. I The Hawaiian interests, always powerful, pow-erful, want it. They want that protection pro-tection and they do not like the attitude atti-tude of Secretary of Agriculture Henry A. Wallace at all. Wallace marked down the estimate he gave the President Presi-dent for Hawaii. It was the only one he did mark down. Later his lieutenants lieu-tenants told senators that the President Presi-dent would veto the bill if congress Insisted on giving Hawaii a fixed quota by law ! Secretary of the Interior Harold L, Ickes rushed In to the defense of Hawaii. Ha-waii. He wants Hawaii given a fixed quota in the law. While he did not say so, it was obvious that he did not want to trust the Hawaiian sugar growers to the tender mercies of Secretary Sec-retary Wallace, Ickes vs. Wallace Thus Ickes, so recently the champion cham-pion of the Philippines on coconut oil, turns on the Filipinos on sugar, for the Philippine representatives here are fighting against this protection for Hawaii Ha-waii as though against a plague. In fact, the two island groups are the chief opponents, though, of course, the beet sugar interests for once In their lives are in alliance with the Cuban Interests in preventing Hawaii's getting get-ting any advantage. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say they Joined with the Philippines in trying to force Hawaii to take first a reduction and then a larger than proportionate share of the risk. Wallace, who so recently rapped the beet sugar people over the knuckles, Intimating that beet sugar was one agricultural industry which had little justification, is now fighting for the beet interests and against Hawaii. All of which indicates the possibilities possibili-ties for otherwise disinterested senators. sena-tors. They discovered, many of them, a host of new supporters in their states, men whose business or social ties draw them to the Philippine Interests In-terests or the Hawaiian, as the ease may be. The truth is the situation is getting so much out Into the open that it may easily develop into a scandal scan-dal if certain operatives are not very careful, despite the recent object lessons les-sons of the danger of playing with that kind of fire. Sounding the Public Questions as to what is the real feeling feel-ing at the moment toward the administration admin-istration have been broadcast by inquiries in-quiries sent all over the country by the writer in the last few weeks. It is never easy to take a cross section sec-tion and boil It down to a few paragraphs, para-graphs, and the mere statement of all the opinions received, while It might make interesting reading, would not be of much value, for it would be necessary nec-essary to use too many words to explain ex-plain why each person was Interesting or apt to have good judgment, and particularly par-ticularly how the writer knew that particular person's judgment was good. But here is the result of all the Inquiries In-quiries and answers: 1. The President is still tremendously tremendous-ly strong not so strong as he was six months ago but probably stronger than he was on election day. 2. From present indications the Democrats will at least hold their own In the senate in the election this fall, which means maintenance of a huge majority. 3. The Democratic majority in the house will be cut sharply, probably not less than 75 seats, but certainly not enough to endanger Democratic control of the lower house. 4. Part of the reaction against the President Is due to the improvement in business and employment, the point being that there Is no longer the horrible hor-rible fear, and the desire to try any remedy, so the patient Is now querulous queru-lous about the taste of the medicine. 5. Most of the so-called reaction is against the brain trust and Its radical ideas rather than against the President himself. At least this is the spoken word as reported. Which means very little, because that is always the way. "Loyalty lies only to the king not to the king's ministers." Agree on One Point One point about which nearly all the answers agree Is that while there has been an ebb tide In Roosevelt's strength in the last few months, It is an ebb from the peak of the flood, which was not attained at election time, despite the size of the landslide, but many months after inauguration. No one with whom the writer has talked, or from whom he has had written writ-ten answers, ventured to say that the present stage of the popularity barometer barom-eter was actually down to the election point! It may be, but no one seemed sure of it. The point Is made that the Roosevelt landslide was not a vote for Roosevelt, but a vote against Hoover. This obvious ob-vious fact, which so many In discussing discus-sing the present situation overlook, though they knew It perfectly well at the time, makes any attempt at computation com-putation far more difficult It prevents pre-vents the 1932 election returns from being an accurate barometer reading on Roosevelt's strength. However, there is no doubt that with his tours of the country and his many speeches In the campaign Roosevelt won a great deal of popular support He was tremendously stronger on election elec-tion day than the day he was nominated. nomi-nated. He continued to grow In popularity popu-larity until oine mystical date when the rupgf-d Individualists always resenting re-senting the methods by which improvement improve-ment was being brought about, though not knowing what else they would have done to solve (he problem came to the conclusion that no more governmental gov-ernmental aid or Interference was needed. (Copyiluht.) WXU .ei-rlo. |